Following are some of the major events to have occurred on January 23:
1937 – The trial of 17 leading Communists began in Moscow after they were accused of involvement in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow the regime and assassinate its leaders.
1996 – South Korean prosecutors formally charged former Presidents Roh Tae-woo and Chun Doo Hwan with sedition over events surrounding the 1980 army massacre of pro-democracy activists in Kwangju.
1997 – Madeleine Albright becomes first female U.S. Secretary of State.
2003 – Giovanni Agnelli, who turned the Italian family car company Fiat into a global industrial powerhouse, died aged 81.
2004 – Helmut Newton, the German-born photographer whose stark portraits of nude women in chains and bonds won him acclaim and revulsion, was killed in a car accident in Hollywood, aged 83.
2005 – The American comedian Johnny Carson, king of U.S. late-night television as host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” for nearly 30 years, died aged 79.
2005 – Thousands attend funeral for NY firefighter who died in Bronx blaze.
2006 – Evo Morales becomes first Indigenous president of Bolivia.
2008 – Thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt from the Gaza Strip through a border wall blown up by militants and stocked up on food and fuel in short supply due to an Israeli blockade.
2011 – Brazil celebrates National Day of the Volkswagen Beetle.
2014 – Barcelona FC President Sandro Rosell resigns.
(Reuters)