Portal:Current events/2014 January 20

Current events of January 20, 2014 (2014-01-20) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in North-West Pakistan
  • A suicide bomber blows himself up near Pakistan's military headquarters in Rawalpindi killing at least 13 people. (AP via MyFoxAL)
• December 2013 Volgograd bombings
  • An Islamist group claims responsibility for the bombings and threatens attacks on the 2014 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Sochi. (Reuters)
• Euromaidan
  • Violence spreads in Kiev as protesters clash with police. (ABC News)
• The United Kingdom rejects its involvement in combat drone attacks by the United States in Pakistan. (BBC)
• Syrian Civil War:
  • Two car bombs hit a rebel-held post on the Syrian border with Turkey , killing at least 16 people. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• More than 20 million South Koreans' credit cards are hacked. (BBC News)
• Trial begins in London over a claim by investment ban JPMorgan that the public transit provider of the city of Berlin owes it more than $204 million. (Reuters)
• World leaders are meeting in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. (ABC News)

Disasters

• The drought in California spreads throughout the whole state after a fire erupts in the Greater Los Angeles Area. (Los Angeles Times)
• A 6.2 magnitude earthquake occurs on the lower North Island of New Zealand near the capital Wellington. (New Zealand Herald)
• Monsoon rains cause flooding in the Indonesian capital Jakarta causing the evacuation of more than 30,000 people. (Reuters via Trust)

International relations

• The United States rejects the invitation of Iran by the United Nations in peace talks involving Syria. (The New York Times)
• Certain sanctions against Iran are lifted by the European Union and the United States through a nuclear deal. (The Washington Post)
• Kenneth Bae, an American prisoner in North Korea, releases a message to the United States for help. (Huffington Post)

Law and crime

• Hong Kong arrests an employer for abusing an Indonesian maid which resulted in protests by migrant workers from Indonesia and the Philippines in the Chinese territory. (Fox News)
• Revenge porn becomes illegal in Israel. (SBS Australia)
• Police in India are investigating the death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Shashi Tharoor, after she had accused her husband of committing adultery with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar. (NBC)
• 30 people are to be executed in Vietnam for smuggling drugs. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• The transitional National Assembly of the Central African Republic chooses Catherine Samba-Panza as the interim President, making her the country's first female head of state. (Reuters)
• President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe makes his first public appearance in several weeks. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• India launches the Agni-IV missile today. (The Hindu)
• The Rosetta begins to 'wake up' from hibernation on its mission to rendezvous and land a probe on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. (BBC News)
• Dolphin hunting in the Japanese town of Taiji is criticized by US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy after protests by environmental groups. (Japan Daily Press)

Sport

• Jérôme Champagne, a former French diplomat, and advisor to multiple football federations announces his candidacy to become FIFA President in 2015. (The Guardian)
• The Hong Kong Football Association is fined for preventing an alleged racist incident against fans of the Philippine national football team in 2013. (Goal.com)