Portal:Current events/2020 January 14
January 14, 2020 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Security forces block roads leading to intelligence buildings in Sudan as gunfire is heard in the capital Khartoum. (Reuters)
- Battle of Chinagodrar
- ISIL claims responsibility for the attack in Chinagodrar, Tillabéri Region, Niger, that killed at least 89 Nigerien soldiers. (Reuters)
Business and economy
- The United Kingdom bans the use of credit cards to make bets both for online and offline gambling, including the purchase of lottery tickets. The only exception to the ban is the purchase of lottery tickets in face-to-face transactions. The Gambling Commission says the ban will come into effect on April 14. (Reuters)
- In India, economic slowdown has adversely impacted employment generation in the country, as nearly 1,600,000 fewer jobs are projected to be created in FY20 compared to 8,970,000 fresh jobs in FY19. (The Economic Times)
Disasters and accidents
- At least 57 people are killed and others are missing after avalanches in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir over the last 24 hours, senior government officials say. In Indian-administered Kashmir, at least 10 are killed. (Reuters)
- Chemical Industries of Ethylene Oxide explosion
- An explosion at a chemical plant in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain, kills two members of staff and another man 3 km away. Seven other people are injured. (BBC News)
- Delta Air Lines Flight 89
- At least 44 people, including twenty elementary school children, are injured after Delta Flight 89, bound for Shanghai, dumped jet fuel over Los Angeles before making an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport. None of the reported injuries required hospitalization. (Time) (USA Today)
International relations
- Foreign relations of Tonga
- Tonga pays an outstanding fee in order not to lose its voting rights at the United Nations General Assembly. Tonga was among seven countries suspended last week for not paying their assessed contributions. (Radio New Zealand)
- Libyan peace process
- General Khalifa Haftar, head of the Libyan National Army (LNA), refuses to sign a ceasefire agreement after talks in Moscow brokered by Russia and Turkey yesterday with Government of National Accord leader Fayez al-Sarraj. He says that the deal "ignores many of the Libyan army's demands". (Al Jazeera)
- Indonesia–Thailand relations
- Thai Army Chief Apirat Kongsompong and his Indonesian counterpart Andika Perkasa sign an intelligence-sharing agreement aimed at combating the insurgency in Thailand’s southern provinces. (CNA)
Law and crime
- After the conviction of serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga, Mohammad Idris, the mayor of Depok, West Java, Indonesia, says he plans to raid the local LGBT community and is condemned by human rights activists. (Reuters)
- American rapper Jay-Z and his philanthropic organization Team Roc file a federal lawsuit against Mississippi Department of Corrections commissioner Pelicia E. Hall and Mississippi State Penitentiary superintendent Marshal Turner over the abusive and neglectful treatment of their prisoners, which they claim has led to the deaths of at least three people. (NBC News) (BBC News)
Politics and Elections
- Politics of Guatemala
- Alejandro Giammattei takes the oath of office as President of Guatemala for the next four years. Also 160 new members of Congress are installed for a new parliamentary period of four years. (Reuters)
- Politics of South Korea
- The National Assembly of South Korea elects and sworns in Chung Sye-kyun as Prime Minister, succeeding Lee Nak-yeon. (Yonhap News Agency)
Science and technology
- Microsoft officially ends support for the Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft says its Windows 7 users can still use their computers, but warns they will be at "greater risk for viruses and malware". (CNN Business)