Portal:Current events/2015 January 8

January 8, 2015 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Charlie Hebdo shooting
- One of the suspects in the killings, Hamyd Mourad, voluntarily surrenders to police in Charleville-Mézières while the other two suspects are still at large. (The New York Times) (CNN)
- On the night of January 7 and morning of January 8, assailants throw grenades and fire guns at three mosques throughout France. (ForeignPolicy.com)
2015 Baga massacre
- Boko Haram militants raze the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria. Bodies lay strewn on Baga's streets with as many as 2,000 people having been killed. Boko Haram now controls 70% of Borno State, which is the worst-affected by the insurgency. (BBC)
Iraqi insurgency (2011–present)
- A suicide bomber targets a police checkpoint in the town of Youssifiyah, killing seven people. (AAP via The Australian)

Business and economy

Dunkin' Donuts signs a franchise agreement for 1,400 new cafes in China by the year 2035. (Reuters)
Coca-Cola announces that it plans to cut 1,800 jobs worldwide. (CNBC)
Subaru recalls 199,000 vehicles (2008-2014), citing brake line rust issues. (NBC Bay Area)

Disasters and accidents

Schools in the Midwestern and Northeast United States close for a second successive day due to bitterly cold temperatures. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
A Princess Tours catamaran, Pura Vida Princess, catches fire and capsizes off the coast of Punta Leona, Costa Rica, while carrying 98 passengers and ten crew; the Costa Rican Red Cross confirms that three are dead. (AP via The Costa Rican Times) (The Costa Rican Times)

Law and crime

An unknown gunman shoots dead Nerlita Ledesma, a journalist from the Philippine tabloid Abante in the province of Bataan; her death is the 172nd murder of a journalist since the return of democracy in 1986 and the 31st during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III. (Rappler)
The Obama administration fines Honda $70 million for failing to report deaths and injury complaints from 2003 to 2014. (KNTV)
Brunei officially bans all future public celebrations of Christmas, in accordance with its conservative Islamic law Shariah. (International Business Times)

Politics and elections

Sri Lankan presidential election, 2015
- Voters in Sri Lanka go to the polls for a presidential election with a tight contest predicted between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and challenger Maithripala Sirisena. (BBC)

Sports