Today in History for Jan. 20:
In 1265, England's Parliament, representing English districts, cities and boroughs, met for the first time.
In 1783, Britain and the United States signed an armistice, and fighting in the Revolutionary War ceased on Feb. 4.
In 1841, the island of Hong Kong was ceded by China to Great Britain. It returned to Chinese control in July 1997.
In 1850, Capt. Robert McClure sailed from Britain to search for survivors of the Franklin Expedition in the Canadian Arctic. He eventually discovered the Northwest Passage.
In 1887, the U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.
In 1892, the first game of basketball was played in Springfield, Mass. It was invented by Canadian-born teacher James Naismith.
In 1904, the federal government disallowed a British Columbia act that restricted immigration.
In 1918, following the Bolshevik Revolution, all church property in Russia was confiscated and all religious instruction in schools abolished.
In 1929, the first full-length talking picture shot outdoors, ``In Old Arizona,'' was released by Fox.
In 1936, King George V died and was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward VIII.
In 1937, U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20th instead of March 4.
In 1942, Nazi officials held the notorious Wannsee Conference in the Berlin suburb of that name. The meeting discussed details of their planned extermination of European Jews.
In 1945, U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn into office for an unprecedented fourth term. (In 1951, the 22nd Amendment was ratified, limiting the president to two four-year terms.)
In 1981, the American hostage crisis in Iran came to an end. The release came moments after the U.S. presidency passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan. The 52 Americans had been held for 444 days. Radical Iranian students had seized the U.S. embassy on Nov. 4, 1979, demanding the U.S. extradite the deposed shah to stand trial in Iran.
In 1986, most American states observed the first holiday in honour of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1986, Britain and France announced plans to build a tunnel under the English Channel. (The ``Chunnel'' was opened on May 6, 1994. Regular passenger service began six months later.)
In 1987, Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite disappeared in Beirut while attempting to negotiate the release of western hostages. He was freed in November 1991.
In 1989, Imperial Oil agreed to buy Texaco Canada for nearly $5 billion.
In 1994, Anik E-1, one of Canada's main communications satellites, spun out of control. It forced newspapers, radio and television broadcasters to scramble to jerry-rig systems to get their material out.
In 1995, the truncated NHL season finally began after a lockout by the owners.
In 1995, Roger Warren was convicted of nine counts of second-degree murder in the 1992 bombing of the Giant gold mine in Yellowknife that killed nine men. The blast came during a violent strike.
In 1996, Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, won the presidency in the first Palestinian election.
In 2001, George W. Bush was sworn in as U.S. president amidst some of the largest inaugural protests since Richard Nixon. Thousands of people hurled insults, bottles and tomatoes to protest his controversial victory, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court after voting irregularities in Florida left results in that state unclear.
In 2003, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves decided to scrap the partial sale of Hydro One Inc.
In 2003, Illinois-born Craig Kelly, a four-time overall world champion snowboarder, was among seven people killed in a massive avalanche near Revelstoke, B.C.
In 2004, Martha Stewart's stock-trading trial formally began in New York. She ended up serving a five-month prison sentence for lying about a stock sale.
In 2005, George W. Bush was officially sworn in to begin his second term as president of the United States. He promised to pursue ``the expansion of freedom in all the world.''
In 2009, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States -- the first African-American to become president in the history of the U.S. More than a million people jammed onto Washington's National Mall to watch the ceremony. Obama, a Democrat, succeeded Republican George W. Bush. Joe Biden was sworn in as his vice-president.
In 2010, Amin Mohamed Durrani, a member of the so-called Toronto 18 group, pleaded guilty to charges of participating in a terrorist group and was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.
In 2011, six of eight claims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in southwestern Nova Scotia that occurred in the 1950s, '60s and '70s were settled and the Yarmouth diocese agreed to pay out about $1.5 million in total.
In 2012, an explosion and fire tore through a sawmill in Burns Lake, B.C., killing two workers and sending 19 others to hospital.
In 2012, South Korea resumed imports of Canadian beef after an eight-year ban because of Canada's first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, commonly known as mad cow disease.
In 2014, Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived in Israel to kick off his inaugural visit to the Middle East, and became the first Canadian PM to address the Knesset - Israel's parliament.
In 2017, billionaire businessman and TV celebrity Donald Trump took the oath of office as the 45th President of the United States.
In 2018, the U.S. Senate failed to resolve a budget standoff over immigration and spending, triggering a shutdown of non-essential federal services affecting some 850,000 workers. On Jan. 22, the bipartisan dysfunction ended with a short-term funding plan to re-open the government.
In 2018, Taliban militants stormed the luxury Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, killing 18 people - including 14 foreigners. Afghanistan security forces killed six militants to end the 13-hour overnight siege.
In 2019, the world's oldest man died at his home -- a hot springs inn -- on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. Masazo Nonaka was 113. He was born on July 25th, 1905.
In 2020, China marked the first human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus after two people caught the virus from family members. The outbreak came at a time when China was entering its busiest travel period, when millions board trains and planes for the Lunar New Year holidays.
In 2020, hundreds of military personnel arrived in eastern Newfoundland to help with snow removal after an ``unprecedented'' storm all but buried coastal areas. The military was also on hand to help continue the search for 26-year-old Joshua Wall, who left his home in Roaches Line at the height of the storm to walk through the woods to a friend's home in nearby Marysvale.
In 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. Kamala Harris became the first woman to be vice president, and first in the job as a person of colour.
In 2021, Derek Sloan ceased being a Conservative MP. Sources said colleagues kicked him out because his failed leadership campaign accepted a donation from a white supremacist. Party leader Erin O'Toole initiated the caucus removal process after news of the donation surfaced. Sloan did not dispute he received the money from Paul Fromm, but has said he was unaware of it when it was first donated. Sloan has been in hot water several times before. He once questioned chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam's loyalty to Canada. He also suggested being L-G-B-T-Q is a choice.
In 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden carried out his campaign promise to tear up the presidential permit keeping the Keystone XL expansion alive. Hours before the oil pipeline owner said it would halt work on the project. Calgary-based TC Energy says Biden's action would overturn extensive regulatory reviews that found the pipeline would transport needed energy in an environmentally responsible way and bolster North American energy security. It also warns the move will lead to the layoffs of thousands of union workers. Biden also signed an order returning the United States to the Paris climate accord. Former president Donald Trump had withdrawn the U.S. from the agreement in 2017.
In 2022, a Florida man was charged with human smuggling after the bodies of four people, including a baby and a teen, were found in Manitoba near the United States border. The people who died were a family of four Indian nationals separated from others in a group crossing the border.
In 2024, Iran launched a satellite, the latest for a program the West fears improves Tehran's ballistic missiles. The announcement, on state television, said the launch is part of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' space program.
In 2024, Canadian ski jumpers earned Canada's first-ever medal in a World Cup super team ski-jumping event. Calgarians Alex Loutitt and Abigail Strate finished second with a combined 709.7 points behind the top pair from Slovenia.
In 2024, Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy became the new head coach of the New York Islanders after the firing of coach Lane Lambert. Roy, 58, is a four-time Stanley Cup champion who has spent the past five seasons coaching and serving as general manager for the junior Quebec Remparts.
In 2024, renowned Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison and Academy Award lifetime winner died at age 97. Jewison's work ranges from Doris Day comedies and "Moonstruck" to social dramas such as the Oscar-winning "In the Heat of the Night."
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The Canadian Press