Portal:Current events/2017 January 9

Current events of January 9, 2017 (2017-01-09) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• January 2017 Jerusalem vehicular attack
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly places blame on the Islamic State for the attack that killed four soldiers and injured 15 others in East Jerusalem. (CNN)
• Sinai insurgency
  • An attack by several gunmen and a truck bomb on a police checkpoint in El-Arish leaves 13 dead and 15 wounded, including the attackers. (Al Jazeera)
• A U.S. Navy destroyer fires three warning shots at four Iranian fast-attack vessels after they close in at a high rate of speed near the Strait of Hormuz, according to US defense officials. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Fall of the Pioneer Cabin Tree
  • One of the most famous American trees, the Pioneer Cabin Tree, has fallen in California due to a storm, it was over 1,000 years old. (BBC)
• 2016 Irkutsk mass methanol poisoning
  • The death toll from people who drank a poisonous bath lotion containing methanol in Irkutsk, Russia rises to 76. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Law and crime

• Lawyers of former Chadian President Hissène Habré, who was convicted of crimes against humanity last May and sentenced to life in prison, appeal the verdict, claiming there were irregularities in the trial and questioned the credibility of some witnesses. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

• Death of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
  • Three days of national mourning are declared in Iran following the death of the former president and one of the key figures in the Islamic Republic. (Daily Mail)
  • President Hassan Rouhani praises Rafsanjani as a great man of the Iranian Revolution. (BBC)
• Cyprus dispute
  • Greek and Turkish local leaders of Cyprus resume talks to end the division of the island before a high level multilateral conference takes place in Geneva this week in the latest effort to reunify the island. (The Guardian)
• The cabinet of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is investigating an email leak that reportedly indicates the involvement of the vice president Leni Robredo in attempts to overthrow Duterte. (RT)
• Renewable Heat Incentive scandal
  • Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin resigns as the NI deputy first minister in protest of handling by the Democratic Unionist Party of a failed energy scheme that cost Northern Irish taxpayers £490 million. His decision will likely lead to a snap election. (BBC)