January 21, 2020 (Tuesday)
Arts and culture
- The United Kingdom and United States governments announce they have agreed to protect the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. The agreement, signed by the British government in 2003, has come into effect after being ratified by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. An official also says the UK will work with Canada and France to bring "even more protection" to the wreckage. (BBC News)
- Rock musician Ozzy Osbourne announces that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. (ABC News)
Business and economy
- Gold Fields Ltd, a South African mining company, has hired an investment bank, RBC Capital Markets, to help it sell 30% of its gold project in northern Chile. (Reuters)
- Boeing 737 MAX groundings
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 pandemic in Washington (state)
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces the first U.S. case of novel coronavirus in Snohomish County, Washington. (The Washington Post)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan
- The Centers for Disease Control for Taiwan announces that the first case of novel coronavirus was identified at Taoyuan International Airport. (The Wall Street Journal)
- North Korea reportedly bans foreign tourists and closes the China–North Korea border to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. (Al Jazeera)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 pandemic in Washington (state)
International relations
- Ukraine–United Kingdom relations
- Ukraine demands the United Kingdom's National Counter Terrorism Policing Network remove the country's Tryzub coat of arms from a guide on hate symbols associated with white supremacy and Neo-Nazism. Counter Terrorism Policing says the coat of arms was included due to its use by National Action, a proscribed far-right terror group. (BBC News)
Law and crime
- Two judicial sources announce that the trial of seven Cameroonian soldiers has begun for the killing of two women and two children in July 2018, in a case that sparked international outcry. Six of the soldiers admit to the charges, but say they were given the order to open fire. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- 2020 Labour Party leadership election
- Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips drops out of the UK Labour Party leadership race. (BBC News)
- 2019–20 Lebanese protests
- Lebanon forms a new government with former American University of Beirut professor Hassan Diab as its Prime Minister, ending a three-month deadlock. Protestors subsequently march on Parliament to protest the new government. (Al Jazeera)
- The 2020 United States census begins, with Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham visiting Toksook Bay, Alaska, to meet with indigenous leaders and distribute census materials to residents. (BBC News)