Sri Lankan presidential election, 2015 Voters in Sri Lanka go to the polls for a presidential election with a tight contest predicted between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and challenger Maithripala Sirisena.
Brunei Brunei officially bans all future public celebrations of Christmas, in accordance with its conservative Islamic law Shariah.
Obama administration The Obama administration fines Honda $70 million for failing to report deaths and injury complaints from 2003 to 2014.
Philippines An unknown gunman shoots dead Nerlita Ledesma, a journalist from the Philippine tabloid "Abante" in the province of Bataan; her death is the 172nd murder of a journalist since the return of democracy in 1986 and the 31st during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III.
Princess Tours A Princess Tours catamaran, "Pura Vida Princess", catches fire and capsizes off the coast of Punta Leona, Costa Rica, while carrying 98 passengers and ten crew; the Costa Rican Red Cross confirms that three are dead.
Midwestern United States Schools in the Midwestern and Northeast United States close for a second successive day due to bitterly cold temperatures.
Dunkin' Donuts Dunkin' Donuts signs a franchise agreement for 1,400 new cafes in China by the year 2035.
Iraqi insurgency (2011–present) A suicide bomber targets a police checkpoint in the town of Youssifiyah, killing seven people.
Attack Boko Haram militants raze the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria. Bodies lay strewn on Baga's streets with as many as 2,000 people having been killed. Boko Haram now controls 70% of Borno State, which is the worst-affected by the insurgency.
''Charlie Hebdo'' shooting On the night of January 7 and morning of January 8, assailants throw grenades and fire guns at three mosques throughout France.
One of the suspects in the killings, Hamyd Mourad, voluntarily surrenders to police in Charleville-Mézières while the other two suspects are still at large.