Armed conflicts and attacks

• Central African Republic Civil War
  • Rebel forces seize the city of Bangassou in southeastern Central African Republic after storming the city in a pre-dawn raid, according to MINUSCA officials. (BBC News)
• Insurgency in the Maghreb
  • 2021 Tillabéri attacks
    • Twenty-one more people are found dead and others die of their injuries a day after the attacks in Tchombangou and Zaroumdareye, in Tillabéri, Niger, bringing the death toll to 100. More than 75 others are wounded. (DW)
• Mali War
  • Mali wedding airstrike
    • A group of Islamist insurgents take hostages in Mopti. While separating the victims by gender, an airstrike killed at least 20 people. (Global News)
• Syrian civil war
  • Islamic State insurgents kill nine people and wound 16 others in an ambush targeting buses traveling down a highway in central Syria. (Associated Press)
• A relief worker is killed and three others wounded after Islamic State-linked militants opens fire on their vehicle in Maguindanao, Philippines. (INQUIRER.net)

Disasters and accidents

• 2020 Gjerdrum landslide
  • Rescue workers find the bodies of three people who went missing during a landslide in Gjerdrum, Viken, Norway, on December 30, bringing the death toll to seven. Three people are still missing. (BBC News)
• At least 18 people are killed during a funeral in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, when the roof they were sheltering under during heavy rainfall collapses. Police dispatch rescue workers and sniffer dogs, and they say that the rescue operation has been completed. (Reuters)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Cyprus, Variant of Concern 202012/01
      • Cyprus reports its first cases of the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 in 12 people who traveled from the United Kingdom and later tested positive for COVID-19. (Cyprus-Mail)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Greece
      • Greece reports its first cases of the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 in four people who traveled from the United Kingdom. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland
      • Ireland surpasses 100,000 cases of COVID-19 after a record 4,962 new cases are reported in the past 24 hours. (The Irish Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Norway
      • Prime Minister Erna Solberg announces a series of new nationwide restrictions including a ban on alcohol being served in restaurants and bars and an advisory against having any guests in private residences in order to reduce the spread of a third wave of cases. (The Hill)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • COVID-19 vaccination programme in the United Kingdom
        • The United Kingdom begins distribution of the AstraZeneca and University of Oxford vaccine. (BBC News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India
      • India officially approves the emergency use of AstraZeneca and University of Oxford's AZD1222 vaccine, which is to be manufactured locally by the Serum Institute of India, as well as Bharat Biotech's BBV152 vaccine. (BBC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Kuwait; Variant of Concern 202012/01
      • Kuwait announces the suspension of direct commercial passenger flights to and from the United Kingdom beginning January 6 at 4:00 a.m. in order to reduce the spread of the new variant of SARS-CoV-2. (Kuwait Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia, Variant of Concern 202012/01
      • Saudi Arabia reopens its air, sea, and land borders, and resumes international passenger flights as well, after borders were closed in December to prevent the spread of the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that originated in the UK. People arriving from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and other countries where the new variant is spreading are required to spend 14 days in another country and present a negative test result prior to entering Saudi Arabia. (Al Jazeera)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand, Variant of Concern 202012/01
      • Thailand reports its first case of the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 in a British national who traveled from the United Kingdom and later tested positive for COVID-19. (Khaosod English)
      • Thailand announces it will get two million doses of CoronaVac starting in February. (Bangkok Post)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt, COVID-19 vaccine
      • Egypt approves the use of Sinopharm's BBIBP-CorV vaccine, with the vaccination campaign expected to start later this month. Egypt plans to buy 40 million doses of this vaccine. (Al Jazeera)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya
      • President Uhuru Kenyatta signs an executive order that bans all gatherings except funerals and weddings of up to 150 people. He also extends the nationwide night curfew until March 12. (Anadolu Agency)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, Variant of Concern 202012/01
    • New Zealand reports six cases of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in five people who traveled from the United Kingdom and another who traveled from South Africa, all between December 13 and 25, and who later tested positive for COVID-19. (Stuff.co.nz)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, COVID-19 vaccine
    • The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency announces that the country will receive 2 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
    • Canada surpasses 600,000 cases of COVID-19. (CP24)

International relations

• Assassination of Qasem Soleimani, American intervention in Iraq
  • Thousands of Iraqis demand American forces withdraw from the country during protests in Liberation Square, Baghdad, a year after an American drone strike killed Iran's general Qasem Soleimani and Iraq's militia commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The anniversary of their deaths in Baghdad was also marked in Iran as well as by supporters in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and other Middle East countries. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

• 2021 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election
  • The 117th United States Congress begins. Nancy Pelosi is re-elected as Speaker of the House with a narrow seven-vote majority (216–209). (The Guardian) (Reuters)
• Trump–Raffensperger scandal
  • The Washington Post releases the recording of a telephone conversation where United States President Donald Trump calls Brad Raffensperger to pressure the Georgia Secretary of State to "find 11,780 votes" in his favor. (The Washington Post)