On This Day — 29 January

2025

American Eagle Flight 5342 collided mid-air with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk operated by the United States Army and crashed into the Potomac River, killing all 67 people onboard both aircraft.

American Eagle (airline brand)

2025

A chartered Beechcraft 1900 crashes near the Unity oilfield in South Sudan, killing 20 people.

Beechcraft 1900

2022

Canadian truck drivers and pedestrians gathered to rally and protest on Parliament Hill against Canadian COVID-19 restrictions, which caused traffic and closures around the city.

Truck driver

2017

A gunman opens fire at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, killing six people and wounding 19 others in a spree shooting.

Quebec City mosque shooting

2014

Rojava conflict: The Afrin Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.

Rojava Revolution

2013

SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashes near the Kazakh city of Almaty, killing 21 people.

SCAT Airlines Flight 760

2009

Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is removed from office following his conviction of several corruption charges, including solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate as a replacement for then-U.S. president-elect Barack Obama.

Governor of Illinois

2008

An Egyptian court rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.

Religion in Egypt

2005

The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing.

Mainland China

2002

In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

2002 State of the Union Address

2001

Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.

Indonesia

1996

President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear weapons testing.

Jacques Chirac

1991

Gulf War: The Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the war, as well as its deadliest, begins between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Gulf War

1989

Cold War: Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so.

Cold War

1983

Singapore cable car crash: Panamanian-registered oil rig, Eniwetok, strikes the cables of the Singapore Cable Car system linking the mainland and Sentosa Island, causing two cabins to fall into the water and killing seven people and leaving thirteen others trapped for hours.

Singapore cable car crash

1973

EgyptAir Flight 741 crashes into the Kyrenia Mountains in Cyprus, killing 37 people.

EgyptAir Flight 741

1971

The last of its many UFO sightings is made at Pudasjärvi, Finland.

UFOs of Pudasjärvi

1959

The first Melodifestivalen is held at Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden.

Melodifestivalen

1944

World War II: Approximately 38 people are killed and about a dozen injured when the Polish village of Koniuchy (present-day Kaniūkai, Lithuania) is attacked by Soviet partisan units.

Kaniūkai

1944

World War II: In Bologna, Italy, the Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio is completely destroyed in an air-raid.

Bologna

1943

World War II: The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, USS Chicago (CA-29) is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.

World War II

1940

Three trains on the Nishinari Line; present Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station. One hundred and eighty-one people are killed.

Sakurajima Line

1936

The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced.

List of members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

1918

Ukrainian–Soviet War: The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kyiv, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty.

Ukrainian–Soviet War

1918

Ukrainian–Soviet War: An armed uprising organized by the Bolsheviks in anticipation of the encroaching Red Army begins at the Kiev Arsenal, which will be put down six days later.

Kiev Arsenal January Uprising

1911

Mexican Revolution: Mexicali is captured by the Mexican Liberal Party, igniting the Magonista rebellion of 1911.

Mexican Revolution

1907

Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator.

Charles Curtis

1891

Liliʻuokalani is proclaimed the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Liliʻuokalani

1886

Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.

Carl Benz

1863

The Bear River Massacre: A detachment of California Volunteers led by Colonel Patrick Edward Connor engage the Shoshone at Bear River, Washington Territory, killing hundreds of men, women and children.

Bear River Massacre

1861

Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.

Kansas

1856

Queen Victoria issues a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual that establishes the Victoria Cross to recognise acts of valour by British military personnel during the Crimean War.

Queen Victoria

1850

Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.

Henry Clay

1845

"The Raven" is published in The Evening Mirror in New York, the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe.

The Raven

1819

Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.

Stamford Raffles

1814

War of the Sixth Coalition: France engages Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.

War of the Sixth Coalition

946

Caliph al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Mu'izz al-Dawla, ruler of the Buyid Empire. He is succeeded by al-Muti as caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Al-Mustakfi

904

Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.

Pope Sergius III