Events in History
Event of Interest
Jan 1 Jair Bolsonaro begins his 4 year term as President of Brazil
- Jan 1 Millions of women create a 300 mile 'Women's Wall' across state of Kerala, India, in support of women's access to temple of Sabarimala
- Jan 1 Qatar introduces a 100% tax on alcohol and other "health-damaging goods", doubling the price of alcohol, tobacco, energy drinks and pork in the oil-rich, predominantly Muslim nation
- Jan 1 Qatar withdraws from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after 57 years of membership
- Jan 1 Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Austria
- Jan 2 Two women become the first to ever enter India's Sabarimala shrine in Kerala State, after law change, prompting protests
Election of Interest
Jan 3 116th US Congress convenes in Washington, D.C., electing Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House of Representatives for the second time
- Jan 3 Archaeologists in Mexico announce discovery of pre-Aztec temple to god Xipe Tótec in Puebla state (dated 900-1150 AD)
- Jan 3 Chinese Chang'e-4 spacecraft becomes the first ever to touch down on the far side of the Moon
- Jan 4 Thailand's worst storm in 30 years, Tropical Storm Pabuk makes landfall on country's east coast
- Jan 5 Chinese government report predicts China's population will peak at 1.44 billion in 2029 before declining
- Jan 5 Orthodox Church of Ukraine granted independence from the Russian Orthodox Church by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
- Jan 6 Malaysian king Sultan Muhammad V abdicates after two years of rule in historic first
- Jan 6 Record $3.1 million (333.6 million yen) price for giant bluefin tuna at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market bought by sushi restaurant owner Kiyoshi Kimura
- Jan 7 Amazon overtakes Microsoft to become the world's most valuable listed company for the first time, worth $797 billion
- Jan 7 Attempted coup in Gabon fails after rebel soldiers overtake national radio station in Libreville
- Jan 7 Tennessee woman Cyntoia Brown, convicted for murdering a man aged 16, granted clemency by Governor Bill Haslam
- Jan 9 California's monarch butterfly count drops by 86% according to 2018 census
- Jan 9 Car manufacture Hyundai unveils a model of a proposed walking car, for first responders, in Las Vegas
Event of Interest
Jan 9 US President Donald Trump makes Oval Office address live on TV over government shutdown and border wall
- Jan 10 13 year-old Jayme Closs escapes her kidnapper after 3 months in captivity in Wisconsin
- Jan 10 Canadian astronomers report fast radio bursts (FRBs) of probable extragalactic origin, one repeating six times at the CHIME observatory, British Columbia
- Jan 10 Oceans warming faster than previous thought due to fossil fuel burning, according to data published in journal "Science"
- Jan 10 Opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi proclaimed winner in Democratic Republic of the Congo presidency elections in a disputed result
- Jan 12 18 year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun arrives in Toronto, Canada, as a refugee, via Thailand, after escaping family abuse in Saudi Arabia
- Jan 14 Americans chance of dying from an accidental opioid overdose higher than a car accident for the first time, according to US National Safety Council
- Jan 14 China posts shock drop in trade figures with a 4.4% fall in exports for December and a 7.6% fall in imports
- Jan 14 Pawel Adamowicz, Mayor of Gdańsk, Poland, stabbed on stage at charity event. Dies two days later.
- Jan 14 Spinning disk of ice 300m wide, resembling the moon, forms in the Presumpscot river, Westbrook, Maine
- Jan 14 US President Donald Trump denies he is a Russian agent after NY Times article states the FBI started an investigation and the Washington Post raised issues over a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin
- Jan 14 US Republican leaders strip Congressman Steve King from House committees after series of racist comments
- Jan 15 Beginning of humanity's largest gathering, the Kumbh Mela Hindu festival with 15 million people bathing at the joining of Ganges and Yamuna rivers, India. 120 million expected over next 49 days.
- Jan 15 Bomb blast and gunfight at DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, leaves at least 21 dead with militants group claiming responsibility al-Shabab
- Jan 15 Chinese scientists confirm they have germinated a cotton seed on the moon on board the Chang’e 4 lander
- Jan 15 LGBTQ activists accuse the Russian republic of Chechnya of a new gay purge with 40 detained and two killed
- Jan 15 Plastic will outweigh fish in the world's oceans by 2050 according to report by the World Economic Forum
Event of Interest
Jan 15 Theresa May's Brexit deal with the EU is rejected by UK parliament 432 votes to 202, largest parliamentary defeat in its democratic era
El Chapo Finally Recaptured
Jan 15 Witness in El Chapo trial claims former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto accepted $100 million bribe from the drug cartel head
- Jan 16 Australian Bureau of Meteorology tweets last four days were the country's hottest on record with Tarcoola, South Australia, reaching 49 C (120 F), Port Augusta 48.5 C (119 F)
- Jan 16 Egyptian city Cairo is engulfed by a sandstorm turning it orange
- Jan 16 Explosion by a suicide bomber aimed at US-led coalition forces at a market in Manjib, Syria, kills about 18 including four Americans
- Jan 16 UK Prime Minister Theresa May wins vote of no confidence in her government 325 to 306
- Jan 16 UN says at least 890 killed in ethnic violence in the western Democratic Republic of Congo in December, with 465 building destroyed, delaying the presidential election
- Jan 17 Car bomb in Bogota, Colombia, outside the National Police Academy kills at least 8 and injures 41
- Jan 17 China executes Cai Dongjia, the country's "godfather of crystal meth" from Boshe, Guangdong
- Jan 17 Indian spiritual leader Ram Rahim Singh and two aides sentenced to life in prison for murdering journalist who exposed sexual abuse at the sect
- Jan 23 New record for most expensive US property, $238 million for penthouse condominium overlooking Central Park, NY, bought by hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin
- Jan 23 US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disinvites President Donald Trump from making a State of the Union address in Congress citing government shutdown
Event of Interest
Jan 23 Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declares himself acting President amid widespread violent protests against President Nicolas Maduro's regime
- Jan 24 17 temperature records broken in South Australia including highest ever recorded for capital Adelaide at 46.6C
- Jan 24 US government recognises Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's President
- Jan 25 At least 20 people have died this week in Venezuelan anti-government protests according to the UN
- Jan 25 Longest-ever US government shutdown ends after 35 days when President Donald Trump agrees to three week of negotiations on border security by a House-Senate conference committee
- Jan 25 Roger Stone, political lobbyist for Donald Trump, is arrested as part of Mueller investigation for obstruction of justice, witness tampering and making false statements
- Jan 25 Tailing dam for an iron ore mine in Brumadinho, south-eastern Brazil, collapses killing at least 110 with 238 missing
- Jan 26 Five people shot and killed in domestic deputes in Louisiana, a 21- year old gunman arrested a day later
- Jan 27 Landslide kills 15 at a wedding party in a hotel in Abancay, Peru
- Jan 27 Tornado strikes Havana, Cuba, killing three and injuring 172
- Jan 27 Two bombs at a Roman Catholic cathedral on Jolo Island, southern, Philippines kills 20, Islamic State claims responsibility
- Jan 28 Draft framework for peace agreement to end 17-year conflict in Afghanistan agreed by US and Afghan negotiators
- Jan 28 US Justice Department charges Chinese firm Huawei with bank and wire fraud
- Jan 29 "Empire" star Jussie Smollett suffers suspected racist and homophobic attack in Chicago; later determined to be a self-perpetrated hoax
- Jan 29 Approaching polar vortex prompts state of emergency to be declared in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Alabama and Mississippi. US Postal Service suspends deliveries to ten states.
- Jan 29 Norwegian government proposes building a floating road tunnel as part of a new roadway between Kristiansand and Trondheim [1]
- Jan 29 Tehran, Iran bans dog walking in public, and driving with dogs
- Jan 29 Toronto landscaper Bruce McArthur admits in court to the murder of eight gay men
- Jan 30 Continuous 24 hr church mass lasting 97 days to prevent deportation of Armenian asylum seekers ends after Dutch authorities reconsider at Protestant Bethel Church in The Hague
- Jan 30 Peter Paul Rubens’s 1608 drawing "Nude Study of Young Man with Raised Arms" sells for $8.2 million at auction in New York
- Jan 30 Russian Senator Rauf Arashukov arrested within parliament on two murder charges
- Jan 30 Scientists reveal discovery of cavity six miles long, 1,000 feet deep under Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, leading to fears it might collapse and raise sea levels by two feet
- Jan 31 At least 20 newborns and children have died in last two months of the cold, trying to get to the Al-Ho Syrian refugee camp according to WHO
- Jan 31 Catholic leaders in Texas name 286 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children, dating back to 1940
- Jan 31 Colonization of the America's in the late 1500s killed so many people it cooled the planet and led to a "Little Ice Age", according to a scientific report published in "Quaternary Science Reviews"
- Jan 31 Leaked Indian government reports says unemployment rate at 6.1% highest since 1972-73, up from 2.2% in 2011-12
- Jan 31 New government in Lebanon finally formed by Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri nine months after elections
- Jan 31 Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah crowned King of Malaysia to serve a five-year term
- Jan 31 US border agency seizes its biggest ever fentanyl bust, nearly 254 pounds hidden in Tractor-trailer in Nogales, Arizona
Weddings in History
- Jan 1 Austrian women Nicole Kopaunik (37) and Daniela Paier (37) become the 1st same-sex couple to be officially married in the predominantly Catholic country, in a ceremony in Velden, southern Austria, shortly after midnight
Deaths in History
- Jan 1 George, the last Hawaiian tree snail of his kind (Achatinella apexfulva species), dies at the University of Hawaii aged 14 years
- Jan 2 Julia Grant [prev George Roberts], transgender activist featured in "A Change of Sex", dies at 64
- Jan 4 John Burningham, English author and illustrator of children's books (Mr Grumpy's Outing), dies at 82
- Jan 9 Joseph Howze, American Roman Catholic bishop, 1st African American Bishop to be appointed in 20th century, dies at 95
- Jan 11 Michael Atiyah, English mathematician (Atiyah-Singer Index, Fields Medal 1966), dies at 89
- Jan 16 Hugh Lewin, South African anti-apartheid activist and writer (Bandiet: Seven Years in a South African Prison), dies at 79
- Jan 19 Henry Sy Sr., Chinese Malay businessman 'Philippines Retail King', dies at 94
- Jan 20 Dumisani Kumalo, South African anti-apartheid activist and UN ambassador, dies at 71
- Jan 21 Harris Wofford, American politician (Sen-D-Pennsylvania 1991-94), head of AmeriCorps, dies at 92
- Jan 22 Charles Vandenhove, Belgian architect (Standard-Omnisporthal, Luik), dies at 91
- Jan 23 Diana Athill, English writer and editor (Stet), dies at 101
- Jan 23 Norman Orentreich, American dermatologist known as "the father of modern hair transplantation", dies at 96
- Jan 25 Donald N. Langenberg, American physicist, dies at 86
- Jan 25 Florence Knoll Bassett, American furniture designer (Knoll), dies at 101
- Jan 25 Meshulam Riklis, Turkish-born Israeli businessman and husband of Pia Zadora, dies at 95
- Jan 28 Kim Bok-dong, Korean sex slave activist, dies at 92
- Jan 30 Bernard Nevill, British textile designer, dies at 88
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists