1833 – Re-establishment of British rule on the Falkland Islands.
1860 – The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France
1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union
1974 – President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo

Holidays and observances
Ancestry Day (Haiti)
Berchtold’s Day (Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Alsace)
Christian Feast Day:
Basil the Great (Roman Catholic and Anglican Church)
Defendens of Thebes
Gregory of Nazianzus (Roman Catholic Church)
Macarius of Alexandria
Seraphim of Sarov (repose)
January 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
The first day of Blacks and Whites' Carnival, celebrated until January 7. (southern Colombia)
The first day of Riosucio´s Carnival, celebrated until January 8 every 2 years. (Riosucio)
The ninth day of Christmas (Western Christianity)

For details, contact Datacentre