Portal:Current events/2020 January 31
January 31, 2020 (Friday)
Business and economy
- Fossil fuel divestment
- The Guardian becomes the first major news outlet to stop accepting ads from the fossil fuel industry. (The Guardian) (The Hill)
Disasters and accidents
- The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force stop searching for nine people who disappeared at sea on January 15 when their boat capsized. Five men, two women and two children are now presumed dead. (RNZ)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- President Donald Trump announces a close of travel from China of non U.S. citizens or residents in response to the growing Coronavirus cases in Wuhan. (Trump White House Archives)
- Delta Air Lines and American Airlines announce that they have suspended all flights to and from China amid the pandemic. (ABC News)
- An airplane with 195 Americans coming back from China is quarantined. (CBS)
- The Department of Health and Human Services declares the coronavirus a public health emergency in the United States. (CNBC)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
- The Ministry of Health of Spain confirms the first case of coronavirus in the country in La Gomera, Canary Islands, from a German tourist. (El Mundo)
International relations
- Brexit
- The United Kingdom formally withdraws from the European Union at 23:00 GMT. (BBC News)
- Subsequently, the Department for Exiting the European Union and the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union cabinet position are abolished with immediate effect upon leaving the EU. (inews)
- Tanzania–United States relations
- The U.S. bans Tanzanian official Paul Makonda from entering the U.S. for his announcement about a crackdown on Tanzanian homosexuals in Dar es Salaam in 2018, among other accusations. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- In Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, a man is shot and killed by police after taking more than 20 children as hostages for more than 10 hours. Angry locals later beat the hostage-taker's widow to death. It is unknown whether she was involved in her husband's plan. (BBC News)
Politics and elections
- 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- Former U.S. Representative John Delaney drops out of the U.S. presidential race. (Los Angeles Times)