Portal:Current events/2011 January 13

January 13, 2011 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Protests in Tunisia:
- At least six people are killed in further clashes: three in Menzel Bourguiba, one in Bizerte and one in Tataouine. (Al Jazeera)
- President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali gives a televised address during which he attempts to appease protesters by vowing not to seek re-election in 2014. He also promises an end to live firing of "real bullets": three more people are killed in the Tunis suburb of Aouina less than an hour later. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (The Guardian)
Forces loyal to incumbent Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo attack and burn United Nations vehicles. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
A British cruise ship avoids a possible Somali pirate attack 100 miles (160 km) off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean. (CNN)
Israeli–Lebanese conflict:
- Israel places troops stationed in northern Israel on high alert following the collapse of the Lebanese government. (Haaretz)
- The Israeli army returns Lebanese shepherd Charbel Tanious Khoury, whom it abducted on Wednesday when he crossed the blue line and entered Israeli territory, after interrogating him. He is the third Lebanese shepherd to be captured by Israel in the past year. Israel conducts 14 surveillance flights over Lebanese territory. (The Daily Star) (AFP via Google News) (Press TV) ("Haaretz")

Business and economy

Executives of the troubled U.S. book retailer Borders meet with publishers to appeal for financing. (TheStreet.com)
United States banks foreclose on a record one million mortgages in 2010. (ABC News Australia)
China is reported to have the highest wind power capacity after adding 16GW in 2010, bringing its total to 41.8GW, with the U.S. in second with 40.2GW installed.(Reuters)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revokes a permit for a proposed coal mine in West Virginia which would have been one of America's largest citing "destructive and unsustainable mining practices that jeopardize the health of Appalachian communities and clean water". (Reuters)
Major credit rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s warn the U.S. that its increasing national debt may lead to a lowering of the nation's credit rating.(New York Times)

Disasters

Floods in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
- The death toll continues to rise, with over 500 confirmed casualties.(AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
- President Dilma Rousseff announces a R$ 780 million ($466.2 million) emergency relief budget for the areas affected. (The Telegraph)
Floods in Queensland, Australia:
- Flood waters peak in Brisbane, Australia, missing historic levels but still threatening thousands of homes. (Dow Jones via Wall Street Journal)
- The death toll reaches at least 15 and is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue. (The Australian), (3AW)^{[permanent dead link]}, (ABC News)
More than one million people are affected by flooding in Sri Lanka, with 21 dead and 270,000 made homeless. (The Hindu)
10 people are killed in a hotel fire in Hunan, China. (UPI) (Shanghai Daily)
Three people drown and six are missing after a boat taking people home from an engagement ceremony capsized in northern Vietnam. (The Straits Times)
A tanker carrying sulfuric acid capsizes in the Rhine in Germany with two crew members missing. (Deutsche Welle)

International relations

Tajikistan's lower house of parliament ratifies an agreement to turn over 380 square miles (approx. 1,000 square kilometers) of territory to China, ending a century-old conflict over disputed territory. (Jerusalem Post) (Press TV) (BBC)
Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan responds to Avigdor Liberman's recent controversial comments about Turkey by advising Israel to replace him with another person in his role as foreign minister. Editorials in right and left-wing Israeli newspapers also call for Liberman to be sacked after his comments offended Israel's Turkish counterparts. (The Daily Telegraph) (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

The WikiLeaks website honours a pledge made in July by offering financial aid to the legal team of Bradley Manning, a soldier accused by the United States of providing secret U.S. embassy cables for international public consumption. (The Guardian)
A German pornographer is sentenced to four years imprisonment in Somaliland. (BBC)

Politics

Thousands of members of Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party begin voting on whether incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan should be their choice of candidate in April presidential elections. (Reuters)
The South Sudanese independence referendum, 2011 is confirmed by organisers to have had a turnout above the necessary threshold needed for it to be valid. (Al Jazeera)
Taoiseach Brian Cowen again announces he is not resigning amid continuing speculation of a motion of no confidence following his admission that he dined and played golf with Anglo Irish Bank chairman Seán FitzPatrick before the bank's nationalisation. (BBC) (The Guardian) (TV3) (The Irish Times) (Herald Sun)
Voters in the English constituency of Oldham East and Saddleworth go to the polls for a by-election resulting in a win by Labour candidate Debbie Abrahams. (UKPA via Google News), (The Guardian)
U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican from Texas, announces she will not seek re-election in 2012. (AP via Fox News)

Science and medicine

South Korea buries 1.4 million domestic pigs alive after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. (Huffington Post) (Daily Mail)
Researchers discover prions spreading through airborne transmission on aerosol particles, in an animal testing experiment focusing on scrapie infection in laboratory mice. (New Scientist)

Sport

2011 AFC Asian Cup:
- Japan controversially beat Syria by a score of 2-1 in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. (Al Jazeera)
- Saudi Arabia exit the tournament after an error against Jordan. (Al Jazeera)
North Korea is to host its first ever golf tournament, on a course used by leader Kim Jong-il. (AFP)