January 1, 2014 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Police in Indonesia exchange gunfire with suspected militants near Jakarta, killing six people. (ABC)
- Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon:
- Sources confirm that Lebanon has captured Majid bin Mohammad al-Majid, leader of the al-Qaeda-linked group Abdullah Azzam Brigades responsible for the recent bombing of the Iranian embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. (The Daily Star) (Reuters)
- Somali Civil War (2009–present)
- Eleven people are killed in bomb attacks outside a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu. (Standard Media) (Reuters)
Business and economy
- Latvia officially adopts the Euro as its currency and becomes the 18th member of the Eurozone. (BBC News)
Disasters and accidents
- A three-story building, housing apartments and a grocery store, explodes and burns in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, injuring 13 people, some critically. (CNN)
- Indonesia's Sinabung volcano erupts, displacing more than 19,000 people. (ABC News)
Law and crime
- Jamal al-Jamal, a Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic, is killed in an explosion near his home in Prague. (Reuters) (CNN)
- Catholic priest Rev. Eric Freed was found bludgeoned to death in the rectory of his church in Eureka, California. Suspect Gary Lee Bullock was arrested, and had been jailed, hospitalized and released due to erratic behavior just before the killing. Freed was named by the Vatican as one of 22 Catholic priests and religious who were killed during 2013 (Spero News) (Seattle PI)
- Recreational marijuana stores open in Colorado. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- Bill de Blasio is sworn in as the 109th Mayor of New York City. (AP via USA Today)
Sport
- In front of a crowd of 105,491 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, potentially the largest ever to attend an ice hockey game, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Detroit Red Wings 3–2 after a shootout in the 2014 NHL Winter Classic. (ESPN)
- Michael van Gerwen wins the 2014 PDC World Darts Championship by defeating Peter Wright. (BBC Sports)