Editing 1948 (section)

===January===
{{Main|January 1948}}
* [[January 1]]
** The [[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]] (GATT) is inaugurated.<ref>{{cite book|author=K.R. Gupta|title=World Trade Organisation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mSaz5tSI8dIC&pg=PA21|year=2006|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist|isbn=978-81-7156-888-8|pages=21}}</ref>
** The current [[Constitution]]s of [[Constitution of Italy|Italy]] and of [[Constitution of New Jersey|New Jersey]] (both later subject to amendment) go into effect.<ref>{{cite book|title=Florida Law Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AkOAQAAMAAJ|year=1948|publisher=Florida State Bar Association|page=6}}</ref>
** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form [[British Rail]]ways.<ref>{{cite book|author=Russell Haywood|title=Railways, Urban Development and Town Planning in Britain: 1948–2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xgjPCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT79|date=23 March 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-07164-8|pages=79}}</ref>
* [[January 4]] &ndash; [[British rule in Burma|Burma]] gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the '[[Post-independence Burma (1948–1962)|Union of Burma']], with [[Sao Shwe Thaik]] as its first President and [[U Nu]] its first Prime Minister.
* [[January 5]] &ndash; In the United States:
** [[Warner Brothers]] shows the first color [[newsreel]] (''[[Tournament of Roses Parade]]'' and the ''[[Rose Bowl Game]]'').
** The first [[Kinsey Reports|Kinsey Report]], ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', is published.
* [[January 7]] &ndash; [[Mantell UFO incident]]: [[Kentucky Air National Guard]] pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of an [[unidentified flying object]].
* [[January 12]] &ndash; [[Mahatma Gandhi]] begins his fast-unto-death in [[Delhi]], to stop communal violence during the [[Partition of India]].
* [[January 17]] &ndash; A truce is declared between nationalist Indonesian and Dutch troops in [[Java]].
* [[January 22]] &ndash; British foreign secretary [[Ernest Bevin]] proposes the formation of a Western Union between Britain, France and the [[Benelux]] countries to stand up against the Soviet Union. The [[Treaty of Brussels]] is signed [[March 17]] as a consequence, a predecessor to [[NATO]].
* [[January 26]] &ndash; Teigin poison case: a man masquerading as a doctor poisons 12 of 16 bank employees of the Tokyo branch of Imperial Bank and takes the money; artist [[Sadamichi Hirasawa]] is later sentenced to death for the crime, but is never executed.
* [[January 29]] &ndash; [[1948 Los Gatos DC-3 crash|A DC-3 aircraft crash at Los Gatos Creek]], near [[Coalinga, California]], kills 4 US citizens and 28 deportees, commemorated in a protest song ("[[Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)]]") by [[Woody Guthrie]].
* [[January 30]]
** [[Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi]]: Indian pacifist and leader [[Mahatma Gandhi]] is shot by [[Nathuram Godse]] in [[New Delhi]].
** The [[1948 Winter Olympics]] open in [[St Moritz]], Switzerland.
* [[January 31]] &ndash; The British [[crown colony]] of the [[Malayan Union]], [[Penang]] and [[Malacca]] form the [[Federation of Malaya]].<ref>Cabinet Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies (UK). February 21, 1956. {{sourcetext|source=Federation of Malaya Agreement}}</ref>