January 31, 2006 (Tuesday)
- U.S. President George W. Bush delivers the State of the Union Address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate). (Wikinews)
- Moments before the address began, anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan is arrested in the U.S. Capitol Building for refusing to cover up a T-shirt she was wearing to protest the war and occupation of Iraq. (CNN)
- Also directed out of the U.S. Capitol Building was Beverly Young, wife of GOP congressman Bill Young, for wearing a T-shirt that read "Support the Troops: Defending Our Freedom" (ABC).
- Iran's nuclear program
- Iran reacts with anger to its referral to the U.N. Security Council, saying diplomatic avenues have been closed. (CNN)
- The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced it has evidence within its report for the Thursday meeting that Iran obtained documents showing how to mold highly enriched grade uranium into the core of warheads. (Reuters)
- In Iraq, the British Armed Forces records its 100th military death. (ABC)
- In the United States, a female ex-postal worker opens fire in a mail-processing plant, killing six people and critically wounding another before committing suicide in what's believed to be the deadliest workplace shooting ever carried out by a woman in U.S. history. (CNN)
- United States Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced renewed opposition to the U.S. decision to abandon the 30-year-old Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in favour of missile defence saying it would damage world security. He also claimed that Russia has developed a new category of hypersonic intercontinental missile which can zig-zag in flight and is immune to any missile defense system. (Washington Post) Archived 2012-10-20 at the Wayback Machine
- Nominations for the 78th Academy Awards were announced in Beverly Hills, California, by Academy President Sid Ganis and actress Mira Sorvino. (CNN)
- Coretta Scott King, widow of assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, dies at age 78. (MSNBC)
- A former US Marine, Jim Massey, has claimed on the Irish radio station Live 95FM that the US military has been illegally shipping depleted uranium through Shannon Airport for use in Iraq. (UTV) (The Limerick Blogger)(Live 95FM) If true, this would be a major breach of Irish neutrality and Irish-US agreements on the use of Shannon. The airport's use by the US military is already highly controversial, in part due to the connection with CIA captives. (IOL.ie)[permanent dead link]
- U.S. oil company ExxonMobil announced profits for 2005 of $36.1 billion, a record amount in US corporate history. In anticipation of a public backlash, the company simultaneously posted newspaper advertisements in the US to explain its success. (Seattle Times)
- A tourist coach crash in Egypt on the highway between Hurghada and Luxor kills 14 and injures another 30 people. All casualties are from Hong Kong and were joining Jetour Holidays tours.