Portal:Current events/2016 January 3
January 3, 2016 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on an Iraqi Army base (Camp Speicher, now known as Tikrit Air Academy), near the town of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, that killed at least 15 and injured 22. (Reuters)
- Terrorism in India
- 2016 Pathankot attack
- Gunfire and loud explosions are heard at an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, as anti-terrorist operations continue. A further two militants, for a total of six, are reported to have been killed; seven military and paramilitary personnel are reported to have been killed, with up to 20 other security personnel wounded. (DNA)
- 2016 Pathankot attack
Disasters and accidents
- 2015–16 South Pacific cyclone season
- Fiji warns residents to prepare for the impact of severe tropical cyclone Ula. (AFP via France 24)
- In the United States, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo orders communities statewide to place homeless people in shelters when temperatures reach freezing. (The Washington Post)
Environment
- The United Kingdom designates Ascension Island and its surrounding waters in the Atlantic Ocean as a Marine protected area. The reserve will be almost as big as the UK with just over half of the protected area completely closed to fishing. (BBC)
International relations
- North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea may be preparing for an imminent thermonuclear weapon test at its Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, located in the country's North Hamgyong Province where previous tests took place in 2006, 2009 and 2013, according to a South Korean military report. (Yonhap News Agency)
- Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Iran after Sheikh Nimr's execution and an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran. (BBC)
Law and crime
- Mexican Drug War
- Two suspects are killed in a clash with police, and three others are arrested in connection with yesterday's assassination of Temixco, Morelos's newly inaugurated mayor Gisela Mota Ocampo. Governor Graco Ramírez, who attributed Mota's killing to organized crime, calls for three days of mourning. (AP via ABC news)