The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins. He had been impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19.

The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President.

The interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public because of safety concerns.

Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.

Third Indochina War

Mark Essex fatally shoots 10 people and wounds 13 others at Howard Johnson's Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana before being shot to death by police officers.

Iberia Airlines Caravelle 6-R crashes into Mont San Jose on approach to Ibiza Airport killing all 104 on board.

Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral.

The Polaris missile is test launched.

The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.

Georgetown-IBM experiment: the first public demonstration of a machine translation system, is held in New York at the head office of IBM.

President Harry Truman announces that the United States has developed the hydrogen bomb.

A fire at the Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa, kills 41 people.

World War II: British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge.

World War II: The siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.

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.

The first transatlantic telephone call is made – from New York City to London.

Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64-57 vote.

The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.

The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS".

W.K. Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film.

{{HMS|Beagle}} drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.

The modern Italian flag is first used.

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.

Galileo Galilei observes three of the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them, and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons. Ganymede not discovered by him until January 13.

Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.

Boris Godunov becomes Tsar of Russia.

France takes Calais, the last continental possession of England.

Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.