A fire in an escape room in Koszalin, Poland, kills five teenagers through carbon monoxide poisoning.
Hennenman–Kroonstad train crash: A passenger train operated by Shosholoza Meyl collides with a truck on a level crossing at Geneva Station between Hennenman and Kroonstad, Free State, South Africa. Twenty people are killed and 260 injured.
A gunman kills eight people in a house-to-house rampage in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines.
The Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world, officially opens in Dubai.
A Let L-410 Turbolet crashes in the Los Roques Archipelago in Venezuela, killing 14 people.
The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.
Ehud Olmert becomes acting Prime Minister of Israel after the incumbent, Ariel Sharon, suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke.
Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia following the November 2003 Rose Revolution.
A Norwegian passenger train departing from Trondheim, collides with a local train coming from Hamar in Åsta in Åmot Municipality; 19 people are killed and 68 injured in the accident.
Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota, United States.
A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.
In Pakistan's deadliest train accident an overloaded passenger train collides with an empty freight train, resulting in 307 deaths and 700 injuries.
Second Gulf of Sidra incident: A pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.
The Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people.
The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force shoots dead six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The next day, gunmen would shoot dead ten Protestant civilians nearby in retaliation.
This date overflowed the 12-bit field that had been used in TOPS-10. There were numerous problems and crashes related to this bug while an alternative format was developed.
Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, UK.
The Doors released their eponymous debut album.
Aeroflot Flight 101/X-20 crashes on approach to Alma-Ata Airport, killing 64 people.
Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, falls to Earth from orbit.
The Greek National Radical Union is formed by Konstantinos Karamanlis.
Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time.
Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic.
The first day of a three-day "disastrous" tornado outbreak across the south-central United States leaves 41 people dead and at least 412 others injured.
World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.
The Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.
The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Empire by royal charter.
Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes.
Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy's death.
Sino-French War: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing force at Núi Bop in northern Vietnam.
The Fabian Society is founded in London, United Kingdom.
Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Sofia is liberated from Ottoman rule.
The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, is established in Hamburg, Germany.
The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.
After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regains his freedom; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later becomes a national bestseller.
The first issue of the Swedish-languaged Saima newspaper founded by J. V. Snellman is published in Kuopio, Finland.
Constantine Hangerli arrives in Bucharest, Wallachia, as its new Prince, invested by the Ottoman Empire.
Great Britain declares war on Spain, which meant the entry of Spain into the Seven Years' War.
The Netherlands, Great Britain, and France sign the Triple Alliance.
English Civil War: The Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial.
English Civil War: King Charles I, accompanied by 400 soldiers, attempts to arrest five members of Parliament for treason, only to discover the men had been tipped off and fled.
Battle of Reading: Æthelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred are defeated by a Danish invasion army.
Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.