January - The state of emergency is lifted in Kenya, officially ending the Mau Mau Rebellion.

January 1 - Cameroon gains its independence from French-administered U.N. trusteeship.

January 2 - U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA) announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

January 6 - The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties.

January 9 - Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt.

January 10 - British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech for the first time (see February 3).

January 14 - The Reserve Bank and Commonwealth Bank are created in Australia.

January 19 - The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan is signed in Washington, D.C.

January 21 - A mine collapses at Coalbrook, South Africa, killing 500 miners.

January 22 - In France, President Charles de Gaulle fires Jacques Massu, the commander-in-chief of the French troops in Algeria. - Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descend into the Mariana Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste, reaching the depth of 10,911 meters (35,797 feet) and become the first human beings to reach the lowest spot on Earth.

January 24 - A major insurrection occurs in Algiers against French colonial policy.

January 25 - In Washington, D.C., the National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records.

January 28 - The National Football League announced expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season and Minneapolis-St. Paul for 1961 NFL season.

January 30 - The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties. (source: Wikipedia)