After 253 days without an operational government, a second round of investiture votes produced Spain's first coalition government since the Second Republic.
A hot air balloon flight from Carterton, New Zealand, collided with a power line while landing, causing it to crash and killing all eleven people on board.
In Nag Hammadi, Egypt, Muslim gunmen opened fire on a crowd of Coptic Christians leaving church after attending Christmas Liturgy, killing eight of them, as well as one Muslim bystander.
The Fourth Republic of Ghana was inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings, the country's former military ruler, as president.
Representatives of Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini delivered a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, inviting him to consider Islam as an alternative to communism, and predicting the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc.
In one of the most famous upsets in FA Cup history, Sutton United, a team in the fifth tier of English league football, defeated top-tier Coventry City.
The People's Army of Vietnam captured Phnom Penh, marking the end of large-scale fighting in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
An article entitled "Iran and Red and Black Colonization" was published in the newspaper Ettela'at attacking Ruhollah Khomeini, then in exile in Iraq.
Marian Anderson became the first African-American to perform with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell, flying in pursuit of an alleged UFO, was killed when his P-51 Mustang crashed near Fort Knox, Kentucky.
French physicist Marguerite Perey identified francium, the last element to be discovered in nature rather than by synthesis.
Australian aviator Guy Menzies (pictured) flew from Sydney to New Zealand's West Coast, making the first solo trans-Tasman flight.
The Marconi International Marine Communication Company specified CQD (audio featured) as the distress signal to be used by its operators.
The Italian tricolour was first adopted as an official flag by the government of the Cispadane Republic.
The Bank of North America (pictured) opened in Philadelphia as the de facto first central bank of the United States.
Through his telescope, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei made the first observation of Jupiter's Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, although he was not able to distinguish the first two until the following night.
The Parliament of 1327, which was instrumental in the transfer of the English Crown from King Edward II to his son, Edward III, began at the Palace of Westminster.
A series of wildfires ravage the Greater Los Angeles area, resulting in at least 16 deaths and 13,401 structures destroyed.
The longest U.S. House of Representatives speaker election since the December 1859 – February 1860 U.S. speaker election concludes and Kevin McCarthy is elected 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
The 6.4Mw 2019–20 Puerto Rico earthquakes kill four and injure nine in southern Puerto Rico.
Two gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, executing twelve people and wounding eleven others.
A car bomb explodes outside a police college in the Yemeni capital Sana'a with at least 38 people reported dead and more than 63 injured.
A hot air balloon crashes near Carterton, New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board.
The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins.
A British Aerospace Jetstream 41 operating as United Express Flight 6291 crashes in Gahanna, Ohio, killing five of the eight people on board.
The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as president.
Bosnian War: The Bosnian Army executes a surprise attack at the village of Kravica in Srebrenica.
Roger Lafontant, former leader of the Tonton Macoute in Haiti under François Duvalier, attempts a coup d'état, which ends in his arrest.
Sutton United, a team in the fifth tier of English league football, defeated top-tier Coventry City in one of the biggest upsets in FA Cup history.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union.
Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
Third Indochina War: Cambodian–Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
In his second shooting spree of the week, Mark Essex fatally shoots seven people and wounds five others at Howard Johnson's Hotel in New Orleans, before being shot to death by police officers.
Iberia Flight 602 crashes near Ibiza Airport, killing all 104 people on board.
Surveyor program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36A.
The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.
Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York at the head office of IBM.
In the Sverdlovsk air disaster, all 19 of those on board are killed, including almost the entire national ice hockey team (VVS Moscow) of the Soviet Air Force – 11 players, as well as a team doctor and a masseur.
Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.
Winter War: Battle of Raate Road: The Finnish 9th Division finally defeat the numerically superior Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road.
Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco-Italian Agreement.
Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast.
A disastrous flood of the River Thames kills 14 people and causes extensive damage to much of riverside London.
The first transatlantic commercial telephone service is established from New York City to London.
![Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64–57 vote.[citation needed]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Dail_Eireann_logo_1.png/330px-Dail_Eireann_logo_1.png){kind=logo}
Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64–57 vote.[citation needed]
The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.
Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail.
The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS".
Thomas Edison makes a kinetoscopic film of someone sneezing. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, receives a patent for motion picture film.
The Kingstree jail fire kills 22 freedmen in Reconstruction-era South Carolina.
HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.
Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.
The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens.
A peace treaty is signed between Peshwa Bajirao and Jai Singh II following Maratha victory in the Battle of Bhopal.
Battle of Zlatoust: Battle between Bashkir and Tatar rebels and the government troops of the Tsardom of Russia. It is one of the events of the Bashkir rebellion of 1704–1711.
Bashkir rebels besiege Yelabuga.
Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able to distinguish the last two until the following night.
Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.
French troops, led by Francis, Duke of Guise, take Calais, the last continental possession of England.
Afonso IV becomes King of Portugal.
The Senate of Rome says that Caesar will be declared a public enemy unless he disbands his army, prompting the tribunes who support him to flee to where Caesar is waiting in Ravenna.
Blue Ivy Carter, American singer and actress
Chloe Chua, Singaporean violinist, 2018 joint 1st prize winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists
Sofia Wylie, American actress, singer, and dancer
Ryan Dunn, American basketball player
Marcus Scribner, American actor
Ozzie Albies, Curaçaoan baseball player
Lamar Jackson, American football player
Alex Nedeljkovic, American ice hockey player
Jordan Bell, American basketball player
Yulia Putintseva, Kazakhstani tennis player
Jarnell Stokes, American basketball player
Lee Sun-bin, South Korean actress and singer
MacKenzie Weegar, Canadian ice hockey player
Erik Gudbranson, Canadian ice hockey player
Tohu Harris, New Zealand rugby league player
Tucker Barnhart, American baseball player
Eden Hazard, Belgian footballer
Caster Semenya, South African sprinter
Michael Walters, Australian footballer
Liam Aiken, American actor
Gentleman Jack Gallagher, English mixed martial artist and wrestler
Camryn Grimes, American actress
Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper
Haley Bennett, American actress and singer
Scott Pendlebury, Australian footballer
Robert Sheehan, Irish actor
Davide Astori, Italian footballer (died 2018)
Stefan Babović, Serbian footballer
Lyndsy Fonseca, American actress
Lewis Hamilton, English racing driver
Wayne Routledge, English footballer
Jon Lester, American baseball player
Brett Dalton, American actor
Edwin Encarnación, Dominican baseball player
Cappie Pondexter, American basketball player
Robert Ri'chard, American actor
Lauren Cohan, American-English actress
Francisco Rodríguez, Venezuelan baseball player
Hannah Stockbauer, German swimmer
Alex Auld, Canadian ice hockey player
Marquis Daniels, American basketball player
Travis Friend, Zimbabwean cricketer
Reece Simmonds, Australian rugby league player
Reggie Austin, American actor
Aloe Blacc, American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, businessman and philanthropist
Dean Cosker, English cricketer and umpire
Israel Keyes, American serial killer (died in 2012)
Dustin Diamond, American actor and comedian (died 2021)
Sofi Oksanen, Finnish author and playwright
Brent Sopel, Canadian ice hockey player
Vic Darchinyan, Armenian-Australian boxer
Éric Gagné, Canadian baseball player
Alfonso Soriano, Dominican baseball player
Alenka Bikar, Slovenian sprinter and politician
Donald Brashear, American-Canadian ice hockey player and mixed martial artist
Kevin Rahm, American actor
Jeremy Renner, American actor
Andy Burnham, English politician
Doug E. Doug, American actor
Rex Lee, American actor
Marco Simone, Italian footballer and manager
Nick Clegg, English academic and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Irrfan Khan, Indian actor (died 2020)
Ricky Stuart, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
Five for Fighting, American singer-songwriter and pianist
Alessandro Lambruschini, Italian runner
Nicolas Cage, American actor
Rand Paul, American politician and physician
Aleksandr Dugin, Russian political analyst and strategist known for his fascist views
Ron Rivera, American football player and coach
Hallie Todd, American actress
John Thune, American lawyer and politician
David Marciano, American actor
Loretta Sanchez, American politician
Angela Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon, English accountant and politician
Kathy Valentine, American bass player and songwriter
Nicholson Baker, American novelist and essayist
Katie Couric, American television journalist, anchor, and author
David Caruso, American actor
Mamata Shankar, Indian-Bengali actress
Alan Butcher, English cricketer and coach
Robert Longo, American painter and sculptor
Sammo Hung, Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and martial artist
Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer-songwriter (died 2016)
Erin Gray, American actress and model
Kenny Loggins, American singer-songwriter
Tony Elliott, English publisher, founded Time Out (died 2020)
Michele Elliott, author, psychologist and founder of child protection charity Kidscape
Jann Wenner, American publisher, co-founded Rolling Stone
Tony Conigliaro, American baseball player (died 1990)
Raila Odinga, Kenyan engineer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Kenya
Peter Schowtka, German politician (died 2022)
Mike McGear, British performing artist and rock photographer
Kotaro Suzumura, Japanese economist and academic (died 2020)
Sadako Sasaki, Japanese survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, known for one thousand origami cranes (died 1955)
Vasily Alekseyev, Russian-German weightlifter and coach (died 2011)
Iona Brown, English violinist and conductor (died 2004)
John Steiner, English actor (died 2022)
John E. Walker, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
Bob Boland, Australian rugby league player and coach
Lou Graham, American golfer
Rory Storm, English singer-songwriter (died 1972)
Hunter Davies, Scottish author and journalist
Kenny Davern, American clarinet player and saxophonist (died 2006)
Valery Kubasov, Russian engineer and astronaut (died 2014)
Li Shengjiao, Chinese diplomat and international jurist (died 2017)
Jean Corbeil, Canadian lawyer and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Labour (died 2002)
Tassos Papadopoulos, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 5th President of Cyprus (died 2008)
Elliott Kastner, American-English film producer (died 2010)
Mirja Hietamies, Finnish skier (died 2013)
Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (died 2012)
Terry Moore, American actress
William Peter Blatty, American author and screenwriter (died 2017)
Kim Jong-pil, South Korean lieutenant and politician, 11th Prime Minister of South Korea (died 2018)
Gerald Durrell, Indian-English zookeeper, conservationist and author, founded Durrell Wildlife Park (died 1995)
Geoffrey Bayldon, English actor (died 2017)
Hugh Kenner, Canadian scholar and critic (died 2003)
Vaklush Tolev, Bulgarian theologian, educator, public figure and lecturer (died 2013)
Alvin Dark, American baseball player and manager (died 2014)
Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (died 2000)
Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid, Colombian politician (died 1997)
Chester Kallman, American poet and translator (died 1975)
Vincent Gardenia, Italian-American actor (died 1992)
W. L. Jeyasingham, Sri Lankan geographer and academic (died 1989)
Babe Pratt, Canadian ice hockey player (died 1988)
Francis de Wolff, English actor (died 1984)
Johnny Mize, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (died 1993)
Charles Addams, American cartoonist, created The Addams Family (died 1988)
Orval Faubus, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Arkansas (died 1994)
Red Allen, American trumpet player (died 1967)
Joseph Whitty, Irish Republican died while on hunger strike at Curragh Internment camp (died1923).
Alan Napier, English actor (died 1988)
Hooley Smith, Canadian ice hockey player (died 1963)
John Brownlee, Australian actor and singer (died 1969)
Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (died 1963)
F. Orlin Tremaine, American magazine executive, writer, and magazine editor (Astounding Stories) (died 1956)
Al Bowlly, Mozambican-English singer-songwriter (disputed; (died 1941)
Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (died 1974)
Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (died 1960)
Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, American soldier, pulp magazine writer, and pioneer of the American comic book (died 1965)
Vera de Bosset, Russian-American ballerina (died 1982)
William Clarence Matthews, American baseball player, coach, and lawyer (died 1928)
William Hurlstone, English pianist and composer (died 1906)
Gustav Flatow, German gymnast (died 1945)
Charles Péguy, French poet and journalist (died 1914)
Adolph Zukor, Hungarian-American film producer, co-founded Paramount Pictures (died 1976)
Émile Borel, French mathematician and politician (died 1956)
Anna Murray Vail, American botanist and first librarian of the New York Botanical Garden (died 1955)
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Belarusian lexicographer and journalist (died 1922)
Evald Relander, Finnish teacher, agronomist and banker (died 1926)
Quianu Robinson, New Mexican Congressman and political ally of Conrad Hilton (died 1919)
Bernadette Soubirous, French nun and saint (died 1879)
Thomas Henry Ismay, English businessman, founded the White Star Line Shipping Company (died 1899)
Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and academic, invented the Reis telephone (died 1874)
James Munro, Scottish-Australian publisher and politician, 15th Premier of Victoria (died 1908)
Heinrich von Stephan, German postman, founded the Universal Postal Union (died 1897)
Albert Bierstadt, American painter (died 1902)
Sandford Fleming, Scottish-Canadian engineer, created Universal Standard Time (died 1915)
Elizabeth Louisa Foster Mather, American writer (died 1882)
Robert Nicoll, Scottish poet (died 1837)
Millard Fillmore, American politician, 13th President of the United States (died 1874)
Mariano Paredes, Mexican general and 16th president (1845–1846) (died 1849)
Joseph Bonaparte, Italian king (died 1844)
George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith, Scottish admiral and politician (died 1823)
Israel Putnam, American general (died 1790)
Giovanni Battista Locatelli, Italian opera director and manager (died 1785)
Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (died 1751)
Jonas Alströmer, Swedish agronomist and businessman (died 1761)
William Louis, Duke of Württemberg (died 1677)
Adam Krieger, German organist and composer (died 1666)
Pope Gregory XIII (died 1585)
Henry II, Count of Nassau-Siegen (died 1451)
Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, English politician, Lord High Constable of England (died 1397)
Li Bian, emperor of Southern Tang (died 943)
Jean-Marie Le Pen, French intelligence officer and politician (born 1928)
Peter Yarrow, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1938)
Franz Beckenbauer, German footballer and manager (born 1945)
Michael Apted, English filmmaker (born 1941)
Tommy Lasorda, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1927)
Henri Schwery, Swiss cardinal (born 1932)
Neil Peart, Canadian drummer, songwriter, and producer (born 1952)
Silvio Horta, American screenwriter and television producer (born 1974)
Elizabeth Wurtzel, author and feminist (born 1967)
Jim Anderton, Former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister (born 1938)
France Gall, French singer (born 1947)
Mário Soares, Portuguese politician; 16th President of Portugal (born 1924)
Bill Foster, American basketball player and coach (born 1929)
John Johnson, American basketball player (born 1947)
Kitty Kallen, American singer (born 1921)
Judith Kaye, American lawyer and jurist (born 1938)
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Home Affairs (born 1936)
Mompati Merafhe, Botswana general and politician, Vice-President of Botswana (born 1936)
Rod Taylor, Australian-American actor and screenwriter (born 1930)
Georges Wolinski, Tunisian-French cartoonist (born 1934)
Run Run Shaw, Chinese-Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist, founded Shaw Brothers Studio and TVB (born 1907)
Tony Blankley, British-born American child actor, journalist and pundit (born 1948)
Alwyn Schlebusch, South African academic and politician, Vice State President of South Africa (born 1917)
Bobby Hamilton, American race car driver and businessman (born 1957)
Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic journalist, author, and academic (born 1929)
Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer, geographer, and author (born 1912)
Pierre Daninos, French author (born 1913)
Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (born 1926)
Avery Schreiber, American comedian and actor (born 1935)
James Carr, American singer (born 1942)
Gary Albright, American wrestler (born 1963)
Owen Bradley, American record producer (born 1915)
Vladimir Prelog, Croatian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1906)
Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician, 51st Prime Minister of Hungary (born 1930)
Murray Rothbard, American economist, historian, and theorist (born 1926)
Richard Hunt, American puppeteer and voice actor (born 1951)
Bronko Nagurski, Canadian-American football player and wrestler (born 1908)
Hirohito, Japanese emperor (born 1901)
Zara Cisco Brough, American Nipmuc Indian chief and fashion designer (born 1919)
Trevor Howard, English actor (born 1913)
Juan Rulfo, Mexican author, screenwriter, and photographer (born 1917)
Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902)
Alvar Lidell, English journalist and radio announcer (born 1908)
Eric Robinson, Australian businessman and politician, 2nd Australian Minister for Finance (born 1926)
John Berryman, American poet and scholar (born 1914)
J. L. B. Smith, South African chemist and academic (born 1897)
David Goodis, American author and screenwriter (born 1917)
Carl Schuricht, German-Swiss conductor (born 1880)
Reg Parnell, English racing driver and manager (born 1911)
Arthur Edward Moore, New Zealand-Australian farmer and politician, 23rd Premier of Queensland (born 1876)
Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers, English tennis player and coach (born 1878)
René Guénon, French-Egyptian philosopher and author (born 1886)
Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American inventor and engineer (born 1856)
Charles Finger, English journalist and author (born 1869)
Guy d'Hardelot, French pianist and composer (born 1858)
André Maginot, French sergeant and politician (born 1877)
Edward Channing, American historian and author (born 1856)
Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos, Greek politician, 99th Prime Minister of Greece (born 1851)
Edmund Barton, Australian judge and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (born 1849)
Henry Ware Eliot, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Washington University in St. Louis (born 1843)
Sophia Jex-Blake, English physician and feminist (born 1840)
Josef Stefan, Slovenian physicist and mathematician (born 1835)
Tewfik Pasha, Egyptian ruler (born 1852)
Golam Ali Chowdhury, Bengali landlord and philanthropist (born 1824)
Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist and politician, 6th U.S. Secretary of the Interior (born 1808)
Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (born 1800)
John Thomas Campbell, Irish-Australian public servant and politician (born 1770)
Thomas Lawrence, English painter and educator (born 1769)
Joseph Dennie, American journalist and author (born 1768)
Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician and diplomat (born 1695)
Thomas Clap, American minister and academic (born 1703)
Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (born 1686)
François Fénelon, French archbishop, theologian, and poet (born 1651)
Raffaello Fabretti, Italian scholar and author (born 1618)
Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire (born 1618)
Theophilus Eaton, American farmer and politician, 1st Governor of the New Haven Colony (born 1590)
Pope Innocent X (born 1574)
Ruggiero Giovannelli, Italian composer and author (born 1560)
Nicholas Hilliard, English painter and goldsmith (born 1547)
Louis de Blois, Flemish monk and author (born 1506)
Catherine of Aragon (born 1485)
Peter Vischer the Elder, German sculptor (born 1455)
Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy a.k.a. Antipope Felix V (born 1383)
John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English Earl (born 1350)
Inês de Castro, Castilian noblewoman (born 1325)
Denis of Portugal (born 1261)
Charles I of Naples (born 1226)
Canute Lavard, Danish prince and saint (born 1096)
Aldric, bishop of Le Mans[citation needed]
Babak Khorramdin, Iranian leader of the Khurramite uprising against the Abbasid Caliphate
Lucian of Antioch, Christian martyr, saint, and theologian (born 240)
Christian Feast Day: André Bessette (Canada)
Christian Feast Day: Canute Lavard
Christian Feast Day: Charles of Sezze
Christian Feast Day: Felix and Januarius
Christian Feast Day: Lucian of Antioch
Christian Feast Day: Raymond of Penyafort
Christian Feast Day: Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist (Julian calendar)
Christian Feast Day: January 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Christmas (Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian calendar, Rastafari) Christmas in Russia
Christmas (Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian calendar, Rastafari) Christmas in Ukraine
Christmas (Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian calendar, Rastafari) Christmas in Serbia
Christmas (Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian calendar, Rastafari) Ethiopian Christmas
Christmas (Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian calendar, Rastafari) Remembrance Day of the Dead (Armenia)
Distaff Day (medieval Europe)
Nanakusa-no sekku (Japan)
Pioneer's Day (Liberia)
Tricolour Day or Festa del Tricolore (Italy)
Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia)