January 12, 2019 (Saturday)
Disasters and accidents
- 2019 Paris explosion
- A large explosion caused by a suspected gas leak destroys a bakery in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. Four people are killed, and 40 others are injured. (Sky News)
- At least 21 miners die after a roof collapses in a coal mine in Shenmu, China. (BBC News)
- At least 17 are killed and 12 others are injured in a fire at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Officials said the blaze took hold after patients set mattresses on fire in a bid to escape the facility. (Sky News)
Politics and elections
- Aftermath of the 2019 Gabonese coup d'état attempt
- Gabon's president Ali Bongo Ondimba names Julien Nkoghe Bekale as the country's new prime minister after a failed coup that happened five days ago. (Reuters)
- United States federal government shutdown of 2018–2019
- On its 22nd day, the federal government shutdown becomes the longest in American history overtaking the record previously set in 1995–1996. (News Limited)
- 2020 United States presidential election, 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- Joining several other Democrats in the race, Julian Castro, who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2014 to 2017, announces his intention to run in the 2020 United States presidential election. (CNN)
- 2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election
- The Congolese election commission announces that parties supporting outgoing president Joseph Kabila obtained the majority in the National Assembly. (Yahoo News)
- Politics of Taiwan
- Taiwanese premier William Lai announces his resignation and former premier Su Tseng-chang succeeds him. (Taipei Times)
- 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Censorship of Wikipedia
- All editions of Wikipedia are blocked in Venezuela by state-owned CANTV amid an ongoing political crisis. (Netblocks)