- Jan 1 10 people are killed and 120 are injured in a stampede in Luanda, Angola
- Jan 1 13 Boko Harem members are killed by Nigeria’s military in Maiduguri
- Jan 1 13 FARC members are killed by an airstrike by the Colombian military
- Jan 1 18 people are killed and 16 wounded after a bus and mini-bus collision in Thiès, Senegal
- Jan 1 60 people are killed and 200 are injured after a stampede following New Year celebrations
- Jan 1 79th Orange Bowl: #13 Florida State beats #16 Northern Illinois, 31-10
- Jan 1 99th Rose Bowl: #8 Stanford beats Wisconsin, 20-14
Carlsen Breaks Kasparov Record
Jan 1 Magnus Carlsen breaks Garry Kasparov's chess FIDE rating, reaching 2,861
- Jan 1 Phil Taylor claims his 16th and last PDC World Darts Championship title with a 7–4 victory over Dutchman Michael van Gerwen in the final in London
- Jan 1 US bi-partisan deal temporarily avoids the fiscal cliff
- Jan 2 79th Sugar Bowl: #21 Louisville beats #3 Florida, 33-23
- Jan 3 27 Shiite pilgrims are killed and 60 are injured by a suicide bombing in Musayyib, Iraq
- Jan 3 42nd Fiesta Bowl: #5 Oregon beats #7 Kansas State, 35-17
- Jan 4 6 Russian tourists are killed, and 2 are seriously injured when their snowmobile veers off a ski slope on Mount Cermis, Italy
- Jan 4 A Beechcraft BE35 airplane crashes into a house in Palm Coast, Florida, in faialed emergency landing, killing 3 in the plane, no one in the home was injured
- Jan 4 Car bomb kills 11 people, and injures 40 at a petrol station in Damascus, Syria
- Jan 4 Gunman kills 8 people in Kawit, Philippines
Spain's Fourth Title
Jan 5 25th Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Spain wins 4th title; Anabel Medina Garrigues & Fernando Verdasco beat high profile Serbian pair Ana Ivanović & Novak Đoković 6-4, 7-5 to clinch 2-1 victory
Messi Wins Record Fourth
Jan 7 FIFA Ballon d'Or: Barcelona forward Lionel Messi wins award for a record 4th consecutive year; US forward Abby Wambach wins women's award
- Jan 8 130 wildfires across Australia’s east coast force thousands to evacuate their homes
- Jan 8 2,130 prisoners held by the Syrian government are exchanged for 48 Iranians kidnapped by Syrian rebels
Nash 5th to 10,000 Assists
Jan 8 Steve Nash becomes 5th NBA player to record 10,000th career assists, playing for the LA Lakers against Houston - Lakers still lose 125–112
- Jan 10 18th Critics' Choice Movie Awards: Argo wins Best Film
39th People's Choice Awards
Jan 10 39th People's Choice Awards: Robert Downey Jr & Jennifer Lawrence win (Movie Star) and Nathan Fillion & Ellen Pompeo win (TV Drama)
- Jan 10 81 people are killed and 120 are wounded by a twin bombing in Quetta, Pakistan
- Jan 11 29 people are killed and 12 are injured after a bus veers off a mountain road in Doti, Nepal
- Jan 11 46 people are killed and 12 are missing after a landslide buries a village in the Yunnan province, China
- Jan 12 "Mile High Miracle", In AFC Divisional Playoff Game Denver Broncos ahead of Baltimore Ravens 35-28 with 1:09 remaining, quarterback Joe Flacco heaves 70 yard touchdown pass to receiver Jacoby Jones to tie the game. Ravens win in overtime.
- Jan 12 A failed attempt to rescue a French hostage in Bulo Marer, Somalia, results in 18 deaths
- Jan 12 Beijing’s level of air pollution is declared to be at levels that are hazardous to human health
70th Golden Globes
Jan 13 70th Golden Globes: Argo, Daniel Day-Lewis, & Jessica Chastain win
Pence Governor of Indiana
Jan 14 Mike Pence sworn in as 50th governor of Indiana
- Jan 15 19 Egyptian Army recruits are killed and 120 are injured in a train accident in Giza
- Jan 15 83 people are killed and 150 are injured in a rocket attack on Aleppo University, Syria
- Jan 16 24 people die after three car bombs exploded in Idlib Governorate, Syria
- Jan 16 25 people are killed after an apartment block collapses in Alexandria, Egypt
- Jan 16 A four day occupation of an Algerian BP facility by Amenas militants begins, killing 48 hostages
- Jan 17 106 people are massacred by Syrian army forces in Homs
- Jan 17 33 people are killed by a series of bombs across Iraq
- Jan 17 4 people are killed and over 2,000 are evacuated after a massive flood hits Jakarta, Indonesia
- Jan 17 8 people are killed in a plane crash in Chiapas, Mexico
- Jan 17 Japan unveils plans to build the world’s largest wind farm near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
Sons of the Sea
Jan 18 Former Incubus singer Brandon Boyd announces his new band, Sons of the Sea
- Jan 19 Calcium deposits are discovered on Mars by NASA’s Curiosity Rover
- Jan 19 Four climbers are killed by an avalanche in Glen Coe, Scotland
Armstrong's Doping Downfall
Jan 19 Lance Armstrong admits to doping in all seven of his Tour de France victories
- Jan 19 The 2012-2013 NHL season begins after a 119-day lockout
- Jan 20 AFC Championship, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough: Baltimore Ravens beat New England Patriots, 28-13
- Jan 20 Austria votes to maintain compulsory military service in a referendum
- Jan 20 NFC Championship, Georgia Dome, Atlanta: San Francisco 49ers beat Atlanta Falcons, 28-24
- Jan 21 1 person is killed and 15 are injured by a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in Indonesia
- Jan 21 18 people are killed and 24 are injured after a bus falls down a ravine in Yungas, Bolivia
- Jan 21 30 people are killed in a car bombing in Salamiyeh, Syria
- Jan 21 41 people are injured after two trains collide in Vienna, Austria
- Jan 21 Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Netherlands’ Minister of Finance, becomes the President of the Euro Group
- Jan 22 A series of Baghdad car bombings kill 17 people
- Jan 22 The Bank of Japan doubles its inflation target to 2% and announces open-ended asset purchases for 2014 in the hope of ending deflation
- Jan 23 18 people are killed in a market shooting in Damboa, Nigeria
- Jan 23 23 people are killed in a mosque suicide bombing in Tuz Khormato, Iraq
- Jan 23 US armed forces overturns 1994 ban on women serving in combat
- Jan 24 17 people are killed and 34 are injured in a bus crash in Taperas, Bolivia
- Jan 24 A Japanese Coast guard ship engages a Taiwanese activist ship in the Senkaku Islands dispute
- Jan 24 Russian police kill 13 rebels in Vedeno District, Chechnya
- Jan 25 50 people are killed and 90 are injured in a prison riot in Barquisimeto, Venezuela
- Jan 25 6 civilians and 1 police officer are shot dead and 456 people are injured during a nationwide protest against Egypt’s 2011 revolution
- Jan 25 8 people are killed by 2 car bombs in Golan Heights, Syria
- Jan 25 Initial GDP figures for the fourth quarter of 2012 show the UK economy shrank by 0.3% raising fears of a triple dip recession
- Jan 25 Islamist forces are driven out of Hombori by the Malian army
- Jan 25 Tropical cyclone Oswald makes landfall in Queensland, Australia, causing mass flooding
- Jan 26 10 people are killed and 20 are injured by a suicide bombing in Kunduz, Afghanistan
- Jan 26 30 people are killed during a violent protest in Port Said, Egypt
Azarenka Defeats Li
Jan 26 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus wins her 2nd straight Australian title; beats Li Na of China 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
- Jan 26 Miloš Zeman wins the Czech Republic’s presidential election
- Jan 26 The United States Sentencing Commission is hacked by Anonymous in response to the suicide of Aaron Swartz
- Jan 27 29th Sundance Film Festival: "Fruitvale Station", directed by Ryan Coogler, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
- Jan 27 7 people are killed and 3 are injured when a retaining wall collapses during a football match at the Ugur Sports Facility, Turkey
- Jan 27 A bus crash into a ravine in Serta, Portugal, kills 11 people and injures an additional 32
- Jan 27 A series of bomb attacks in Kandahar, Afghanistan, kills 20 police officers
- Jan 27 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Novak Đoković wins Open era record 4th Australian crown; beats Andy Murray of Scotland 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2
- Jan 27 In Port Said, Egypt, protests result in 7 people being killed and 630 are injured
Carlsen Wins Tata Steel Tournament
Jan 27 Magnus Carlsen wins the 2013 Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands
- Jan 27 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii: NFC beats AFC, 62-35; MVP: Kyle Rudolph, Minnesota Vikings, TE
- Jan 27 Spain defeats Denmark to win the 2013 World Men's Handball Championship
- Jan 27 The Kiss nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, ignited by pyrotechnics used by a performing rock band kills 245 people and injures at least 600 others; most of the deaths were from toxic smoke inhalation, the club was over capacity and had no fire exits
- Jan 28 10 people are killed and 11 are injured in after a freight train collides with a bus in Heihe City, China
- Jan 28 20 people are killed after a Bombardier CRJ200 airliner crashes outside Almaty, Kazakhstan
- Jan 28 Iran’s Pishgam rocket successfully completes a return trip of sending a monkey into space
- Jan 30 South Korea successfully launches its rocket Naro-1 which was carrying a scientific satellite
The Americans
Jan 30 TV spy drama "The Americans" created by Joe Weisberg, starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys premieres on FX
- Jan 31 300 people are injured in a train collision in Pretoria, South Africa
- Jan 31 36 people are killed and 126 are injured in an explosion at Torre Ejecutiva Pemex, Mexico
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