On Jan. 19, 1966, Indira Gandhi was chosen to be prime minister of India by the National Congress party. (Gandhi, a powerful as well as polarizing figure, served as India’s prime minister from 1966 to 1977, and again beginning in 1980 until she was assassinated in 1984.)

Ten years ago

Osama bin Laden, in an audiotape that was his first in more than a year, said al-Qaida was preparing for attacks in the United States; at the same time, he offered a “long-term truce” without specifying the conditions. Vice President Dick Cheney defended the administration’s domestic surveillance program, calling it an essential tool in monitoring al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations. An unmanned NASA spacecraft, New Horizons, blasted off on a 3-billion-mile journey toward Pluto (the spacecraft flew by Pluto in the summer of 2015).

Five years ago

Chinese President Hu Jintao, visiting the White House, declared “a lot still needs to be done” to improve his country’s record on human rights; the exchange with President Barack Obama over human rights was balanced by U.S. delight over newly announced Chinese business deals expected to generate about $45 billion in new export sales for the U.S.

One year ago

As he headed home from a week-long trip to Asia, Pope Francis upheld church teaching banning contraception, but said Catholics didn’t have to breed “like rabbits” and should instead practice responsible parenting.

— By The Associated Press