Armed conflicts and attacks
- Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- At least seven people are killed in a suicide bomb attack near the presidential palace in Aden, Yemen. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims it was behind the attack. (BBC)
Disasters and accidents
- European migrant crisis
- A boat carrying Iraqi Kurd migrants sinks off the Greek island of Samos in the Aegean Sea off Turkey's Anatolian coast, killing at least 24 people, including several children, with 11 others missing. (The New York Times) (NBC News)
Health
- 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic
- The World Health Organization forms an emergency committee to tackle the spread of the Zika virus in the Americas. (The Washington Post)
International relations
- Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- The President of Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou visits Taiping Island, Taiwan's largest island in the South China Sea, despite the United States warning it could provoke diplomatic tensions with the People's Republic of China and other nations in the area. (AP via U.S. News and World Report)
- European migrant crisis
- Swedish Interior Minister Anders Ygeman tells financial newspaper Dagens Industri that Sweden is disallowing about 45 percent of asylum applications which means around 60,000-80,000 asylum-seekers could be deported in coming years. (AP via CBS News)
- Russo-Georgian War
- Georgia welcomes the ICC's investigation into alleged war crimes committed during the 2008 South Ossetia war, which will be the first inquiry by the ICC into possible abuses by Moscow and/or Georgia. (Radio Free Europe)
Law and crime
- The trial of former President of the Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo for crimes against humanity begins at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. (BBC)
- Six people, including the gunman, are dead in a murder-suicide in Chesapeake, Virginia, U.S. (Yahoo! News)
Politics and elections
- Republican Party presidential debates, 2016
- The seventh Republican Party presidential debate, the second hosted by Fox News, and the final debate before voting begins with the Iowa caucuses on February 1, is held in Des Moines, Iowa. The seven candidates featuring in the primetime debate were Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. Donald Trump, the current front-runner in the polls, was also invited to the primetime debate but opted to boycott the debate and instead hosted a town hall with charitable proceeds going to veterans groups. (Fox News)