Portal:Current events/2014 January 29
January 29, 2014 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Civil conflict in the Philippines
- More than 40 people are killed on Mindanao between the Philippine government and armed groups opposed to the peace deal between the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. (The New York Times) (BBC News)
Arts and culture
- Archaeologists believe to have uncovered the oldest Roman temple ever discovered. (HuffPost)
Disasters and accidents
- Seven people are killed and 14 injured after a bus collides with a diesel tanker on the Mumbai - Ahmedabad highway in India. (NDTV)
- National Guard troops are deployed to reach students stranded overnight on buses after ice and snow cause widespread traffic chaos in Atlanta, Georgia. (CNN)[permanent dead link]
- The cruise ship MS Explorer of the Seas returns to port; at least 684 of the 4237 people aboard had symptoms of norovirus. (CNN) (NBC)
International relations
- Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)
- Edward Snowden is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. (Bloomberg)
- In the US Senate, James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, calls for the return of NSA documents by "Snowden and his accomplices"; asked whether this includes journalists, Clapper's spokesperson says "Director Clapper was referring to anyone who is assisting Edward Snowden to further threaten our national security through the unauthorized disclosure of stolen documents related to lawful foreign intelligence collection programs." (The Guardian)
Law and crime
- Canadian singer Justin Bieber surrenders to Toronto Police to face assault charges. (Time)
Politics and elections
- In the Czech Republic a new coalition government is sworn in, led by Bohuslav Sobotka and consisting of the Social Democrats, the liberalist ANO 2011 and the Christian Democrats. (Radio Prague)
- Largest Russian TV providers disconnected leading independent Dozhd TV channel. The previous days the channel was criticised by Vladimir Putin's press secretary and Russian parliament members. (The Moscow Times) (The Guardian) (Reuters) (RIA)
- U.S. President Barack Obama signs the myRA at a visit to U.S. Steel's Irvin Works in metropolitan Pittsburgh. (C-SPAN 24:50) (WTAE-TV) (Whitehouse.gov)
Science and technology
- Scientists find a way to convert normal cells into stem cells, which can be used for any part of the body. Previously, the standard method of obtaining stem cells was to get them from an embryo. (The New York Times)