January 1, 2019 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan
- The Taliban kills 27 members of the Afghan National Security Forces in a series of coordinated attacks in northern Afghanistan after refusing to discuss peace in the region with government officials. (The New York Times)
- War in North-West Pakistan
- Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan gunmen attack a security base in the Loralai area of Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of four security guards and four terrorists, including a suicide bomber. Two guards were also injured in the attack. (Channel NewsAsia)
Disasters and accidents
- At least nine people are killed and 34 others are missing after a landslide strikes a village in Sukabumi, West Java, in Indonesia. (Sunday Times)
Law and crime
- 2019 Tokyo car attack
- A car plows into New Year's celebrators in Tokyo, Japan, injuring eight. A ninth person was assaulted by the driver after he got out of the vehicle. Police believe the incident to be intentional. (Global News) (Channel NewsAsia)
- Bottrop and Essen car attack
- Five people are injured after a man intentionally drives a car into multiple crowds of people in the cities of Bottrop and Essen, Germany. Police say the incident appears to be a xenophobic, far-right attack. (The Independent)
- Armed men believed to be traditional hunters have killed at least 37 people in an attack on a village in central Mali. (BBC News)
- A Thai man kills six members of his family before killing himself in a drunken shooting spree. (RT) (BNO News)
- Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Austria. (ABC News)
- Intersex rights in Germany
- A law recognising a third gender that can be administered for intersex people takes effect in Germany. (BBC News)
Politics and elections
- Jair Bolsonaro is inaugurated as the 38th president of Brazil, succeeding Michel Temer. (BBC News)
- 2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election
- U.S. and EU diplomats urge the Congolese government to restore internet connection to the country after it was shut down the previous day amid fears of election fraud. (The Guardian)
- U.S. President Donald Trump requests a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers to discuss the wall as a partial government shutdown enters its second week. (MPR News)
Science and technology
- 2019 in spaceflight
- New Horizons makes a flyby of Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69, nicknamed Ultima Thule, at 05:33 UTC, becoming the farthest object in the Solar System visited by a spacecraft. It is a contact binary. (The New York Times)