January 7 in history — What Happened Today in History

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union.

Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.

Third Indochina War: Cambodian–Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

In his second shooting spree of the week, Mark Essex fatally shoots seven people and wounds five others at Howard Johnson's Hotel in New Orleans, before being shot to death by police officers.

Iberia Flight 602 crashes near Ibiza Airport, killing all 104 people on board.

Surveyor program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36A.

The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.

Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.

Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York at the head office of IBM.

In the Sverdlovsk air disaster, all 19 of those on board are killed, including almost the entire national ice hockey team (VVS Moscow) of the Soviet Air Force – 11 players, as well as a team doctor and a masseur.

Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.

Winter War: Battle of Raate Road: The Finnish 9th Division finally defeat the numerically superior Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road.

Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco-Italian Agreement.

Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast.

A disastrous flood of the River Thames kills 14 people and causes extensive damage to much of riverside London.

The first transatlantic commercial telephone service is established from New York City to London.

Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64–57 vote.

The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.

Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail.

The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS".

Thomas Edison makes a kinetoscopic film of someone sneezing. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, receives a patent for motion picture film.

The Kingstree jail fire kills 22 freedmen in Reconstruction-era South Carolina.

HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.

Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.

The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens.

A peace treaty is signed between Peshwa Bajirao and Jai Singh II following Maratha victory in the Battle of Bhopal.

Battle of Zlatoust: Battle between Bashkir and Tatar rebels and the government troops of the Tsardom of Russia. It is one of the events of the Bashkir rebellion of 1704–1711.

Erik Gudbranson, Canadian ice hockey player

Tohu Harris, New Zealand rugby league player

Tucker Barnhart, American baseball player

Eden Hazard, Belgian footballer

Caster Semenya, South African sprinter

Michael Walters, Australian footballer

Liam Aiken, American actor

Gentleman Jack Gallagher, English mixed martial artist and wrestler

Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper

Haley Bennett, American actress and singer

Scott Pendlebury, Australian footballer

Davide Astori, Italian footballer (died 2018)

Stefan Babović, Serbian footballer

Mário Soares, Portuguese politician; 16th President of Portugal (born 1924)

Bill Foster, American basketball player and coach (born 1929)

John Johnson, American basketball player (born 1947)

Kitty Kallen, American singer (born 1921)

Judith Kaye, American lawyer and jurist (born 1938)

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Home Affairs (born 1936)

Mompati Merafhe, Botswana general and politician, Vice-President of Botswana (born 1936)

Rod Taylor, Australian-American actor and screenwriter (born 1930)

Georges Wolinski, Tunisian-French cartoonist (born 1934)

Run Run Shaw, Chinese-Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist, founded Shaw Brothers Studio and TVB (born 1907)

Tony Blankley, British-born American child actor, journalist and pundit (born 1948)

Alwyn Schlebusch, South African academic and politician, Vice State President of South Africa (born 1917)

Bobby Hamilton, American race car driver and businessman (born 1957)