Portal:Current events/2019 January 29

January 29, 2019 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

2019 Loralai attack
- Nine people, including civilians and
  Tehrik-i-Taliban claim responsibility for the attack. (Express Tribune)

Somali Civil War
- Two people were killed and five others were injured in a car bombing near the Somali Petroleum Ministry and the responsibility was claimed by Al-Shabaab. (Daily Nation)
A double bombing injures three police officers in Tehran, Iran. (The Seattle Times)

Business and economics

Disasters and accidents

January 2019 North American cold wave
- Major midwestern cities, including Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee, are under severe wind chill advisories with wind chills approaching −55 °F (−48 °C) at night. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers declare states of emergency due to the record low windchill temperatures. (Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Sun-Times) (WDJT-TV) (WBBM-TV) (WILX-TV) (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Two
rhino and a giraffe are killed at Kruger National Park, South Africa, after storms topple a power cable. (BBC News)

Aviation accidents and incidents
- An air ambulance crashes in Ohio, killing three crew members. The aircraft had been headed to Pomeroy to pick up a patient. (ABC News)
- A second air ambulance, traveling from Anchorage, Alaska to the village of Kake, in Southeast Alaska, was reported missing. The aircraft had a crew of three onboard. (KTUU)

Law and crime

Asia Bibi blasphemy case
- Asia Bibi's blasphemy acquittal is upheld by Pakistan's Supreme Court. She may seek asylum. (The Guardian)
Foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars
- About 130
  Islamic State are expected to be returned to France by their Kurdish captors to face trial. (Bloomberg) (Middle East Monitor)

Toronto serial homicides
- Bruce McArthur, a Toronto landscaper charged on January 18, 2018, in this decade-long investigation, pleads guilty in Ontario Superior Court to murdering eight men. (BBC News)
Brumadinho dam disaster
- Police arrest five men, three from the mining company
  Vale and two engineers from a subsidiary company, in connection with the mine collapse. (BBC News)

Belgian authorities order DNA tests of children recently adopted from the Democratic Republic of the Congo following reports that several parents thought they were sending their children to a Kinshasa holiday camp not an orphanage. (Reuters via BBC News)
Jussie Smollett reports being attacked by white racists in Chacago, IL 2:00 a.m. Report turned out not to be true. (ABC News)

Politics and elections

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah, along with his unity government, resign from President Mahmoud Abbas's government. (Reuters)
Brexit negotiations
- Votes in parliament call for a no-deal outcome to be avoided, but do not support any delay in the Brexit timetable, and ask for the proposed customs arrangements in Ireland to be renegotiated, which the EU rejects. (CNN)
2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
- Following a request by Venezuelan Prosecutor General
  National Assembly-backed President Juan Guaidó from leaving the country and freezes his bank accounts and assets. (The Washington Post)

A bug in
Apple Inc's FaceTime software is reported to have allowed users to spy on other devices. (CNN)