Portal:Current events/2010 January 18

January 18, 2010 (Monday)

The 2010 Islamic Solidarity Games, scheduled to take place this April in Tehran, are canceled due to a dispute regarding the name of the Persian Gulf. (BBC)
North Korea says sanctions against the country should be lifted before it returns to the six-party talks over its nuclear program. (Thai News Agency) (Joongang Daily) (BBC)
Indian and Pakistani forces exchange fire over the border. (UPI) (Reuters)
Mehmet Ali Ağca, the man who shot Pope John Paul II in May 1981, is released from a Turkish prison after almost 30 years behind bars. (Hong Kong Standard) (CNN) (Today's Zaman)
Somalia sends a letter of protest to Kenya after the arrest of MPs and other officials, including Muslim leader Al-Amin Kimathi, over recent riots. (BBC) (Angola Press) (Africa News)
Two dozen Afghan Taliban insurgents launch coordinated attacks against the presidential palace and other buildings in central Kabul on the day a new government is to be sworn in. (Washington Post)
A 3.4 M_w earthquake hits Guizhou Province, China, and kills seven people. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Burma's Supreme Court hears a last appeal against the house arrest of detained National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (ABS-CBN News)
Ten Tibetans arrested after crossing into Nepal are handed over to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kathmandu, reversing an earlier decision to deport them back to China. (Taiwan News) (Republica)
Fidel Castro reports activities of 500 Cuban-trained doctors in Haiti. (Granma)
China commences surveillance of text messages, with customers from the country's two largest operators being blocked for lewd messages. Meanwhile, text messaging returns to Xinjiang, after riots last July. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (Al Jazeera)
Maria Sharapova crashes out of the 2010 Australian Open, losing in the first round against compatriot Maria Kirilenko, 6–7 (4–7), 6–3, 4–6. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)