An armed standoff between Indian security forces and Kashimiri rebels at a paramilitary base ends after 36 hours and leaves eight people dead.
(Al Jazeera)
U.S. President
Donald Trump tweets that
Pakistan has been a "safe haven" for terrorists from
Afghanistan and has given America "nothing but lies & deceit" after getting more than $33 billion in U.S. aid.
(Time)
Pakistan's Defence Minister accuses the U.S. of giving Pakistan "nothing but invective & mistrust" after receiving "land & air communication, military bases & intel cooperation that decimated Al-Qaeda over last 16yrs".
(AOL)
An apparent gang riot at Colonia Agroindustrial prison in
Goiânia,
Brazil, results in nine deaths and 14 inmates injured. Authorities report 233 prisoners escaped but now only 95 prisoners remain at large.
(The Guardian)(Reuters)
The U.S. state of
Alaska eliminates the posting of
bail in criminal cases, replacing it with a points-based system, rating the defendant on their previous criminal history, their danger to the public, and their probability of showing up to court hearings.
(US News & World Report)
President
Donald Trump tweets that the U.S. may withhold future payments to the Palestinian authority, over 350 million dollars per year, because they are "no longer willing to talk peace" with Israel, and that
Israel "would have had to pay more" in return for his
recognition of
Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
(Haaretz)(Politico)
Israel announces plans to deport African migrants residing in the country illegally. Migrants will be given 90 days to leave the country or face imprisonment.
(BBC)
Law and crime
Joshua Boyle, a
Canadian man recently rescued from a
Taliban linked group, is arrested on 15 charges, including assault, sexual assault, and unlawful confinement.
(Global News)
Nine prisoners have escaped from a
Berlin, prison over the last five days, with two escaping today.
(BBC)
A suicide bomber attack near a group of security personnel investigating illegal drugs and alcohol dealing in
Kabul, Afghanistan, kills at least 20, wounding another 27 policemen. The
Islamic State claims responsibility for the attack.
(The New York Times)(AP via Time)
North Korea accepts
South Korea's proposal for official talks, and will meet on January 9 to discuss North Korea's possible involvement with the
2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. These are the first high-level talks between the Koreas in more than two years.
(CNN)(BBC)
ARSA insurgents, using small arms and homemade
land mines, ambush a Burmese military convoy in the village of Turaing. Three members of Myanmar's security forces are reportedly wounded.
(BBC)(The Guardian)
Twitter, in response to criticism over its handling of U.S. President
Donald Trump's account, says it will not block world leaders or remove their controversial tweets.
(Reuters)
A
hot air balloon crashes due to strong winds in
Egypt's
Luxor Governorate. A tourist from
Australia is killed and 12 other tourists are injured. The Egypt Aviation Authority says there were 20 passengers on the balloon.
(CNN)
An anonymous
U.S. State Department official says no decision has been made on the scheduled January 1, 2018, $125-million payment to the
UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), which administers aid for
Palestinian refugees. Media reports had stated the money was frozen. The official added the government is still reviewing U.S. assistance to the
Palestinian Authority and has until January 15 to resolve the issue.
(Reuters)(The Hill)
Belgium and the
Netherlands, by swapping 48 acres of land, agree that one section of their border is now the center of the
Meuse River. This is expected to fix a police jurisdiction problem.
(UPI)(The Independent)
Thirty-two sailors are missing after Iranian oil tanker
MV Sanchi and Chinese freighter CF-Crystal collide off the east coast of
China. The collision ignites the
oil tanker, which carried a 136,000-tonne load.
(CNN),
(Reuters)
Hundreds of Iranians hold rallies in support of the anti-regime protests in Iran, in cities including
Washington, D.C.,
Stockholm,
London,
Paris and
Berlin. About 400 people gathered in central Paris, and several hundred held a rally in front of Berlin’s
Brandenburg Gate with Iranian flags, drums and banners calling for a change of government.
(Yahoo! via Reuters)
Eleven people are killed in La Concepción,
Mexico, near the Pacific coast resort of
Acapulco, following violent clashes involving gunmen, a community police force, and state police in the southern state of Guerrero.
(AP via ABC News)
The
Supreme Court of India orders a review of
Section 377, a colonial-era law that criminalizes consensual sex between men, and of the Court's December 2013 verdict that upheld the law. In August 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that all Indian citizens have a constitutional right to privacy, noting in the judgment that "sexual orientation is an essential attribute to privacy."
(The New York Times)(Hindustan Times)
Amid protests against rising prices and tax increases, a protestor is killed and five others are injured in clashes with security forces in the
Tunisian town of
Tebourba.
(Reuters)
Congressman
Mario Díaz-Balart, in a statement, comments, "... while living conditions may have slightly improved, El Salvador now faces a significant problem with drug trafficking, gangs and crime."
(CNN)(House.gov)
A three-judge federal panel rules
North Carolina's congressional district map was illegally
gerrymandered because legislators relied too heavily on partisan affiliation in drawing constituencies. This is the first time a federal court has struck down a redistricting plan for partisan gerrymandering.
(NPR)(The Atlantic)
After failing to reach agreement on an extension of the 101-day ceasefire, hostilities resume between Colombia's
government and
ELN forces.
(Colombia Reports)
Ivorian soldiers in
Bouaké attack the Coordination Center for Operational Decision-Making (Centre de Coordination des Décisions Opérationnelles) military base, seizing their weaponry and setting the base on fire after accusations that the unit was spying on them. Last year the soldiers were involved in a
series of mutinies.
(Reuters)
Senior General
Min Aung Hlaing posts on
Facebook that
Myanmar Army troops and
Rakhine State villagers killed 10
Rohingya Muslims whose bodies were found in a mass grave in
Inn Din village. This is the first time Myanmar's military has officially acknowledged extrajudicial actions against the Rohingya.
Fortify Rights chief executive officer Matthew Smith says the two
Reuters journalists who have been jailed since December 12, 2017, were investigating the same mass grave referenced by Min Aung Hlaing.
(The Washington Post)
The
United States Central Command launches an investigation into a video posted on
YouTube which appears to show a U.S. service member firing on civilians inside a truck on a road in
Afghanistan. The
montage video, titled "Happy Few Ordnance Symphony", has since been removed.
(Politico)
More than two hundred people are arrested across
Tunisia as protests against economic conditions continue to grip the
North African country. At least 49 police officers have been injured during clashes with protesters.
(BBC)
The
Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office reports this afternoon that up to 43 people are still missing from Tuesday's
mudslides as rescuers continue to search through
Montecito’s massive debris field; this morning the report had been eight missing. The casualty numbers are expected to rise.
(Los Angeles Times)
The
Securities and Exchange Commission revokes the license of Rappler over its use of Philippine
Depository Receipts (PDRs) issued to
Omidyar Network. The commission ruled that the provisions of the PDRs issued by Rappler to Omidyar violates constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership and control of companies. Critics of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte condemned the move as an "attack on press freedom".
(GMA News)(Reuters)
Twitter posts disseminate claims that actor
Kirk Douglas (aged 101) had been accused in the past of having sexually assaulted actress
Natalie Wood when she was 16 years old (
c. 1954).
(Mediaite.com)
U.S. PresidentDonald Trump refers to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as "shithole countries" in a private meeting.
(CNN)
Sports
The world's oldest professional
football player, 51-year-old
Kazuyoshi Miura ("King Kazu"), has extended his contract with
Yokohama FC, to take him into his 33rd professional season.
(CNN)
For the first time,
Saudi Arabia allows women to spectate at
football matches, part of an easing of strict rules on gender separation by the ultra-conservative
Muslim country.
(BBC)
Turkey cautions its citizens against travel to the United States in response to an advisory that warned Americans about terror threats and arbitrary detentions in Turkey.
(AP via Fox News)
Nepalese authorities state that they are "discussing their response" to
Trump's recent comment which referred to their country (among others) as a "shithole".
Botswana summoned their U.S. ambassador, asking for clarification and expressed their concerns.
(CNN)
Protesters set a government office on fire in the
Pakistani city of
Kasur, in a second day of riots after the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl.
(BBC)
In
South Africa, several
H&M stores are closed following protests over a controversial advertisement that was featured in the store's webpage. The advertisement showed a black child model wearing a green hoodie reading "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle". Several stores are also ransacked by protesters from the
Economic Freedom Fighters over the advertisement.
(Reuters)(CNN Business)
Rubber bullets are used on EEF protesters at the East Rand Mall.
(News24)
Disasters and accidents
A search for missing children is underway after a boat capsized off the
Indian coast near
Dahanu,
Maharashtra. Two bodies have been recovered.
(BBC)
U.S. President
Donald Trump says he is extending sanctions relief for
Iran one last time so Europe and the U.S. can fix the nuclear deal's "terrible flaws".
(BBC)
Iran's
Foreign Ministry replies that it "will not accept any change in the deal," adding that it will "not take any action beyond its commitments."
(Politico)
An emergency alert warning of an inbound ballistic missile is accidentally sent out across the U.S. state of
Hawaii at 8:07
HST, before being cleared as a false alarm 38 minutes later. This event caused panic and disruptions across the state on the archipelago inhabited by roughly 1.7 million people.
(BBC)
The first round of the presidential election results in a second round that will be held on 26 and 27 January between
Miloš Zeman and
Jiří Drahoš.
(Reuters)
The
Tunisian government announces a wave of social and economic reforms after violent anti-austerity protests that have resulted in at least one death and the arrest of more than eight hundred people.
(BBC)
Guatemalan President
Jimmy Morales presents his second government report and starts the second half of his term surrounded by accusations of corruption and protests. Álvaro Arzú Escobar takes office as
President of the Congress. Arzú is the son of former president
Álvaro Arzú and both are accused of corruption.
(Plenglish),
(Telesur)
Science and technology
A study in Biological Psychiatry asserts that increasing the activity of the
habenula brain region leads to
social problems in
rodents, whereas decreasing activity of the region prevents social problems.
(Brinkwire)
Two
police officers and several gunmen are killed near
Caracas in an operation to capture
Óscar Pérez, the rogue pilot responsible for the Caracas helicopter incident on June 27, 2017, according to the
Venezuelan government. Five people have also been arrested.
(BBC)
A meeting of senior officials from countries that backed South Korea in the Korean War begins today in Vancouver which will look at ways to better implement sanctions to push North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons. China and Russia, which backed the North in the war but have since agreed to U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang, will not be attending the meeting.
(Reuters)
Nabil Shaath, the foreign affairs adviser of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, says that the
Palestinian Central Council freezes its recognition of the state of
Israel until Israel recognizes
Palestine as a state. Palestine will freeze the Oslo accords.
(Gulf News)
A knife fight between students breaks out in a school in
Perm,
Russia. Twelve injured are reported, with three of them in serious condition.
(BBC)
Two people are arrested in
Perris, California, after 13 people aged between 2 and 29 years old are found being held captive at their house, including some "shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks". They are all believed to be siblings.
(BBC)
Win Myat Aye, Myanmar's minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, announced that his country would begin
repatriatingRohingyarefugees in
Bangladesh beginning on January 23, 2018. Burmese officials also promised that a newly built camp for repatriated refugees would also be finished by that date.
(The Washington Post)(ABC News)
The
Venezuelan government confirms that
Óscar Pérez, the rogue pilot responsible for the Caracas helicopter incident in June 2017, was killed in a firefight with the
Venezuelan Army yesterday. Two police officers and seven people from Pérez's group were killed, and six members of Pérez's group were arrested.
(CNN)(teleSUR)
The United States will withhold $65 million for Palestinian aid paid via the
United Nations Relief and Welfare Agency stating that UNRWA needs to make unspecified reforms. The U.S. says it will provide $60 million, 48 percent of the regular payment.
(Reuters)
Donald Trump tweets a link to the Republican National Committee's "
Fake News Awards", won by ten stories and tweets that he considers misreported. The link also honors ten ways the President "has been getting results" thus far.
(Politico)
A bus carrying
Uzbek migrant workers catches fire in
Kazakhstan's
Aktobe Region, killing 52 people. Five people escape and are treated by rescue workers.
(BBC)
Pope Francis visits
Peru and meets 4,000 members of the
indigenous communities from the
Amazon rainforest. He states that the people of the Amazon are threatened now more than ever, and questions the conservationist policies that affect the Peruvian rainforest. In
Puerto Maldonado, he asks for the indigenous communities to be recognized as partners instead of as minorities. He calls on the Peruvian people to put an end to practices that degrade women, and criticizes the
sterilization of indigenous women.
(Anadolu Agency)(America)
Twitter announces it is notifying 677,775 people in the U.S. that they had some contact with the Kremlin-linked
troll farm,
Internet Research Agency, during the 2016 election period. The count of
Russian-linked bot accounts is now 50,258, the company having identified an additional 13,512 bot accounts since its November Congressional briefing.
(Politico)(Mumbrella)
Tens of thousands of demonstrators protest in
Bucharest and major cities against perceived corruption and changes to the judiciary.
Romanians in diaspora stage protests in dozens of cities worldwide in solidarity with the anti-corruption movement in the country.
(Associated Press)(Balkan Insight)
Hundreds of thousands protest in D.C., with thousands of protesters turning out in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other cities throughout the United States and the world in cities such as
Rome, Italy internationally, in support of
women's rights.
(The New York Times)(Politico)
Six insurgents kill at least 18 people, including 4
Afghans and 14 foreigners, in a 13-hour gun battle. The
Afghan Interior Ministry says that the siege ended when the last gunman was shot dead.
NATO reports that "no foreign troops" died. The
Taliban claim that they sent five suicide bombers armed with hand grenades and AK-47 assault rifles. The
Afghan government blames the attack on the
Pakistan-based
Haqqani network.
(CBS News),
(AP via NBC News),
(BBC)
Congolese security forces kill at least six protesters and fire tear gas in Kinshasa. 57 people are wounded and dozens of arrests are made in protests across the country, notably in
Mbuji-Mayi,
Goma,
Lubumbashi and several other places.
(Reuters)
The
United States Senate schedules a vote for noon Monday to fund the government through February 8. Since the Senate did not reach a budget compromise late Sunday evening, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will face
furloughs on Monday and many federal government offices will remain closed though some facilities, such as the
Smithsonian Museums and the
National Zoo, are scheduled to be open.
(The Washington Post)(BBC)(Reuters)(The Hill)
Mayon erupts at 12:43 p.m. (PST). The eight-minute
phreatomagmatic eruption was a dense, five-kilometer tall column of volcanic ash, followed by two explosion-type earthquakes. Fountains of intense but sporadic lava, which lasted between three to 30 minutes, began at 9:37 p.m.
(GMA News Online)(PHIVOLCS bulletin)
An explosion on an oil rig in the U.S. state of
Oklahoma leaves one injured and five people reported missing.
(CBC)
The
United States Senate reaches an agreement to reopen federal agencies through to February 8. A bill is working its way through the
legislative process. The first Senate vote was 81–18.
(AP).
Three members of the
USA Gymnastics Board of Directors resign amid criticism over their handling of sexual abuse allegations against
Larry Nassar.
(NBC News)
A double car bombing in
Benghazi,
Libya, kills at least 33 people and wounds "dozens" of others. The victims include both military personnel and civilians, according to local officials.
(Reuters)
The nominations for the upcoming
Academy Awards are announced. Among the films nominated as the best of
2017 in film, The Shape of Water leads with thirteen nominations, with Dunkirk following behind with eight nominations.
(CNN)
The 11 remaining countries aiming to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the United States' withdrawal announce that they will sign an agreement in
Chile this March.
(Reuters)
The National Constituent Assembly approved a decree that calls for presidential elections before April 30. Incumbent
Nicolás Maduro says he will compete for re-election.
(Business Insider)
The organizers of the
GoogleLunarX Prize announce that the $20 million grand prize for a commercial
lunar lander will expire on 31 March 2018 without a winner because none of its five finalist teams would be able to launch a mission before the deadline.
(Space News)
Several rockets fired from Syria strike the Turkish city of
Kilis, near the
Syria–Turkey border, killing at least one person and injuring 13 others. Turkey blames the
YPG group.
(Xinhuanet)
A dozen
camels are disqualified from a
beauty pageant at the
King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, near
Riyadh, after reports in the media about injections with
botox. A veterinarian is caught performing
plastic surgery to make the camels more attractive. Rules prohibit to change the natural form of participating camels.
(NPR)
Larry Nassar is sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for molesting Olympic gymnasts and other women. Many of the accusers were children, who were told to not
question authority.
(Chicago Tribune)
Tens of thousands of
PentecostalChristians in
Mbarara,
Uganda take to the streets with songs of praise and thanks to hold a common celebration seen as a way of dedicating people’s lives to
Christ and preaching the gospel across the entire district.
(UG Christian News)
The Attorney General and the Head of the Anticorruption Commission of the UN, reported on a new case of corruption in the Superintendency of Tax Administration, leaving 9 people arrested, including the Former President of that organization.
(ABC News)
In the United States, billionaire
Steve Wynn, best known for his casino hotels and resorts, resigns as
Republican National Committee finance chairman following sexual harassment reports, including a $7.5 million settlement with a former worker at his Las Vegas resort.
(Bloomberg via Fortune)
Seven survivors from the MV Butiraoi, six adults and a baby, are found in a dinghy and rescued, four days after the 50-passenger ferry sank in
Kiribati.
New Zealand rescuers say there is a lot of debris near the dinghy, but no sign of anyone else.
(Sky News)
Incumbent
Nicos Anastasiades wins the first round of the election, but is well short of an absolute majority required to win outright. He will face his rival from the
2013 election,
Stavros Malas, in the second round.
(Cyprus Mail)
A bus plunges into the
Bhairab River after falling off a bridge in
Murshidabad district,
West Bengal,
India, killing at least 36 people. The late response by rescuers to save passengers leads to violence between local residents and police.
(BBC)
Toronto Police charge landscaper Bruce McArthur with a total of five counts of first-degree murder, after
garden planters containing the remains of three additional people are found on a property linked to him.
(CBC News)
The gunman who fatally shot four people at a car wash in the
Melcroft suburb of
Saltlick Township in
Pennsylvania the previous day dies at a hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
(CNN)
Minutes before the registration deadline, a second candidate, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, fulfills paperwork to participate in the
2018 presidential election. Leading opposition members called for a boycott, saying that a wave of repression has cleared the field of challengers to
PresidentAbdel Fattah el-Sisi.
(Reuters)
A
BBC study finds that, as of October 2017[update], the
Taliban presently maintains control of or has some territorial presence in 70% of
Afghanistan, with full control of 14 districts (totaling 4% of the country) and demonstrating an open physical militant presence in 263 others (encompassing the remaining 66% of the group's occupied territory).
(Reuters)
An
Amtrak train carrying
Republicanlawmakers to a retreat in
West Virginia collides with a garbage truck in
Crozet, Virginia. At least one person dies and one person is seriously injured. The
White House states that there are no serious injuries among members of Congress or their staff.
(NPR)
Renaud Hardy, a suspected serial killer from
Mechelen,
Belgium, confesses to two murders and two attempted murders ahead of his February
assizes case in
Tongeren.
(De Standaard)
MPs vote 236–220 in favour of moving out of the
Houses of Parliament for six years while the
Palace of Westminster undergoes repairs at a cost of around £4 billion. The move out of Westminster will not occur before 2025. It will be the first time MPs have moved out of the Palace of Westminster since
World War II.
(Sky News)
Private messages between former
President of the Generalitat of CataloniaCarles Puigdemont and
Antoni Comín, the exiled regional minister of Health, come to light, in which the former President confesses that the secession procedure "is over", opening, once again, tensions between the pro-independence political parties and more confusion about the future of Catalonia.
(The Guardian)
The upcoming
Formula One season will abandon the practice of using "
grid girls", arguing that the practice does not "resonate" with
Formula One's values. Four days before, the
Professional Darts Corporation abandoned the use of "walk-on girls" to accompany men onto the stage.
(CNN)
An armed standoff between Indian security forces and Kashimiri rebels at a paramilitary base ends after 36 hours and leaves eight people dead.
(Al Jazeera)
U.S. President
Donald Trump tweets that
Pakistan has been a "safe haven" for terrorists from
Afghanistan and has given America "nothing but lies & deceit" after getting more than $33 billion in U.S. aid.
(Time)
Pakistan's Defence Minister accuses the U.S. of giving Pakistan "nothing but invective & mistrust" after receiving "land & air communication, military bases & intel cooperation that decimated Al-Qaeda over last 16yrs".
(AOL)
An apparent gang riot at Colonia Agroindustrial prison in
Goiânia,
Brazil, results in nine deaths and 14 inmates injured. Authorities report 233 prisoners escaped but now only 95 prisoners remain at large.
(The Guardian)(Reuters)
The U.S. state of
Alaska eliminates the posting of
bail in criminal cases, replacing it with a points-based system, rating the defendant on their previous criminal history, their danger to the public, and their probability of showing up to court hearings.
(US News & World Report)
President
Donald Trump tweets that the U.S. may withhold future payments to the Palestinian authority, over 350 million dollars per year, because they are "no longer willing to talk peace" with Israel, and that
Israel "would have had to pay more" in return for his
recognition of
Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
(Haaretz)(Politico)
Israel announces plans to deport African migrants residing in the country illegally. Migrants will be given 90 days to leave the country or face imprisonment.
(BBC)
Law and crime
Joshua Boyle, a
Canadian man recently rescued from a
Taliban linked group, is arrested on 15 charges, including assault, sexual assault, and unlawful confinement.
(Global News)
Nine prisoners have escaped from a
Berlin, prison over the last five days, with two escaping today.
(BBC)
A suicide bomber attack near a group of security personnel investigating illegal drugs and alcohol dealing in
Kabul, Afghanistan, kills at least 20, wounding another 27 policemen. The
Islamic State claims responsibility for the attack.
(The New York Times)(AP via Time)
North Korea accepts
South Korea's proposal for official talks, and will meet on January 9 to discuss North Korea's possible involvement with the
2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. These are the first high-level talks between the Koreas in more than two years.
(CNN)(BBC)
ARSA insurgents, using small arms and homemade
land mines, ambush a Burmese military convoy in the village of Turaing. Three members of Myanmar's security forces are reportedly wounded.
(BBC)(The Guardian)
Twitter, in response to criticism over its handling of U.S. President
Donald Trump's account, says it will not block world leaders or remove their controversial tweets.
(Reuters)
A
hot air balloon crashes due to strong winds in
Egypt's
Luxor Governorate. A tourist from
Australia is killed and 12 other tourists are injured. The Egypt Aviation Authority says there were 20 passengers on the balloon.
(CNN)
An anonymous
U.S. State Department official says no decision has been made on the scheduled January 1, 2018, $125-million payment to the
UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), which administers aid for
Palestinian refugees. Media reports had stated the money was frozen. The official added the government is still reviewing U.S. assistance to the
Palestinian Authority and has until January 15 to resolve the issue.
(Reuters)(The Hill)
Belgium and the
Netherlands, by swapping 48 acres of land, agree that one section of their border is now the center of the
Meuse River. This is expected to fix a police jurisdiction problem.
(UPI)(The Independent)
Thirty-two sailors are missing after Iranian oil tanker
MV Sanchi and Chinese freighter CF-Crystal collide off the east coast of
China. The collision ignites the
oil tanker, which carried a 136,000-tonne load.
(CNN),
(Reuters)
Hundreds of Iranians hold rallies in support of the anti-regime protests in Iran, in cities including
Washington, D.C.,
Stockholm,
London,
Paris and
Berlin. About 400 people gathered in central Paris, and several hundred held a rally in front of Berlin’s
Brandenburg Gate with Iranian flags, drums and banners calling for a change of government.
(Yahoo! via Reuters)
Eleven people are killed in La Concepción,
Mexico, near the Pacific coast resort of
Acapulco, following violent clashes involving gunmen, a community police force, and state police in the southern state of Guerrero.
(AP via ABC News)
The
Supreme Court of India orders a review of
Section 377, a colonial-era law that criminalizes consensual sex between men, and of the Court's December 2013 verdict that upheld the law. In August 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that all Indian citizens have a constitutional right to privacy, noting in the judgment that "sexual orientation is an essential attribute to privacy."
(The New York Times)(Hindustan Times)
Amid protests against rising prices and tax increases, a protestor is killed and five others are injured in clashes with security forces in the
Tunisian town of
Tebourba.
(Reuters)
Congressman
Mario Díaz-Balart, in a statement, comments, "... while living conditions may have slightly improved, El Salvador now faces a significant problem with drug trafficking, gangs and crime."
(CNN)(House.gov)
A three-judge federal panel rules
North Carolina's congressional district map was illegally
gerrymandered because legislators relied too heavily on partisan affiliation in drawing constituencies. This is the first time a federal court has struck down a redistricting plan for partisan gerrymandering.
(NPR)(The Atlantic)
After failing to reach agreement on an extension of the 101-day ceasefire, hostilities resume between Colombia's
government and
ELN forces.
(Colombia Reports)
Ivorian soldiers in
Bouaké attack the Coordination Center for Operational Decision-Making (Centre de Coordination des Décisions Opérationnelles) military base, seizing their weaponry and setting the base on fire after accusations that the unit was spying on them. Last year the soldiers were involved in a
series of mutinies.
(Reuters)
Senior General
Min Aung Hlaing posts on
Facebook that
Myanmar Army troops and
Rakhine State villagers killed 10
Rohingya Muslims whose bodies were found in a mass grave in
Inn Din village. This is the first time Myanmar's military has officially acknowledged extrajudicial actions against the Rohingya.
Fortify Rights chief executive officer Matthew Smith says the two
Reuters journalists who have been jailed since December 12, 2017, were investigating the same mass grave referenced by Min Aung Hlaing.
(The Washington Post)
The
United States Central Command launches an investigation into a video posted on
YouTube which appears to show a U.S. service member firing on civilians inside a truck on a road in
Afghanistan. The
montage video, titled "Happy Few Ordnance Symphony", has since been removed.
(Politico)
More than two hundred people are arrested across
Tunisia as protests against economic conditions continue to grip the
North African country. At least 49 police officers have been injured during clashes with protesters.
(BBC)
The
Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office reports this afternoon that up to 43 people are still missing from Tuesday's
mudslides as rescuers continue to search through
Montecito’s massive debris field; this morning the report had been eight missing. The casualty numbers are expected to rise.
(Los Angeles Times)
The
Securities and Exchange Commission revokes the license of Rappler over its use of Philippine
Depository Receipts (PDRs) issued to
Omidyar Network. The commission ruled that the provisions of the PDRs issued by Rappler to Omidyar violates constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership and control of companies. Critics of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte condemned the move as an "attack on press freedom".
(GMA News)(Reuters)
Twitter posts disseminate claims that actor
Kirk Douglas (aged 101) had been accused in the past of having sexually assaulted actress
Natalie Wood when she was 16 years old (
c. 1954).
(Mediaite.com)
U.S. PresidentDonald Trump refers to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as "shithole countries" in a private meeting.
(CNN)
Sports
The world's oldest professional
football player, 51-year-old
Kazuyoshi Miura ("King Kazu"), has extended his contract with
Yokohama FC, to take him into his 33rd professional season.
(CNN)
For the first time,
Saudi Arabia allows women to spectate at
football matches, part of an easing of strict rules on gender separation by the ultra-conservative
Muslim country.
(BBC)
Turkey cautions its citizens against travel to the United States in response to an advisory that warned Americans about terror threats and arbitrary detentions in Turkey.
(AP via Fox News)
Nepalese authorities state that they are "discussing their response" to
Trump's recent comment which referred to their country (among others) as a "shithole".
Botswana summoned their U.S. ambassador, asking for clarification and expressed their concerns.
(CNN)
Protesters set a government office on fire in the
Pakistani city of
Kasur, in a second day of riots after the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl.
(BBC)
In
South Africa, several
H&M stores are closed following protests over a controversial advertisement that was featured in the store's webpage. The advertisement showed a black child model wearing a green hoodie reading "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle". Several stores are also ransacked by protesters from the
Economic Freedom Fighters over the advertisement.
(Reuters)(CNN Business)
Rubber bullets are used on EEF protesters at the East Rand Mall.
(News24)
Disasters and accidents
A search for missing children is underway after a boat capsized off the
Indian coast near
Dahanu,
Maharashtra. Two bodies have been recovered.
(BBC)
U.S. President
Donald Trump says he is extending sanctions relief for
Iran one last time so Europe and the U.S. can fix the nuclear deal's "terrible flaws".
(BBC)
Iran's
Foreign Ministry replies that it "will not accept any change in the deal," adding that it will "not take any action beyond its commitments."
(Politico)
An emergency alert warning of an inbound ballistic missile is accidentally sent out across the U.S. state of
Hawaii at 8:07
HST, before being cleared as a false alarm 38 minutes later. This event caused panic and disruptions across the state on the archipelago inhabited by roughly 1.7 million people.
(BBC)
The first round of the presidential election results in a second round that will be held on 26 and 27 January between
Miloš Zeman and
Jiří Drahoš.
(Reuters)
The
Tunisian government announces a wave of social and economic reforms after violent anti-austerity protests that have resulted in at least one death and the arrest of more than eight hundred people.
(BBC)
Guatemalan President
Jimmy Morales presents his second government report and starts the second half of his term surrounded by accusations of corruption and protests. Álvaro Arzú Escobar takes office as
President of the Congress. Arzú is the son of former president
Álvaro Arzú and both are accused of corruption.
(Plenglish),
(Telesur)
Science and technology
A study in Biological Psychiatry asserts that increasing the activity of the
habenula brain region leads to
social problems in
rodents, whereas decreasing activity of the region prevents social problems.
(Brinkwire)
Two
police officers and several gunmen are killed near
Caracas in an operation to capture
Óscar Pérez, the rogue pilot responsible for the Caracas helicopter incident on June 27, 2017, according to the
Venezuelan government. Five people have also been arrested.
(BBC)
A meeting of senior officials from countries that backed South Korea in the Korean War begins today in Vancouver which will look at ways to better implement sanctions to push North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons. China and Russia, which backed the North in the war but have since agreed to U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang, will not be attending the meeting.
(Reuters)
Nabil Shaath, the foreign affairs adviser of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, says that the
Palestinian Central Council freezes its recognition of the state of
Israel until Israel recognizes
Palestine as a state. Palestine will freeze the Oslo accords.
(Gulf News)
A knife fight between students breaks out in a school in
Perm,
Russia. Twelve injured are reported, with three of them in serious condition.
(BBC)
Two people are arrested in
Perris, California, after 13 people aged between 2 and 29 years old are found being held captive at their house, including some "shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks". They are all believed to be siblings.
(BBC)
Win Myat Aye, Myanmar's minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, announced that his country would begin
repatriatingRohingyarefugees in
Bangladesh beginning on January 23, 2018. Burmese officials also promised that a newly built camp for repatriated refugees would also be finished by that date.
(The Washington Post)(ABC News)
The
Venezuelan government confirms that
Óscar Pérez, the rogue pilot responsible for the Caracas helicopter incident in June 2017, was killed in a firefight with the
Venezuelan Army yesterday. Two police officers and seven people from Pérez's group were killed, and six members of Pérez's group were arrested.
(CNN)(teleSUR)
The United States will withhold $65 million for Palestinian aid paid via the
United Nations Relief and Welfare Agency stating that UNRWA needs to make unspecified reforms. The U.S. says it will provide $60 million, 48 percent of the regular payment.
(Reuters)
Donald Trump tweets a link to the Republican National Committee's "
Fake News Awards", won by ten stories and tweets that he considers misreported. The link also honors ten ways the President "has been getting results" thus far.
(Politico)
A bus carrying
Uzbek migrant workers catches fire in
Kazakhstan's
Aktobe Region, killing 52 people. Five people escape and are treated by rescue workers.
(BBC)
Pope Francis visits
Peru and meets 4,000 members of the
indigenous communities from the
Amazon rainforest. He states that the people of the Amazon are threatened now more than ever, and questions the conservationist policies that affect the Peruvian rainforest. In
Puerto Maldonado, he asks for the indigenous communities to be recognized as partners instead of as minorities. He calls on the Peruvian people to put an end to practices that degrade women, and criticizes the
sterilization of indigenous women.
(Anadolu Agency)(America)
Twitter announces it is notifying 677,775 people in the U.S. that they had some contact with the Kremlin-linked
troll farm,
Internet Research Agency, during the 2016 election period. The count of
Russian-linked bot accounts is now 50,258, the company having identified an additional 13,512 bot accounts since its November Congressional briefing.
(Politico)(Mumbrella)
Tens of thousands of demonstrators protest in
Bucharest and major cities against perceived corruption and changes to the judiciary.
Romanians in diaspora stage protests in dozens of cities worldwide in solidarity with the anti-corruption movement in the country.
(Associated Press)(Balkan Insight)
Hundreds of thousands protest in D.C., with thousands of protesters turning out in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other cities throughout the United States and the world in cities such as
Rome, Italy internationally, in support of
women's rights.
(The New York Times)(Politico)
Six insurgents kill at least 18 people, including 4
Afghans and 14 foreigners, in a 13-hour gun battle. The
Afghan Interior Ministry says that the siege ended when the last gunman was shot dead.
NATO reports that "no foreign troops" died. The
Taliban claim that they sent five suicide bombers armed with hand grenades and AK-47 assault rifles. The
Afghan government blames the attack on the
Pakistan-based
Haqqani network.
(CBS News),
(AP via NBC News),
(BBC)
Congolese security forces kill at least six protesters and fire tear gas in Kinshasa. 57 people are wounded and dozens of arrests are made in protests across the country, notably in
Mbuji-Mayi,
Goma,
Lubumbashi and several other places.
(Reuters)
The
United States Senate schedules a vote for noon Monday to fund the government through February 8. Since the Senate did not reach a budget compromise late Sunday evening, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will face
furloughs on Monday and many federal government offices will remain closed though some facilities, such as the
Smithsonian Museums and the
National Zoo, are scheduled to be open.
(The Washington Post)(BBC)(Reuters)(The Hill)
Mayon erupts at 12:43 p.m. (PST). The eight-minute
phreatomagmatic eruption was a dense, five-kilometer tall column of volcanic ash, followed by two explosion-type earthquakes. Fountains of intense but sporadic lava, which lasted between three to 30 minutes, began at 9:37 p.m.
(GMA News Online)(PHIVOLCS bulletin)
An explosion on an oil rig in the U.S. state of
Oklahoma leaves one injured and five people reported missing.
(CBC)
The
United States Senate reaches an agreement to reopen federal agencies through to February 8. A bill is working its way through the
legislative process. The first Senate vote was 81–18.
(AP).
Three members of the
USA Gymnastics Board of Directors resign amid criticism over their handling of sexual abuse allegations against
Larry Nassar.
(NBC News)
A double car bombing in
Benghazi,
Libya, kills at least 33 people and wounds "dozens" of others. The victims include both military personnel and civilians, according to local officials.
(Reuters)
The nominations for the upcoming
Academy Awards are announced. Among the films nominated as the best of
2017 in film, The Shape of Water leads with thirteen nominations, with Dunkirk following behind with eight nominations.
(CNN)
The 11 remaining countries aiming to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the United States' withdrawal announce that they will sign an agreement in
Chile this March.
(Reuters)
The National Constituent Assembly approved a decree that calls for presidential elections before April 30. Incumbent
Nicolás Maduro says he will compete for re-election.
(Business Insider)
The organizers of the
GoogleLunarX Prize announce that the $20 million grand prize for a commercial
lunar lander will expire on 31 March 2018 without a winner because none of its five finalist teams would be able to launch a mission before the deadline.
(Space News)
Several rockets fired from Syria strike the Turkish city of
Kilis, near the
Syria–Turkey border, killing at least one person and injuring 13 others. Turkey blames the
YPG group.
(Xinhuanet)
A dozen
camels are disqualified from a
beauty pageant at the
King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, near
Riyadh, after reports in the media about injections with
botox. A veterinarian is caught performing
plastic surgery to make the camels more attractive. Rules prohibit to change the natural form of participating camels.
(NPR)
Larry Nassar is sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for molesting Olympic gymnasts and other women. Many of the accusers were children, who were told to not
question authority.
(Chicago Tribune)
Tens of thousands of
PentecostalChristians in
Mbarara,
Uganda take to the streets with songs of praise and thanks to hold a common celebration seen as a way of dedicating people’s lives to
Christ and preaching the gospel across the entire district.
(UG Christian News)
The Attorney General and the Head of the Anticorruption Commission of the UN, reported on a new case of corruption in the Superintendency of Tax Administration, leaving 9 people arrested, including the Former President of that organization.
(ABC News)
In the United States, billionaire
Steve Wynn, best known for his casino hotels and resorts, resigns as
Republican National Committee finance chairman following sexual harassment reports, including a $7.5 million settlement with a former worker at his Las Vegas resort.
(Bloomberg via Fortune)
Seven survivors from the MV Butiraoi, six adults and a baby, are found in a dinghy and rescued, four days after the 50-passenger ferry sank in
Kiribati.
New Zealand rescuers say there is a lot of debris near the dinghy, but no sign of anyone else.
(Sky News)
Incumbent
Nicos Anastasiades wins the first round of the election, but is well short of an absolute majority required to win outright. He will face his rival from the
2013 election,
Stavros Malas, in the second round.
(Cyprus Mail)
A bus plunges into the
Bhairab River after falling off a bridge in
Murshidabad district,
West Bengal,
India, killing at least 36 people. The late response by rescuers to save passengers leads to violence between local residents and police.
(BBC)
Toronto Police charge landscaper Bruce McArthur with a total of five counts of first-degree murder, after
garden planters containing the remains of three additional people are found on a property linked to him.
(CBC News)
The gunman who fatally shot four people at a car wash in the
Melcroft suburb of
Saltlick Township in
Pennsylvania the previous day dies at a hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
(CNN)
Minutes before the registration deadline, a second candidate, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, fulfills paperwork to participate in the
2018 presidential election. Leading opposition members called for a boycott, saying that a wave of repression has cleared the field of challengers to
PresidentAbdel Fattah el-Sisi.
(Reuters)
A
BBC study finds that, as of October 2017[update], the
Taliban presently maintains control of or has some territorial presence in 70% of
Afghanistan, with full control of 14 districts (totaling 4% of the country) and demonstrating an open physical militant presence in 263 others (encompassing the remaining 66% of the group's occupied territory).
(Reuters)
An
Amtrak train carrying
Republicanlawmakers to a retreat in
West Virginia collides with a garbage truck in
Crozet, Virginia. At least one person dies and one person is seriously injured. The
White House states that there are no serious injuries among members of Congress or their staff.
(NPR)
Renaud Hardy, a suspected serial killer from
Mechelen,
Belgium, confesses to two murders and two attempted murders ahead of his February
assizes case in
Tongeren.
(De Standaard)
MPs vote 236–220 in favour of moving out of the
Houses of Parliament for six years while the
Palace of Westminster undergoes repairs at a cost of around £4 billion. The move out of Westminster will not occur before 2025. It will be the first time MPs have moved out of the Palace of Westminster since
World War II.
(Sky News)
Private messages between former
President of the Generalitat of CataloniaCarles Puigdemont and
Antoni Comín, the exiled regional minister of Health, come to light, in which the former President confesses that the secession procedure "is over", opening, once again, tensions between the pro-independence political parties and more confusion about the future of Catalonia.
(The Guardian)
The upcoming
Formula One season will abandon the practice of using "
grid girls", arguing that the practice does not "resonate" with
Formula One's values. Four days before, the
Professional Darts Corporation abandoned the use of "walk-on girls" to accompany men onto the stage.
(CNN)