January 29: Ashura in Islam (2007).

• 904 - Sergius III came out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.

• 1850 - U.S. Senator Henry Clay introduced the Compromise of 1850, a series of laws designed to balance the interests between the slaveholding Southern United States and the free states of the north.

• 1856 - The Victoria Cross (pictured) was created, originally to recognise acts of valour by British and Commonwealth military personnel during the Crimean War.

• 1886 - Karl Benz filed a patent for the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.

• 2002 - In his State of the Union Address, U.S. President George W. Bush described Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an "axis of evil".

Recent days: January 28 – January 27 – January 26