2013: The Shard, the tallest building in the European Union, is opened to the public.
2012: At least 72 people are killed and over 500 injured as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al-Masry and Al-Ahly in the city of Port Said.
2009: The first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was formed in Iceland, making her the country's first female prime minister and the world's first openly gay head of government.
2005: King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d'état to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.
2004: Hajj pilgrimage stampede: In a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured.
2003: Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
2002: Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.
1998: Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
1992: The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal disaster case.
1953: North Sea flood of 1953 is caused by a heavy storm which occurred overnight, 31 January-1 February 1953; floods strike the Netherlands, Belgium and the U.K.
1946: The Parliament of Hungary abolishes the monarchy after nine centuries, and proclaims the Hungarian Republic.
1942: Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers.
1942: World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls-Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.