- Jan 1 106th Rose Bowl: #6 Oregon beats #8 Wisconsin, 28-27; MVPs: Justin Herbert (QB, Oregon) & Brady Breeze (S, Oregon)
- Jan 1 86th Sugar Bowl: #5 Georgia beats #7 Baylor, 26-14
- Jan 1 Pro-Iranian protesters end siege of US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq
Sports History
Jan 1 Scotland's Peter Wright beats Dutch defending champion Michael Van Gerwen, 7-3 with 102.79 average, 34 x 140s, 11 maximums and 53% on doubles to seal his first PDC World Darts Championship in London
- Jan 3 US drone strike kills top Iranian security and intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani outside Baghdad airport in Iraq
Australian Bush Fires
Jan 4 Australian bushfires death toll reaches 23 as PM Scott Morrison announces national defense force will be employed to help fight the more than 200 fires, amid criticism of his leadership
- Jan 4 Floods and landslides caused by torrential rain in Jakarta, Indonesia, kill at least 53
"1917", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" Win
Jan 5 77th Golden Globes: "1917" Best Drama, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" Best Comedy/Musical, acting awards Renée Zellweger, Joaquin Phoenix, Awkwafina, Taron Edgerton
- Jan 5 Chinese professor Zhang Yongzhen publishes the first SARS-CoV-2 genome map online, allowing health professionals worldwide to identify COVID-19
- Jan 5 Iran pulls out of the 2015 nuclear deal, will not limit its uranium enrichment
- Jan 6 Crawford Steel executives Sid Spiegel and Gary Stern via holding company S & S Sportsco purchase the Montreal Alouettes from the Canadian Football League
- Jan 7 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Puerto Rico, island's largest in a century, followed by many aftershocks kill 1 person and destroy 800 homes
- Jan 8 Duke and Duchess of Sussex announce they are stepping back as "senior" royals, will work towards becoming financially independent
- Jan 8 Iran launches missile strike on Irbil and Al Asad bases in Iraqi housing some American troops in retaliation to assassination of General Qasem Soleimani
Bieber has Lyme Disease
Jan 8 Singer Justin Bieber reveals he has Lyme disease, an infectious disease spread by ticks
- Jan 8 Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 crashes just after take-off from Tehran, Iran, killing all 176 people on board
- Jan 11 Diego the giant 100-year-old tortoise retires to the Galapagos islands after his high libido is credited with saving his species
Tsai Ing-wen Re-Elected
Jan 11 Taiwan re-elects Tsai Ing-wen for a second term as president in a landslide result
- Jan 12 1st ATP Cup Men's Tennis, Sydney: Novak Đoković & Viktor Troicki beat Spanish pair Pablo Carreño Busta & Feliciano López 6-3, 6-4 to clinch inaugural title for Serbia, 2-1; Đoković beats Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-6
- Jan 12 Argentine striker Sergio Agüero becomes top-scoring overseas player in English Premier League football history with a hat-trick in Manchester City's 6-1 rout of Aston Villa; total 177 takes him past Thierry Henry
- Jan 12 Taal volcano, 70km (45 miles) south of Manila in the Philippines begins erupting prompting evacuations
- Jan 13 College Football, National Championship, Superdome, New Orleans: #1 LSU beats #3 Clemson, 42-15
- Jan 13 Houston Astros manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow are fired by team owner Jim Crane for their roles in the sign-stealing scandal after MLB suspends both for one year
- Jan 13 Oldest material existing on earth at 7.5 billion years old revealed by scientists studying the Murchison meteorite that fell to earth in Australia in 1960s
Queen Supports Harry and Meghan
Jan 13 Queen Elizabeth II issues a statement saying she reluctantly supports Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wish to live a more independent life
- Jan 14 Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is fired amid Major League Baseball's investigation into sign-stealing by the Houston Astros; Cora was the Astros' bench coach before moving to Boston
Jeopardy's "Greatest of All Time"
Jan 14 US game show Jeopardy "greatest of all time" tournament won by Ken Jennings
- Jan 16 Former Sacramento State softball player Alyssa Nakken becomes first woman to hold a coaching position on a MLB staff when named an assistant by the San Francisco Giants
Trump Impeachment Trial Begins
Jan 16 Impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump begins in the Senate
- Jan 16 Newly appointed manager Carlos Beltran and New York Mets mutually agree to part ways because of his role in Houston Astros sign stealing scandal; third manager forced out of a job as a result of the allegations
- Jan 18 Premiership Rugby announces reigning European and English champions Saracens to be relegated for exceeding salary cap the previous 3 seasons; club fined £5.3m and docked 35 Premiership points
- Jan 19 AFC Championship, Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri: Kansas City Chiefs beat Tennessee Titans, 35-24
- Jan 19 NFC Championship, Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California: San Francisco 49ers beat Green Bay Packers, 37-20
- Jan 21 Revival of Charles Fuller's stage drama "A Soldier's Play, starring David Alan Grier and Blair Underwood at the American Airlines Theatre, NYC; run suspended dut to Covid-19 closures, wins 3 Tony Awards
- Jan 21 World's oldest asteroid impact at 2.2 billion years old found in Yarrabubba, Western Australia, may have ended an ice age, reported in "Nature Communications"
- Jan 23 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp marked by an international forum in Jerusalem, Israel
Sciorra Testifies Against Weinstein
Jan 23 Actress Annabella Sciorra testifies in court that Harvey Weinstein raped her 25 years ago at his trial in New York
Wuhan Lockdown
Jan 23 China locks down the city of Wuhan and its 9 million people, in a belated but ultimately successful effort to control the city's COVID-19 epidemic
- Jan 23 Voice of a 3,000 year old Egyptian priest recreated by scientists 3D printing his vocal tract published in "Scientific Reports"
- Jan 25 65th NHL All Star Games, Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MI: Pacific All Stars win four-team, 3-on-3 tournament; MVP: David Pastrnak LW Boston Bruins
- Jan 25 Severe rainstorms cause landslides and floods in Brazil's Minas Gerais state, killing at least 30
62nd Grammy Awards
Jan 26 62nd Grammy Awards: Billie Eilish wins 5 Grammys, including album, record and song of the year
Kobe Byrant Dies in Helicopter Crash
Jan 26 LA Lakers basketball legend Kobe Bryant dies in a helicopter crash in foggy conditions in the hills above Calabasas, southern California; considered one of the greatest players in the game's history
NFL Pro Bowl
Jan 26 NFL Pro Bowl, Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida: AFC beats NFC, 38-33; MVP's: Lamar Jackson, QB (Baltimore Ravens), Calais Campbell, DE (Jacksonville Jaguars)
- Jan 27 Former king of Belgium, Albert II admits fathering a child after DNA tests confirm paternity
Trump's Middle East Peace Plan
Jan 28 US President Donald Trump releases his Middle East peace plan alongside Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House
- Jan 29 Number of COVID-19 cases passes those of SARS with over 7,700 cases in China confirmed, with 170 deaths
- Jan 30 The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern at a meeting in Geneva
- Jan 31 United Kingdom formally withdraws from the European Union (Brexit)
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