January 29, 2015 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2014 Sydney hostage crisis
- A coronial inquest into the siege at the Lindt Cafe in the center of Sydney begins. The inquest hears that one hostage was killed by gunman Man Haron Monis while another was killed by fragments of a bullet or bullets fired by New South Wales Police Force officers. (The Australian) (BBC)
- Taliban insurgency
- Taliban attacks across Afghanistan kill 17 people. (AP)
- An Afghan national kills three American contractors at Hamid Karzai International Airport, the lone shooter was also killed in the incident. (Bloomberg)
- Moro insurgency in the Philippines
- Philippines President Benigno Aquino III distances himself from a botched raid against a terrorist, Zulkifli Abdhir, that killed around 50 people, including police officers and Abdhir, while pledging support for a peace process with the Moro people. Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno urges the public to continue to support the peace treaty. (The New York Times)
- Iraqi insurgency (2011–present)
- Several attacks around Baghdad including bombings and shootings kill at least sixteen people. (The New York Times)
- Sinai insurgency
- Ansar Beit al-Maqdis claims responsibility for widespread attacks on Egyptian army and police targets throughout the Sinai Peninsula killing at least 25 people. (Ynet News)
- Shia insurgency in Yemen
- Shiite Houthi rebels seize a Yemeni military base south of the capital, Sana'a, where U.S. military advisers once trained Yemeni counterterrorism forces to fight Al-Qaeda in the south of the country. Forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh had manned the captured base. (Wall Street Journal)
- The Paraguayan People's Army kills a German couple who lived on a ranch near Yby Yaú in northern Paraguay. (Deutsche Welle)
Business and economy
- The Philippine economy grew by more than 6% in 2014 making it the second fastest growing economy in Asia after China. This is the longest sustained growth period in the country since the 1950s. (Economic Times)[permanent dead link]
Disasters and accidents
- A Nieto Express propane gas tanker truck explodes near the loading dock of a maternity and children's hospital (Hospital Materno Infantil Cuajimalpa) in Mexico City, collapsing much of the hospital with at least three deaths and 70 people injured, 22 of whom are children. (AP) (AFP/Reuters via ABC News Australia) (New York Daily News)
- Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
- Without recovering any physical evidence, including the data recorders, Malaysia officially declares the loss of Flight 370 over the Indian Ocean an accident meaning that victims families can seek compensation. (USA Today)
- Heavy snowfall in northern England leads to the closures of hundreds of schools, roads and Manchester Airport. (BBC)
Law and crime
- Dutch police arrest a fake gunman who disrupted the Netherlands news broadcaster NOS after storming into the studio and demanding airtime. (BBC)
- American hip hop music mogul Suge Knight drives a vehicle into a crowd in Compton, California near Los Angeles resulting in the death of a pedestrian in what authorities are calling a hit and run. (NBC News) (UPI) (Twitter)