- January 7
- Haiti coup defeated. [1]
- Soviet paratroopers sent to Baltic Republics. [1]
- January 9
- American James Baker and Iraqi Terak Aziz meet in Geneva, Switzerland; talks fail to defuse the Persian Gulf crisis. [1]
- Microsoft releases Microsoft Excel for Windows 3.0, with Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technology. [4]
- January 10
- Japan ends routine fingerprinting of all adult ethnic Koreans. [1]
- January 11
- Soviet forces storm buildings in Vilnius to block Lithuania independence. [1] [41]
- January 12
- US Congress gives President George H.W. Bush authority to use military force to liberate Kuwait. [1] [41]
- January 13
- President Mario Soares of Portugal re-elected. [1]
- United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar meets with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, Iraq. [1]
- Soviet troops assault the Vilnius TV tower in Lithuania and kill 14 unarmed civilians; many more are injured. [41]
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- January 14
- Jorge Serrano Elías sworn in as President of Guatemala. [1]
- Three Palestinian Liberation Organization guerilla chiefs are assassinated in Tunis, including Sallah Kharaf [Abu Iyad], co-founder of Al-Fatah. [1] [41]
- Valentin Pavlov become new premier of USSR. [1]
- January 15
- Sean Lennon's remake of his father's "Give Peace A Chance" is released to coincide with the United Nation's midnight deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. The lyrics were updated to reflect concerns of the 1990's. [457]
- The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm. [1] [41]
- January 17
- (2:38AM Iraq local time) Operation Desert Storm begins - US and 27 allies attack Iraq for occupying Kuwait. [1] [41] [1096.203] [1215.813]
- Helmut Kohl is formally elected chancellor of united Germany by the Bundestag. He receives 378 yes votes, 257 no votes and 9 abstain. [37]
- Death of King Olav V of Norway (born 1903). [1] [41] [410.56]
- Harald V of Norway becomes king on the death of his father. [41] [820.42]
- January 18
- Iraq fires eight SCUD missiles on Israel; first US pilot shot down (Jeffrey Zahn). [1] [41]
- Eastern Airlines goes out of business after 62 years due to financial problems. [1] [41]
- US acknowledges Central Intelligence Agency and US Army paid Manuel Noriega $320,000 over his career. [1]
- January 19
- The Party of the Alliance of Youth, Workers and Farmers of Angola is founded in Luanda, Angola. [41]
- Twenty-nine people are injured by a SCUD attack on Tel Aviv, Israel. [41]
- January 20
- Iraq parades captured Allied airmen on TV. [1]
- US Patriot missiles begins shooting down Iraqi missiles. [1]
- January 22
- Three SCUDs and one Patriot missile hit Ramat Gan in Israel, injuring 96 people. Three elderly people die of heart attacks. [41]
- January 23
- High-denomination banknotes withdrawn in USSR. [1]
- World's largest oil spill, caused by embattled Iraqi forces in Kuwait. [1]
- King Harald V and Queen Sonja are consecrated as rulers of Norway in Nidaros Cathedral. [820.42]
- January 24
- Eight-man British SAS squad enters Iraq behind enemy lines to destroy Scud missiles. The mission fails and many are captured and tortured and some killed. Eight SAS troopers manage to kill 200 Iraqi soldiers. [41]
- January 25
- Manuel Noriega is given access to assets frozen by US government. [1]
- January 26
- Alfaro Vive guerrilla group of Ecuador gives arms to Catholic church. [1]
- New York Lotto pays US$90 million to nine winners (numbers are 5-15-30-35-46-50). [1]
- During the final phase of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, an estimated 908 million litres of oil are spilled from terminals, tankers, and oil wells. [522]
- Somalia President Siad Barre flees his compound in Mogadishu. [41]
- January 27
- Dutch Pacifist Socialistic Party disbands. [1]
- January 28
- Dictator Siad Barre flees Somalia ending 22-year rule. [1]
- January 29
- Battle for Khafji in Saudi Arabia begins. [1]
- Nelson Mandela and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi meet in Durban after 28 years. [1]
- Siad Barre is succeeded by Ali Mahdi Muhammad in Somalia. [41]
- January 31
- Battle for Khafji in Saudi Arabia ends after three days. [1]
- In Hindu Kush Region, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurs. Estimated 200-400 people killed, many injured and many homes destroyed or damaged in Afghanistan. At least 300 people killed, hundreds injured and several thousand houses damaged in Pakistan. [1] [53]
- February 1
- South African President F W de Klerk says he would repeal all apartheid laws. [1]
- February 5
- Joni Mitchell inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame. [1]
- February 7
- Jean-Bertrand Aristide sworn in as Haiti's first elected president. [1] [41]
- The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting. [41]
- February 9
- Lithuanians vote by huge majority to restore pre-World War II independence. [1] [10] [41]
- February 11
- Unrepresented Nations and People Organization (UNPO) forms in Hague, Netherlands. [1] [41]
- February 12
- Iceland recognizes Lithuania's independence. [1]
- February 13
- Syria tells Germany they are ready to recognize Israel. [1]
- Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy an underground bunker or bomb shelter in Baghdad, killing hundreds of Iraqis. [1] [41]
- February 15
- Freighter with dynamite explodes in Phang Nga, Thailand, 120 die. [1]
- The Visegrad Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland. [41]
- February 16
- Dutch PPR, Political Party Radicals, disbands. [1]
- February 18
- The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes bombs in the early morning at both Paddington station and Victoria station in London. [41]
- February 21
- In the Bering Sea, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurs. Believed to be the largest earthquake ever located in this area. [53]
- USSR announces Iraq agrees to a proposal to end Persian Gulf War; US calls the plan unacceptable. [1] [41]
- February 22
- US President George H.W. Bush and US Gulf War allies give Iraq 24 hours to begin Kuwait withdrawal. [1]
- February 23
- In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong deposes Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan in a bloodless coup d'état. [1] [41]
- US insists Iraq publicly announce it is leaving Kuwait by 12 PM EST. [1]
- February 24
- US and allies begin a ground war assault on Iraqi troops in Kuwait. [1] [41]
- February 25
- Iraqi SCUD missile hits US barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 29, injuring 99. [1] [41]
- February 26
- Tim Berners-Lee introduces WorldWideWeb, the first web browser. [5]
- On Baghdad radio, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Iraqi soldiers set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they retreat. [41]
- Kuwaiti resistance leaders declare they have control of their capital. [1]
- February 27
- Gulf War ends after Iraqi troops retreat and Kuwait is liberated. [1]
- Robert-Jan Akkerman, Dutch diplomat (to Tunis), murdered. [1]
- February 28
- US and allied forces grant Iraq a cease fire. [1] [1215.813]
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