Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2024 missile strikes in Yemen
  • The U.S. Navy conducts additional strikes targeting Houthi-held territory in Yemen. (Reuters)
• Kurdish–Turkish conflict
  • Turkey launches airstrikes against Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria, a day after nine Turkish soldiers were killed in a shooting in Iraq. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• A landslide in El Carmen de Atrato, Chocó, Colombia, kills 33 people and injures at least 35 others. (AP)
• At least 21 miners are killed and others are trapped following a collapse at a gold mine in Simiyu Region, Tanzania. (Xinhua)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Taiwanese presidential election, 2024 Taiwanese legislative election
  • Voters in Taiwan elect a new president and members of the Legislative Yuan. (Reuters)
  • Vice President Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party is elected president. (The Guardian)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Operation Prosperity Guardian, Houthi involvement in the Israel–Hamas war, United States–Houthi conflict
  • 2024 missile strikes in Yemen
    • The United States and United Kingdom launch airstrikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen in response to attacks on international trade in the Red Sea. Explosions are reported in the capital Sanaa and port city of Al Hudaydah, with at least ten Houthi militants killed. (BBC News) (AP) (Bloomberg)
    • U.S. officials confirm that more than a dozen Houthi sites have been targeted with Tomahawk missiles launched from U.S. Navy warships and fighter jets. The military targets allegedly included logistical hubs, air defence systems, and weapons storage locations. (AP)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Ukraine–United Kingdom relations
    • British prime minister Rishi Sunak visits Kyiv to reiterate his support for Ukraine. (The Washington Post) (GOV.UK)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Noto earthquake
  • The death toll from the magnitude 7.6 earthquake in the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, on January 1, increases to 215 people, with 28 others still missing. (NHK)
• Ten people are killed and six others are missing after an accident at a coal mine in Pingdingshan, Henan, China. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• South Africa v. Israel
  • On the second day of proceedings, Israel defends itself in The Hague, Netherlands, regarding violations of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention and other international law in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Red Sea crisis
  • Operation Prosperity Guardian
    • The Cabinet of the United Kingdom formally authorises British military action against Houthi militants in Yemen. (Bloomberg)
• 2024 Ecuadorian conflict
  • Two people are killed and nine more injured during an arson attack at a nightclub in El Coca, Ecuador. (AP)
• The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy seizes control of the Marshall Islands-flagged and Greek-operated civilian oil tanker St Nikolas in the Gulf of Oman. The tanker had 19 crew members onboard, including 18 Filipinos and one Greek. It was carrying crude oil from Basra, Iraq, to Turkey. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Google lays off hundreds of employees in its core engineering team, and others working on Google Assistant and Google's hardware products. (The New York Times)
• The United States Labor Department reports that auto insurance premiums experienced a remarkable rise in 2023, their highest annual increase in nearly half a century. (Reuters).

Disasters and accidents

• A chartered Air Côte d'Ivoire flight from The Gambia to the Ivory Coast, transporting the Gambia national football team to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, makes an emergency landing in Banjul, Gambia, due to a loss of cabin pressure lasting for more than nine minutes. All passengers suffer some degree of hypoxia including loss of consciousness. (Hindustan Times) (The Guardian)

Health and environment

• 2022–2024 Southern Africa cholera outbreak
  • Around 300 people are confirmed dead in an outbreak of cholera in Zambia. (BBC News)

Law and crime

• 2024 Papua New Guinean unrest
  • Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape declares a state of emergency and suspends some officials following yesterday's riots which killed 16 people. (Reuters)
• Smoking in Latvia
  • Latvia bans the sale and use of tobacco and nicotine products for those under the age of 20 years, beginning on January 1, 2025. (ERR)
• South Africa v. Israel
  • A two-day public hearing begins at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, regarding alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention and international law in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. (CNN)

Politics and elections

• 2023 Guatemalan general election
  • Former Minister of the Interior Napoleón Barrientos is arrested for failing to comply with his duties for not using force to evict the blockades and demonstrations that occurred in October, which called for the resignation of Attorney General María Consuelo Porras. (The Washington Post)
  • The Public Ministry orders the arrest of four magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal who have been living in exile since losing their immunity in November. (Prensa Libre)
  • Vice President-elect Karin Herrera presents a legal appeal before the Constitutional Court due to the risk of a possible arrest warrant against her which would violate her immunity. (Prensa Libre)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Red Sea crisis
  • United Nations Security Council Resolution 2722
    • The United Nations Security Council adopts a resolution condemning Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea. (The Washington Post)
• Somali Civil War
  • Al-Shabaab insurgents capture a United Nations helicopter carrying seven people, killing one person and abducting five others, while the seventh person is missing. The helicopter landed in al-Shabaab-controlled territory after encountering "a defect" shortly after takeoff from Beledweyne, Hiran, Somalia. (AP)

Business and economy

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approves eleven spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in a landmark decision. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2024 Papua New Guinean unrest
  • Riots occur in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, following a strike by police over a reduction in their pay. Ten people are killed and 13 others are seriously injured as a result of the riots. (RNZ) (The National)
• Capital punishment in Pakistan
  • The Supreme Court of Pakistan upholds the 2019 death sentence upon former leader Pervez Musharraf, who lived in exile in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, until his death in February 2023. (Dawn)

Politics and elections

• 2024 United States presidential election
  • Chris Christie 2024 presidential campaign
    • Former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie withdraws from the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. (NBC News)

Sports

• The 2024 European Men's Handball Championship begins in Germany. (The Local)
• The 2024 UEC European Track Championships begins in the Netherlands. (The Irish Times)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Red Sea crisis
  • Operation Prosperity Guardian
    • U.S. Navy and Royal Navy warships in the Red Sea shoot down 21 suicide drones and missiles launched by Houthi forces in Yemen. British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps describes it as the largest attack in the area by the Houthis to date. (Reuters)
• 2024 conflict in Ecuador
  • President of Ecuador Daniel Noboa declares a state of emergency following the escape of José Adolfo Macías Villamar, leader of the Los Choneros drug cartel, from prison. Gangsters subsequently storm a TC Televisión newsroom in Guayaquil and launch a series of riots, kidnappings, and explosions across the country. Eight civilians are killed, including two at Centro Comercial Albán Borja, and three more injured during random shootings in Guayaquil, while two police officers are killed in Nobol. As a result, schools are closed and the military is called to stop gang activities. (Al Jazeera)
• Israel–Hezbollah conflict
  • Hezbollah launches a drone attack on the Northern Command headquarters in Safed, Israel, marking its deepest incursion into Israeli territory since the outbreak of hostilities. In retaliation, Israel claims the assassination of Ali Hussein Barji, the commander of Hezbollah's air force in Southern Lebanon. Hezbollah denies this claim. (The Guardian) (Reuters)

Health and environment

• South Korea bans the breeding and slaughter of dogs for consumption, effective in 2027. (CNN)

Law and crime

• Federal prosecution of Donald Trump
  • A panel of three federal appellate judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hears oral arguments regarding the issue of presidential immunity for former US president Donald Trump. (CNN)
• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Russia places exiled tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on a wanted list over comments he made regarding the ongoing war. (AP)

Politics and elections

• 2023–24 Bhutanese National Assembly election
  • Bhutanese people vote in the second round of the election for 47 members of the National Assembly. (Reuters)
• Gabriel Attal becomes the youngest and first openly gay Prime Minister of France. (BBC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • Russia launches a massive missile and drone attack across Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring 38 others in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts. Ukraine says that it shot down all eight drones and 18 of 51 missiles. (AP) (Reuters)
• Israel–Hezbollah conflict
  • Israel assassinates Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy commander of Hezbollah's Redwan Force, during an airstrike against a vehicle in Majdel Selm, Lebanon. Another person is also killed in the airstrike. (Reuters)
• War in Sudan
  • The SPLM-N (al-Hilu) together with the SAF clashed with the RSF in the Nuba Mountains, while the SAF launched airstrikes on an RSF camp in Al-Dabaibat, north of Dalang. (Sudan Tribune)

Disasters and accidents

• Twenty-five people are killed and six others are injured in a crash involving a truck and a tourist minibus on a highway near São José do Jacuípe, Bahia, Brazil. (ABC News) (G1)

Law and crime

• A two-year-long investigation conducted by the BBC accuses Synagogue Church of All Nations founder T. B. Joshua of rape and torture. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• Farmers block highway access roads in parts of Germany, launching a week of protests against a government plan to remove tax breaks on diesel used in agriculture. (BBC News)
• French prime minister Élisabeth Borne resigns at the request of French president Emmanuel Macron amid political turmoil over immigration reform. (Associated Press)

Science and technology

• Nuclear program of Iran
  • According to De Volkskrant, a Dutch engineer recruited by the General Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands released the malicious computer worm Stuxnet in an Iranian nuclear complex in 2007, disrupting the Iranian nuclear program for years. (NOS) (The Times)
• Peregrine Mission One, the first US lunar lander since the Apollo program, is launched at Cape Canaveral in Florida, United States. It later suffers from a fuel leak, making it unable to complete its objective. (The Guardian)

Sports

• 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season
  • 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship
    • The University of Michigan beats the University of Washington 34–13 in the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship game for NCAA Division I football. (NBC News)