January 29, 2016 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Terrorism in Saudi Arabia
- At least 3 people are killed and 7 wounded in an attack on a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. (The News Hub)[permanent dead link]
- Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
- A pipeline used to generate around half the electricity in Iraqi Kurdistan is blown up, knocking out power across the region. (Reuters)
Business and economy
- Mexico launches a wholesale telecoms network tender on this day. (Reuters via Yahoo! Finance)
- The Bank of Japan adopts a negative interest rate policy to support the economy. (Bloomberg)
- U.S. corporation Xerox announces it will split into two companies, separating its business process outsourcing line from its legacy business, document technology. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- 2015–16 Australian region cyclone season
- Tropical Cyclone Stan gathers strength as it heads towards the Pilbara and Kimberley regions of Western Australia. (ABC News Australia)
- 2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Storm Gertrude impacts the British Isles, with 90mph winds knocking out power lines and causing travel disruption. (The Telegraph)
- An avalanche near McBride in the Canadian province of British Columbia kills five people. (CBC)
International relations
- Japan–North Korea relations
- Japan places its military on alert over a possible North Korean ballistic-missile launch after detecting "increased activity" at a North Korean missile site. Japan's Minister of Defense, Gen Nakatani, has ordered Kongō-class destroyers stationed in the Sea of Japan, equipped with Aegis combat systems, to target any North Korean projectiles heading for Japan. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Human rights in China
- Human rights activists claim that three pro-democracy advocates have been sentenced to up to five years imprisonment on charges of attempting to overthrow the Communist Party government in Guangzhou. (AP via Star Tribune)[permanent dead link]
- Hillary Clinton email controversy
- The Government of the United States rules that 22 emails on Hillary Clinton's home server contained closely guarded information rated as "Top Secret". (AP)
Politics and elections
- The Mexican Federal District is officially renamed to Mexico City (Ciudad de México), and becomes one of the 32 first-level administrative entities of Mexico. (The Guardian)
Science
- Scientists from UCLA conclude that study of the geology of the Earth and Moon indicate that both consist of a mixture of rocks from the original Earth and a hypothesized planetary-mass object called Theia after a collision. (The Telegraph)