Portal:Current events/2010 January 7

January 7, 2010 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Palestinians fire mortars and Katyusha rocket from Gaza, causing widespread panic in Ashkelon, Israel, in the first such rocket attack on Israel in a year. (The Jerusalem Post)
At least four militants are dead after a 23-hour gun battle at a hotel in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. (Sify) (New York Times) (Indian Express)
Aid agencies warn of renewed violence in Southern Sudan unless there are attempts to save the 2005 peace agreement, as 140 people are killed in ethnic clashes. (BBC) (Xinhua) (Khaleej Times)
At least six Coptic Christians are killed in a drive-by shooting at a church in Nag Hammadi, southern Egypt, with clashes later taking place between police and Copts. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (CNN)

Arts and culture

The Xinhua News Agency responds to claims by The Guardian newspaper that China had tried “hijack” the Copenhagen summit's Accord by claiming that the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao was not invited to secret US-initiated talks on December 17. (China Dialogue)
James Cameron's film Avatar is expected to become the second-highest grossing movie of all time, just passing The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. (MTV)
The BBC's Spotlight programme reveals that Iris Robinson, former UK MP and wife of the First Minister of Northern Ireland, helped a 19-year-old male who she was having a relationship with receive funding for a business project. (BBC) (The Guardian)

Business and economy

The United States approves arms sales to Taiwan, amid opposition from China. (Radio Taiwan International) (BBC) (AFP)

Disasters and accidents

Extreme weather in Europe kills nine people in Germany, traps a Eurostar train in the Channel Tunnel, disrupts flights at international airports in Amsterdam, Dublin, Knock and Paris, shuts hundreds of schools in Ireland and disrupts Norway's bus service in Oslo. (BBC)

Environment

The governments of Australia and New Zealand announce an investigation into an incident where a boat belonging to the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was damaged in a confrontation with a Japanese ship in the Southern Ocean. (Reuters)

International relations

A weekend killing in Australia has prompted the Indian government to issue an advisory for its college students studying in that country. (CNN) (Indian Express)
Kenya deports to Gambia a radical Jamaican Muslim cleric who is on a global terror watch list. (KBC) (AFP) (AllAfrica.com)
Nepal begins discharging child soldiers who fought for the Maoists as part of a process of national reconciliation. (Reuters) (The Rising Nepal) (The Guardian)
United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston says three independent experts have confirmed that mobile phone video footage showing extra-judicial killings by the Sri Lankan military is authentic. (BBC) (Channel 4 News)

Law and crime

ABB plant shooting:
- An ABB employee commits suicide after shooting eight people, three fatally, at the ABB Power building in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. (CNN)
A Burmese court sentences two officials to death and one to imprisonment for leaking details of secret government visits to North Korea and Russia. (BBC)

Politics and elections