Portal:Current events/2011 January 30

January 30, 2011 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2011 Egyptian protests:
- Demonstrations against the government, in which more than 150 people have been killed and over 4,000 injured, continue. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian) (BBC) (RIA Novosti)
- Egypt's information minister cancels licenses and accreditation of staff working for the Al Jazeera international news network. The network's Cairo bureau office is to be shut down by the Egyptian government. An Al Jazeera spokesman describes the move as "an act designed to stifle and repress the freedom of reporting by the network and its journalists". (AFP via Google News) (The Guardian) (RIA Novosti) (Times LIVE) (Al Jazeera)
- Al Jazeera English is unavailable by cable television across most of the United States. (The Huffington Post) (Al Jazeera coverage)
- More than 10 people are killed in fresh clashes. (Sify)
- President Hosni Mubarak meets the military, holding talks with Vice President Omar Suleiman, Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Chief of Staff Sami al-Anan and other senior commanders. (Reuters via The Irish Times)
- Several prison breaks occur, including the escape of 5,000 from a jail in Faiyum Governorate, many including 34 members of the Muslim Brotherhood from Wadi El Natrun, where eight people were killed in riots, and at least eight Hamas militants from Abu Zaabal Prison in Cairo, two of them escaping to Gaza, and two policemen and twelve escaped inmates were killed there; many more escaped from Tora Prison in Cairo, close to where 'dozens' of people were killed. Soldiers have been deployed outside of many prisons. (AFP via Google News) (Hindustan Times) (Reuters Africa) (Bangkok Post) (Press TV)
- Egyptian air force fighter planes fly low over Cairo and helicopters hover above the city as protestors defy the government-ordered curfew. (Reuters) (CBC News) (Los Angeles Times) (BBC)
- Egyptian authorities extend the curfew hours they are imposing on the people of Egypt. The government threatens to open fire on any person who disobeys its rule. (RIA Novosti) (The Guardian)
- Mohamed ElBaradei urges the United States to call for the resignation of President Mubarak. (Reuters) (The Wall Street Journal)
- Former interior minister Habib al-Adli is urgently evacuated from the ministry building in central Cairo amid gunfire. He was one of the cabinet members dismissed by Mubarak yesterday and is accused of ordering troops to open fire on those protesting against Mubarak. (RIA Novosti)
- Thousands of anti-government protesters in Cairo defy a curfew and intimidation from the Egyptian military as fighter jets swoop low over the crowds gathered in Tahrir Square. (Sky News) (TODAYonline)
- International response to the 2011 Egyptian protests:
  - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia expresses his disapproval of current events in Egypt, to which President of the United States Barack Obama responds that he "understands" Abdullah's concerns. (Arab News)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
  - Protesters gather peacefully outside the Egyptian Embassy in Lebanon in support of the current uprising against the Mubarak regime, chanting, "Down with Mubarak!" and "Egypt is an Arab, not a U.S. state!" (Daily Star)
  - Israel privately worries and is "anxiously monitoring" events in Egypt according to the country's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (CNN) (The Times of India)
  - Hamas officials shut the Rafah Border Crossing "for several days" as guards on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza flee. This prevents hundreds of Palestinians from crossing into Egypt. (The Times of India) (Xinhua)
  - Several countries, including Greece, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States, announce plans to evacuate citizens from Egypt. Cairo's U.S. embassy schedules flights to so-called safe haven locations in Europe. (Arabian Business) (Reuters via Arab News) (CNN) (The Guardian)
  - The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in the Philippines sets aside a P25-million standby fund for Filipinos in Egypt, though the official line is that Filipinos there are safe. Non-government labor organization Migrante-Middle East calls for the immediate evacuation of Filipino workers in Egypt. (ABS-CBN News) (The Philippine Star)
  - The Indian government airlifts 300 Indians, mostly women and children, from Egypt as the crisis worsens. (The Times of India)
  - Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov speaks out on the crisis in Egypt. (Sofia Echo)
  - Protests from the Egyptian diaspora and supporters occur worldwide. (BBC) (Euronews) (Al Jazeera) (CBC) (Ynetnews)
2011 Sudan protests: Anti-government demonstrators face off against riot police who fire tear gas and beat up students in Khartoum during protests inspired by those in Egypt and Tunisia. (Al Jazeera)
2010–2011 Tunisian uprising: Rachid Ghannounchi, leader of the once banned Ennahda party, flies back to the country from London after 22 years in exile following the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
Thousands of people march in Derry, Northern Ireland, in memory of those killed by British troops in the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre of civil rights protesters and local bystanders. It is intended to be the final such march after the British government admitted last year that its troops had been responsible for carrying out the Bogside massacre. (CNN) (RTÉ) (Irish Examiner) (BBC)
A fire in an arms depot of the Anonymous Venezuelan Campaign of Military Industries (CAVIM) in Maracy city of Aragua state killed at least one person and forced authorities to evacuate about 10,000 people. (Xinhua)

Arts and culture

Screen Actors Guild Awards
- The cast of The King's Speech wins the award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 17th Screen Actors Guild Awards. (Entertainment Weekly)
- Colin Firth wins Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for his performance as King George VI while Natalie Portman wins Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her performance in Black Swan. (Entertainment Weekly)

Business and economy

Alpha Natural Resources buys out Massey Energy for $7.1billion, making Alpha the second largest U.S. coal mining company by market value.(Reuters)

Disasters

12 people are killed and 360 families left homeless after a fire in Navotas City, near Manila, Philippines. (AFP via Google News) (The Philippine Star)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
1 person is killed and at least 40 others are injured due to an explosion and a fire in Maracay, Aragua. (Xinhua) (BBC) (AP via The Guardian) (Press TV) (The Voice of Russia)
3 people are trapped and 6 others are injured after a 30-storey building collapses in Belém, Pará, Brazil. (BBC)
Tropical Cyclone Anthony makes landfall at Bowen in Queensland, Australia, forcing the declaration of a disaster zone in affected areas still recovering from the 2010–2011 Queensland floods. (The Australian) (Radio Australia News) (Fraser Coast Chronicle)
A wildfire in the U.S. state of Oklahoma forces evacuations in Logan County and the closure of State Highway 105. (ITN)^{[permanent dead link‍]} (Fox News) (Tulsa World)

Law and crime

A Vietnamese journalist known for his high-profile reporting dies after being set on fire. (BBC) (CP via Google News)
The directors of two companies based in York and Kent are charged with conspiring to illegally export Chinese-produced weapons to the United States after having imported them into the UK via Germany. The incident breaches an embargo by the United States, which disagrees with the importation of weapons made in China. (The Observer)
Ahead of his court case Julian Assange is interviewed at the Norfolk country house where he is staying, having been up all night preparing U.S. State Department cables relevant to ongoing events in Egypt for inclusion on the WikiLeaks website. (The Observer)

Politics and elections

Southern Sudan chooses to become independent of Sudan with over 99% voting yes in the referendum. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian) (BBC) (Xinhua)
The Parliament of Iran gives a vote of confidence to Ali Akbar Salehi, who has led the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran since July 2009 and Iran's nuclear program, and is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's candidate to become Minister of Foreign Affairs. (PressTV) (AFP)

Science

Exotic birds are found to have been driven into Britain's back gardens by the extreme cold, as more than half a million people participate in the largest wildlife survey in the world. (The Observer)

Sport

It emerges that police locked international ticket-holders out of Khalifa Stadium in Qatar ahead of the final of the 2011 Asian Cup between Australia and Japan. (Al Jazeera)
Novak Djokovic defeats Andy Murray, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, to win the Men's Singles tournament at the 2011 Australian Open in the first major final without either Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal in three years. (ESPN) (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
France beats Denmark in the 2011 World Men's Handball Championship final.(Copenhagen Post)
Scott Pruett wins his fourth 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race for Chip Ganassi Racing. (Speed Channel)