Historical timeline for January 4

A fire in an escape room in Koszalin, Poland, kills five teenagers through carbon monoxide poisoning.

Hennenman–Kroonstad train crash: A passenger train operated by Shosholoza Meyl collides with a truck on a level crossing at Geneva Station between Hennenman and Kroonstad, Free State, South Africa. Twenty people are killed and 260 injured.

A gunman kills eight people in a house-to-house rampage in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines.

The Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world, officially opens in Dubai.

A Let L-410 Turbolet crashes in the Los Roques Archipelago in Venezuela, killing 14 people.

The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.

Ehud Olmert becomes acting Prime Minister of Israel after the incumbent, Ariel Sharon, suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke.

Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia following the November 2003 Rose Revolution.

Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

A Norwegian passenger train departing from Trondheim, collides with a local train coming from Hamar in Åsta in Åmot Municipality; 19 people are killed and 68 injured in the accident.

Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota, United States.

A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.

In Pakistan's deadliest train accident an overloaded passenger train collides with an empty freight train, resulting in 307 deaths and 700 injuries.

Second Gulf of Sidra incident: A pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.

The Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people.

The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force shoots dead six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The next day, gunmen would shoot dead ten Protestant civilians nearby in retaliation.

This date overflowed the 12-bit field that had been used in TOPS-10. There were numerous problems and crashes related to this bug while an alternative format was developed.

Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, UK.

The Doors released their eponymous debut album.

Aeroflot Flight 101/X-20 crashes on approach to Alma-Ata Airport, killing 64 people.