Glendale train crash: Two trains derail killing 11 and injuring 200 in Glendale, California, near Los Angeles.

A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.

President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan.

An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.

Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.

Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi.

Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.

The Great Blizzard of 1978, a rare blizzard|severe blizzard with the lowest non-tropical atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the US, strikes the Ohio

The Beaumont Children go missing from Glenelg Beach near Adelaide, South Australia.

Hindi becomes the official language of India.

Ranger program: Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).

John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman holds this appointment.

Danny Heater sets a worldwide high school basketball scoring record when he records 135 points for Burnsville High School (West Virginia)

Japanese ferry ''Nankai Maru'' capsizes off southern Awaji Island, Japan, 167 killed.

Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.

The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India.

World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.

Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.

German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.

The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City.

The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence) which occurred 20 years later.

St.Petersburg is renamed Leningrad

Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.

Richard Strauss' opera ''Der Rosenkavalier'' receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.

Glenn H. Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane.

The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III is officially introduced into British Military Service, and remains the oldest military rifle still in official use.

The Cullinan Diamond is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.

Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum.

American Civil War: Virginia rejoins the Union.

American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.

American Civil War: Governor of Massachusetts John Albion Andrew receives permission from Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.

American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.

First Battle of Seattle. Marines from the {{USS|Decatur|1839|6}} drive off American Indian attackers after all day battle with settlers.

Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory.

The United Kingdom formally occupies Hong Kong, which China later formally cedes.

Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States

Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.

Rum Rebellion, the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in Australia.

The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Commemorated as Australia Day

Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.

The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake takes place off the west coast of the North America, as evidenced by Japanese records.

Treaty of Carlowitz is signed.

Job is elected as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent.

The Council of Trent issues its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing a distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake--thousands die.

Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.

King Edward III of England is declared King of France.