Today in History

January 22

1528 - England and France declare war on Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. 1655 - Oliver Cromwell dissolves Britain’s Parliament. 1771 - Spain agrees to cede Falkland Islands to Britain. 1811 - France’s Napoleon Bonaparte annexes Oldenburg and alienates Russia’s Czar Alexander. 1817 - English freighter Diana sinks off Malaysia. 1905 - The Russian Czar’s troops massacre more than 100 peaceful protesters in front of the St Petersburg palace. 1922 - Pope Benedict XV dies. He is succeeded by Pius XI. 1924 - Ramsay MacDonald takes office as Britain’s first Prime Minister from the Labour Party.

1949 - Chang Kai-Shek resigns as President of China, following Nationalist Party reversals. 1956 - Thirty die in a train crash in Los Angeles. 1957 - Israeli forces complete withdrawal from Sinai Peninsula, but remain in Gaza Strip.

1964 - Kenneth Kaunda becomes premier of North-Rhodesia (now Zambia)

1970 - The first regularly scheduled commercial flight of the Boeing 747 begins in New York City and ends in London some 6 1/2 hours later.

1986 - Three Sikhs convicted for assassination of India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi are sentenced to death.

1992 - Roberta Bondar became the first Canadian woman in space, aboard the US space shuttle Discovery.

1995 - Two suicide bombers kill 19 people and wound more than 60 in Beit Lid junction, near occupied Jerusalem.

2002 - Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopters seize Palestinian-controlled West Bank city of Tulkarem.

2006 - Evo Morales becomes President of Bolivia.

2008 - Iraq’s parliament passes a new law to change the country’s flag belonging to the Saddam Hussain era.

2010 - Astronaut Timothy Creamer sends the first Twitter message from space aboard the International Space Station.

2015 - The British government begins a historic transfer of power to Scotland.

2016 - Four die in school shooting in La Loche, Saskatchewan in Canada.