Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2023 Israel–Hamas war
  • At least 27 rockets are fired by Hamas shortly after midnight at cities and towns in central and southern Israel. (Times of Israel) (Ynet)
  • The IDF withdraws five brigades, consisting of thousands of soldiers, from the Gaza Strip and says the war will enter a "different mode of operations". (Al Jazeera)
• Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
  • The Republic of Artsakh officially ceases to exist, in accordance with a decree signed by former president Samvel Shahramanyan. (Interfax)

Arts and culture

• Public Domain Day
  • 2024 in American public domain
    • The animated short film Steamboat Willie, the German-language version of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, and other works published in 1928 enter the public domain in the United States. (Mashable)
• The Sheikh Zayed Festival at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates breaks four Guinness World Records for a hour-long fireworks display and drone show during the New Year celebration. (Gulf News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Sea of Japan earthquake
  • A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, killing 55 people. A tsunami warning is issued for multiple prefectures along the Sea of Japan. (Reuters)
• One person is killed and 21 others are injured in a fire at a bar in Graz, Austria, that was hosting a New Year's party. (AP)

International relations

• Foreign relations of Ethiopia, Foreign relations of Somaliland
  • Ethiopia announces an agreement with Somaliland to use 20 km of coastline, including the port of Berbera, in exchange for eventual recognition of the Somaliland Declaration of Independence, which would make it the first country to do so. (Reuters)
• Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates formally join the BRICS group as new members. (Tehran Times)

Law and crime

• 2023 Israeli judicial reform
  • Movement for Quality Government in Israel v. Knesset
    • The Supreme Court of Israel votes 8–7 to strike down the "reasonableness" bill passed by the Knesset in July. (BBC News) (Times of Israel)
• LGBT rights in Estonia
  • Same-sex marriage in Estonia
    • Estonia becomes the 36th country in the world where same-sex couples can marry. (Postimees)
• Bangladeshi economist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus and three people that worked at his company Grameen Telecom are sentenced to six months in prison for violating Bangladesh's labor laws. (Al Jazeera)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2023 Israel–Hamas war
  • 2023 Israel–Lebanon border conflict
    • Assassination of Saleh al-Arouri
      • An Israeli airstrike in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon, kills seven people, including Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy chairman of Hamas' political bureau, and two other senior Hamas military officials. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack. (Reuters)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russian strikes against infrastructure
    • 2 January 2024 Russian strikes on Ukraine
      • Four civilians are killed and nearly 100 others are injured by a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv and at least 27 civilians are injured by a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. (AP)
• Spillover of the Afghan conflict
  • Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
    • Unidentified gunmen kill six people in Mir Ali, North Waziristan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (ABC News)
• War in Sudan (2023–present)
  • The RSF attacked the town of Bara, North Kordofan and plundered the University of Gezira in Wad Madani. The SAF launched airstrikes on RSF positions in Wad Madani, Sennar, and the Khartoum area. (Dabanga Sudan)

Arts and culture

• 2023 United States Congress hearing on antisemitism
  • Claudine Gay resigns as president of Harvard University following controversial remarks she made during a congressional hearing on antisemitism and accusations of plagiarism. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Haneda Airport runway collision
  • A Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 aircraft collides with a Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 aircraft and bursts into flames at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan. All 379 occupants aboard the Japan Airlines flight are evacuated, while five of the six occupants aboard the Coast Guard aircraft are killed. (BBC News) (Reuters)
• A Ugandan People's Defence Force helicopter crashes in the village of Nyamisigiri, Kabarole District, Uganda, killing two people on board the helicopter and one person on the ground. (KFM) (Aviation Safety Network)

Law and crime

• Attempted assassination of Lee Jae-myung
  • South Korean opposition politician Lee Jae-myung is stabbed in the neck in Gadeokdo, Busan. (The New York Times)
• A man breaks into the Colorado Supreme Court building in Denver, Colorado, United States. He holds a security guard at gunpoint and later voluntarily surrenders to police. (Colorado Public Radio)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Turkey–Ukraine relations
      • Turkey denies access to the Black Sea for two Royal Navy minehunters saying their transit of the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits would be in violation of the Montreux Convention of 1936. (The Independent)
    • Ukraine and Russia complete their first prisoner exchange in nearly five months, releasing over 200 people on each side, facilitated by mediation from the United Arab Emirates. (Reuters)
• Myanmar civil war
  • Operation 1027
    • Ta’ang National Liberation Army claimed to have taken control of the town of Mongngaw in Kyaukme Township in Shan State. (Irrawadyy)
• Colombian conflict
  • The Clan del Golfo detonate explosives at an army encampment in Turbo, Antioquia Department, Colombia, killing a soldier and injuring 12 others. (ABC News)
• Kerman bombings
  • Eighty nine people are killed and 284 others injured in a double bombing in Kerman, Iran, during a ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. (AP)

Law and crime

• 2023 Sierra Leone coup attempt
  • A court in Freetown, Sierra Leone, charges former president Ernest Bai Koroma with four offences, including treason for his alleged role during the November coup attempt. (France 24)
• Capital punishment in India
  • A court in India sentences two men to death over a train bombing in 2005 which killed 14 people. (Deccan Herald)
• A court in the U.S. state of New York releases unsealed documents containing the associates list of Jeffrey Epstein to the public. (The Independent)
• Three men are stabbed and injured on a train at Akihabara Station in Tokyo, Japan. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Hilda Heine is sworn in as President of the Marshall Islands. (RNZ)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Iraqi conflict
  • U.S. drone strikes in Iraq and Syria
    • A U.S. drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq, kills four Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba militants, including senior leader Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi. (Reuters)
• 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
  • Battle of Khan Yunis
    • IDF claimed to have significantly degraded the command and control of Hamas Khan Younis Brigade's northern and eastern battalions with the destruction of tunnel systems, infrastructure and deaths of company commanders. (Understanding War)
• Kerman bombings
  • Islamic State's Khorasan Province claims responsibility for yesterday's double bombing in Kerman, Iran, which killed 89 people. (BBC News) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Five people are killed and 22 others are injured in a fire at a hospital in Uelzen, Lower Saxony, Germany. (AP)
• At least 1,000 cars are stranded on the E22 highway in Sweden between Hörby and Kristianstad due to heavy snow with people spending the night in their vehicles. The Swedish Army helped drivers get out of their vehicles and supplied them with basic amenities. (NOS)
• A private plane en route from J. F. Mitchell Airport in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to Hewanorra International Airport in Saint Lucia crashes shortly after takeoff, killing four people including German actor Christian Oliver and his two daughters. (Loop News) (AFP via Hindustan Times)

Law and crime

• Perry High School shooting
  • Two people are killed (including the perpetrator) and five others are injured during a mass school shooting in Perry, Iowa, United States. (ABC News)
• Treatment of women by the Taliban
  • A spokesman for the Vice and Virtue Ministry of the Taliban in Afghanistan announces the arrest of an unspecified number of women for wearing "bad hijab", in the first known crackdown on the dress code since the Taliban's return to power in August 2021. (AP)
• Myanmar announces the pardon of 9,652 prisoners, including 114 foreigners, to mark the country's independence day. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin issues a decree granting Russian citizenship to foreigners who fight for Russia in the war against Ukraine, and for their families. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Myanmar civil war
  • Operation 1027
    • Battle of Laukkai
      • The MNDAA gained full control of Laukkai, capital of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone following the mass surrender of the last junta forces and officials within the city. (Myanmar-Now)
• Iraqi conflict
  • U.S. drone strikes in Iraq and Syria
    • Prime Minister of Iraq Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani announces that the Iraqi government is beginning the process to remove the U.S.-led international military coalition from the country after a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad yesterday killed a militia leader. (Reuters)
• Korean conflict
  • North Korea fires 200 artillery shells near South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island, prompting evacuations. (CNBC)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Sea of Japan earthquake
  • The death toll from the magnitude 7.6 earthquake in the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, on January 1, increases to 94 people. At least 222 others still missing. (AP)
• Two passenger trains collide near Cicalengka railway station in Bandung Regency, West Java, Indonesia, killing at least four people and injuring several others. (AP)

International relations

• Foreign relations of Nepal, Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Nepal suspends the issuance of permits to its citizens to work in Russia and Ukraine after 10 Nepalis are killed while serving in the Russian Army. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• South African former Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is released on parole after serving eight and a half years in prison for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. (France 24)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks on civilians in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Russian forces attack Pokrovsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast, with S-300 missiles, killing at least 11 people, including five children, and injuring eight others. (CNN International)

Disasters and accidents

• Alaska Airlines Flight 1282
  • An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 plane loses a section of its fuselage mid-air and makes an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon, United States. (The Guardian) (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Salvadoran general election
  • Electronic voting for Salvadoran expatriates in the presidential and legislative elections begins. (El Mundo)