Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.

The first selections for the National Recording Registry are announced by the Library of Congress.

In a military coup Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane.

Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Pop singer Michael Jackson suffers second and third degree burns to his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in the Shrine Auditorium.

The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō, breaks through.

Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper.

The Brisbane River breaches its banks causing the largest flood to affect the city of Brisbane in the 20th Century

The Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict's last recorded American combat casualty.

Apollo program: Apollo 1

More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space.

Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat.

World War II: The Red Army liberates the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.

World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted.

World War II: The VIII Bomber Command dispatched ninety-one B-17s and B-24s to attack the U-Boat construction yards at Wilhemshafen, Germany. The first American bombing attack on Germany.

First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

The first hostilities occur in the Finnish Civil War.

The Young Left is founded in Norway.

The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C..

The Kappa Alpha Theta fraternity is founded at DePauw University.

The U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears".

The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.

Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa rules until his abdication in 1703.

Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31.

The Vatican opens seven year trial of scholar Giordano Bruno.

Pope Clement VI issues the Bull ''Unigenitus''.

Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, marries Constance of Sicily.

Execution, believed wrongful, of noted Song Dynasty General Yue Fei.

The Rashidun Caliphate ends with death of Ali.

Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva.