Blaze destroys opera house
1996 - Venice mourned the loss of its world-famous La Fenice opera house as the fire that reduced it to smouldering rubble highlighted the permanent threat of disaster in the fragile lagoon city. “Venice is dying and this was the coup de grace,” one Venetian resident, in tears, said. International messages of support and pledges of aid, including the offer of a fundraising concert by opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti, poured in to help the 18th century landmark rise from the ashes like the phoenix after which it was named. Officials launched two inquiries into the cause of the fire, which ripped through the theatre, burned for nine hours and left only four black walls standing precariously. But there was outcry, too, that only one helicopter had been on hand to tackle the blaze.
January 29
1861 - Kansas becomes the 34th state of the US.
1886 - First successful gasoline-driven car is patented by Karl Benz of Karlsruhe.
1916 - Germans stage first Zeppelin raid on Paris in First World War.
1922 - Union of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador is dissolved.
1926 - Violette Anderson becomes the first African American woman to practice law before the United States Supreme Court.
1930 - Spanish dictator General Primo de Rivera resigns.
1942 - Ecuador and Peru sign Rio de Janeiro protocol, ending their war over a large swath of Amazon jungle.
1944 - The US Navy battleship USS Missouri is launched.
1959 - Danish passenger ship Hans Hedtoft, sailing along Greenland’s coast, hits an iceberg and sinks, killing 95 people.
1991 - French Defence Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement resigns over Gulf War policies.
1995 - The San Francisco 49ers become the first team in NFL history to win five Super Bowl titles.
1997 - Three people are killed and six injured as fire engulfs the upper floors of the 25-storey Express Towers in Mumbai.
2002 - The new national flag of Afghanistan is raised in Kabul for the first time.
2005 - The first direct flights between bitter rivals China and Taiwan start after 55 years.
2006 - Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah takes the oath of office as the new Emir of Kuwait.
2012 - Sir Bani Yas Logistics Port is inaugurated in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi.
2015 - Malaysia formally declares the passengers and crew of missing flight MH370 to be presumed dead.
