This Day in History: U.S.-led allied forces launched “Operation Desert Storm” in Gulf War

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on January 17:

1919 – Classical pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski became prime minister of Poland.

1929 – United States ratifies Kellogg-Briant Pact.

1987 – King Hussein of Jordan and Pope John Paul II meet in Vatican.

1991 – In the Gulf War, U.S.-led allied forces launched “Operation Desert Storm”, an air and missile offensive against Iraqi positions.

1994 – Los Angeles earthquake leaves dozens dead.

1995 – More than 6,400 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit Kobe, Japan.

2002 – Hundreds of thousands displaced in DRC as Mount Nyiragongo volcano erupts.

2004 – Todd Woodbridge sets world record for doubles titles in Sydney.

2008 – Bobby Fischer, the eccentric genius who became America’s only world chess champion by humbling the Soviet Union’s best, but who spent his last years as a fugitive from U.S. authorities, died.

2014 – California governor declares drought emergency in driest year on record.

2015 – Workers in Cairo attempt to prepare the world’s biggest plate of Koshary, a popular Egyptian dish.

(Reuters)