January 26, 2009 (Monday)
- The United States Senate confirms Timothy F. Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury. (The New York Times)
- 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict:
- An Israeli soldier is killed and three others injured in a bombing at the Gaza Strip border. (BBC)
- Nine youths are arrested for alleged nationalist attacks on Arabs in Upper Nazareth. (Jerusalem Post)
- Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde announces the collapse of his coalition government in the wake of the country's financial crisis. (BBC)
- United States pharmaceutical company Pfizer announces it will buy rival Wyeth in a US$68-billion deal. (BBC)
- A gunman kills two people and injures seven others in Portland, Oregon, before shooting and critically wounding himself. (Sky News)
- Forty people are killed when a riverboat sinks in central Vietnam. (CNN)
- A state of emergency is declared in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, following a series of arson attacks. (USA Today)
- A set of human octuplets are born alive for the second time in the United States. (BBC) (Los Angeles Times)