Portal:Current events
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Valentino in 2007
- Italian fashion designer Valentino (pictured), founder of his eponymous fashion house, dies at the age of 93.
- In association football, the Africa Cup of Nations concludes with Senegal defeating Morocco in the final.
- A diplomatic crisis over Greenland leads to European troop deployments and tariff threats from the United States.
- At least 45 people are killed after two trains collide in Adamuz, Spain.
January 24, 2026 (Saturday)
January 23, 2026 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Operation Southern Spear
- United States strikes on alleged drug traffickers during Operation Southern Spear
- Two people are killed and another is captured in an American airstrike on a boat in the Pacific Ocean, according to the United States Southern Command. (CNN)
- United States strikes on alleged drug traffickers during Operation Southern Spear
- Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Seven people are killed and 25 more injured in a suicide bombing at a wedding in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP)
Disasters and accidents
- 2026 Indonesia Air Transport ATR 42 crash
- Indonesian search and rescue teams discover the remaining bodies from the January 17 crash of a Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries ATR 42-500 aircraft on a mountain near Maros Regency, South Sulawesi. (ABC News Australia)
- Nine people are killed in an avalanche in Chitral District, Pakistan, while eleven people are killed in a snowstorm in six provinces of Afghanistan. (AP)
- A Singapore-flagged cargo ship crewed by 21 Filipinos capsizes in the South China Sea, leaving two dead and two others missing. The China Coast Guard rescues 17 crew members, while search and rescue operations for the remaining crew are ongoing. (AP via ABC News) (RTHK)
International relations
- Scam centers in Cambodia, Cambodia–South Korea relations
- South Korea repatriates 73 nationals suspected of participating in fraud operations in scam centers in Cambodia. (DW)
Politics and elections
- 2026 Ugandan general election
- 2026 Ugandan protests
- At least 30 people from the opposition National Unity Platform are killed and 2,000 other people are arrested in protests disputing the results of the general election in Uganda last week. (Hallmark News)
- 2026 Ugandan protests
- 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam
- Vietnam's top leader Tô Lâm is re-elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the most powerful position in the one-party state. (AP)
- 2026 Japanese general election
- The Japanese House of Representatives is dissolved on the first day of the plenary session ahead of the general election. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- December 2025 Kosovan parliamentary election
- Kosovan prosecutors detain 109 election commissioners over alleged vote manipulation in the recent parliamentary election, prompting a nationwide recount that could delay government formation. (Reuters)
- Haitian conflict
- A majority of Haiti's Transitional Presidential Council votes to remove acting prime minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, two weeks before the council is set to dissolve. Council members Edgard Leblanc Fils and Leslie Voltaire announce that a replacement will be found within 30 days. (AP) (Miami Herald)
- Iliana Iotova becomes the first female President of Bulgaria after the resignation of Rumen Radev. (Reuters)
January 22, 2026 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Myanmar civil war
- A Myanmar Air Force fighter jet strikes a village near Bhamo in Kachin State, Myanmar, killing 21 people and wounding 28 others. (AP)
Arts and culture
- 98th Academy Awards
- Nominations for the 2025 Academy Awards are released, with Sinners receiving 16 overall nominations, surpassing the record for most nominations for a film that was previously held by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016). (DW) (Los Angeles Times)
Business and economy
- South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index surpasses 5,000 points for the first time, rising by more than two percent in early trading. (AFP via Gulf News)
Disasters and accidents
- 2026 Gul Plaza Shopping Mall fire
- The death toll from a massive fire five days ago at a multi-story shopping mall in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, increases to 67 people. (AP via CTV News)
- January 2026 New Zealand storms, 2026 Tauranga landslides
- Two people are killed and several others are reported missing with no sign of life detected, including children, in landslides in Mount Maunganui and Welcome Bay, Tauranga, New Zealand. Further north, a man is swept away by a flood in Warkworth. (BBC News) (Sky News) (The Independent)
- January 2026 United States winter storm
- A state of emergency is declared in several U.S. states in anticipation for a potentially severe winter storm affecting the South and Eastern United States, Atlantic Canada, and Northern Mexico. (CBC)
- Vanderbijlpark scholar transport crash
- The death toll from the school bus collision with a truck near Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, South Africa, increases to 14 children killed, while the bus driver is charged with murder. (AP)
- Ten people are killed and ten injured after a vehicle carrying army soldiers skids off a road and falls into a gorge in Jammu and Kashmir, India. (NDTV)
- Six people are lightly injured when a passenger train collides with a crane arm in Cartagena, Murcia, Spain, in the fourth railway incident in the country within a week. (Reuters)
- One person is killed and 109 schoolchildren are injured in a head-on collision between a pick-up truck and a school bus on R510 in Thabazimbi, Limpopo, South Africa. (IOL)
Health and environment
- Guinea-Bissau suspends a U.S.-backed study of a hepatitis B vaccine on newborns pending an ethics review. (AP)
International relations
- 2021 Guinean coup d'état
- The African Union lifts sanctions on Guinea and restores its membership, citing progress in the country's political transition which culminated in Mamady Doumbouya's election as president. (AFP via Vanguard)
- Colombia–Ecuador relations
- Colombia suspends electricity exports to Ecuador and announces a 30% tariff on selected Ecuadorian goods to reciprocate Ecuador's imposition of the same surcharge on Colombian imports effective February 1, which Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa attributed to a trade deficit and a lack of cooperation on combating drug trafficking. (Reuters)
- France–Russia relations
- The French Navy boards and seizes a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker subject to international sanctions in the Mediterranean Sea. (Al Jazeera)
- Proposals for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations
- The United States's withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) takes effect, becoming the first member state to leave the WHO. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- 2026 Lake Cargelligo shootings
- Three people are killed and another is critically injured in shooting spree against two vehicles in Lake Cargelligo, New South Wales, Australia. The shooter is at large. (The Guardian) (BBC News)
- Ntabankulu Primary School shooting
- Three people are killed, including the perpetrator, and another is critically injured in a school shooting at a primary school in Ntabankulu, Eastern Cape, South Africa. (Independent Online)
- Terrorism in the Philippines
- A regional court in Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines, sentences journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and her accomplice to up to 18 years in prison for financing terrorism following their arrest in 2020, but acquits them on a weapons possession charge. Press freedom and rights groups condemn the verdict. (AFP via The Guardian) (BBC News)
- Six people are injured, including two critically, in a mass stabbing during a Kurdish demonstration in Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium. Two suspects are arrested. (The Guardian)
- Canadian drug trafficker and fugitive Ryan Wedding, who is on the FBI Most Wanted List, is arrested in Mexico. (PBS)
Science and technology
- AI boom, Regulation of artificial intelligence, Science and technology in South Korea
- South Korea enacts a law that requires human oversight of high-impact artificial intelligence (AI) systems, mandates disclosure and labeling of certain AI uses, and institutes fines of up to ₩30 million (around US$20,400) for violations. (Reuters)
January 21, 2026 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Gaza war
- Killing of journalists in the Gaza war
- At least eleven Palestinians, including two children and three journalists documenting Egyptian state aid distribution, are killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza. (Al Jazeera)
- Killing of journalists in the Gaza war
- Israel–Hezbollah conflict
- Israel launches a series of airstrikes in Lebanon, killing one person each in Tyre and Sidon and wounding 19 others in Qanarit. (Al Jazeera)
- Yemeni civil war
- A car bombing near Aden, Yemen, targeting the motorcade of Southern Giants Brigades commander Hamdy Shoukry, kills three people and injures four others. (AP via ABC News)
Business and economy
- Orbanomics, Economy of Hungary
- Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán announces a 100-billion-forint (US$300-million) support package for the restaurant sector and commits to covering additional household heating costs for January, as part of broader measures to ease cost-of-living pressures and revive the economy ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- January 2026 New Zealand storms
- New Zealand territorial authorities order evacuations in low-lying areas of the North Island after heavy rain and strong winds cause flooding and landslides, while police search for a man missing after being swept away while fording. (Reuters)
- Severe storms in Greece kill two people as strong winds and heavy rainfall cause flooding, prompting authorities to suspend maritime traffic and close schools in several regions. (AFP via BSS)
International relations
- EU–Mercosur Partnership Agreement
- The European Parliament approves a measure by a vote of 334–324 to ask the European Court of Justice to rule on whether the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur can be applied before full ratification by all member states and whether its provisions restrict the EU's ability to set environmental and consumer health policies. (Reuters)
- Greenland crisis, Tariffs in the second Trump administration
- United States president Donald Trump announces he will cancel the planned tariffs on Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom after reaching an agreement with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for a Greenland framework. He also stated at the World Economic Forum that he has ruled out sending forces amidst invasion fears. (BBC News) (Fortune)
Law and crime
- 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
- A high court in Seoul, South Korea, sentences former prime minister Han Duck-soo to 23 years in prison for being an accomplice in giving procedural legitimacy to the martial law decree during a cabinet meeting. (Reuters) (The Guardian)
- Corruption in Malaysia
- The Malaysian anti-corruption commission charges two former military chiefs and one of their wives with money laundering, abuse of power, and criminal breach of trust. (AP)
- Trial of Tetsuya Yamagami
- A district court in Nara, Japan, sentences Tetsuya Yamagami to life in prison for assassinating former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022. (Reuters)
- War on drugs
- Europol announces an end to an operation against synthetic drug production and trafficking in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, and Spain, resulting in the arrests of 85 people and the seizure of 1,000 metric tons of chemicals in 24 labs. (DW)
Politics and elections
- Politics in Australia
- The Opposition Liberal–National Coalition splits less than a year after reforming as the Liberal and National parties take opposing stances on the Albanese government's proposed tightening of hate speech laws in the wake of the Bondi Beach shooting. (ABC News Australia)
January 20, 2026 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Suspension and ban of humanitarian aid organizations during the Gaza war
- The Israeli military demolishes the main UNRWA building in East Jerusalem, forcing staff out and confiscating their devices, following the Israeli ban on the organization operating in the region. (Al Jazeera)
- Suspension and ban of humanitarian aid organizations during the Gaza war
Disasters and accidents
- 2026 Gelida train derailment
- The driver is killed and 37 other people are injured when a commuter train collides with a wall and derails in Gelida, Catalonia, Spain. (RTVE)
- At least four people are killed in flooding in Monastir Governorate, Tunisia, the worst floods in the country since 1950. (Al Jazeera)
- At least two people are killed in flooding in Algeria. (APA News)
- Search and rescue crews rescue a motor banca crewman off a capsized boat in Sarangani, Davao Occidental, Philippines, while continuing to search for the other three missing crew members and 11 passengers. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
International relations
- China–United Kingdom relations
- The British government approves China's new embassy at London's Royal Mint Court, despite security concerns. The planning decision affirmed development compliance, while MI5 raised no objections. The embassy will be the largest Chinese embassy in Europe upon completion. (CNN)
Law and crime
- Gun laws of Australia
- 2026 Australia gun buyback program
- The Australian parliament passes laws introducing a nationwide gun buyback program, stricter background checks, and tougher penalties for hate crimes, following the 2025 Bondi Beach shooting that killed 15 people. (Reuters)
- 2026 Australia gun buyback program
- War on drugs
- Thai authorities announces the end of a 4-month operation to combat drug trafficking in the country, resulting in the seizure of 330 million methamphetamine tablets, the arrests of over 88,000 suspects, and frozen assets worth ฿3.39B (US$140M). (The Straits Times)
- Portuguese police arrest 37 suspects linked to an ultra-right network accused of racially motivated hate crimes, seizing weapons and neo-Nazi materials during a nationwide operation targeting Grupo 1143, whose leader is already imprisoned. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- 2021–present Bulgarian political crisis
- Bulgarian president Rumen Radev resigns, marking the first voluntary resignation of the country's president in its post-communist history. Vice president Iliyana Yotova is sworn in as acting president, becoming the country's first female president. (AP)
- Thousands of people protest across Germany, particularly in Bremen, Dortmund, Frankfurt, in support of Kurdish forces against the Syrian Armed Forces in clashes in northeastern Syria. (DW)
January 19, 2026 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian conflict
- SDF–Syrian transitional government clashes
- 2026 northeastern Syria offensive
- Heavy fighting occurs around Kobani between the Syrian Army and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) despite a ceasefire announced by both sides the previous day. Government forces capture the towns of Ayn Issa and Sarrin. (Al Jazeera)
- The SDF says it has lost control of a prison holding thousands of Islamic State (IS) fighters in the town of Al-Shaddadah after the prison came under attack from armed groups. A video released by the SDF appears to show dozens of IS militants escaping the prison. (The Guardian) (ANHA) (Reuters)
- 2026 northeastern Syria offensive
- SDF–Syrian transitional government clashes
- Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict, Kivu conflict
- M23 campaign
- Congolese troops and allied Wazalendo militia fighters re-enter Uvira, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, after it had been held for about a month by the Rwanda-backed March 23 Movement. (Reuters)
- M23 campaign
- Russo-Ukrainian war
- Kharkiv strikes
- A woman is killed and 11 others are injured in a glide bomb attack in Kharkiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (DPA International)
- Kharkiv strikes
- Islamic State–Taliban conflict
- Seven people are killed and twenty others are injured in a bombing at a Chinese restaurant in Shahr-e Naw, Kabul, Afghanistan. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province claims responsibility. (Headline Daily) (Reuters)
- Terrorism in Tajikistan
- Four alleged terrorists are fatally shot in an overnight shootout with border guards while crossing the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border into Tajikistan. (The Independent)
Business and economy
- Hungary–Russia relations, Hungary–Serbia relations
- Serbia announces that the Russian majority owners of its state oil company Naftna Industrija Srbije have agreed to sell their stake to Hungary's MOL as Serbia seeks to increase its own shareholding to about 35%. (AFP via France 24)
Disasters and accidents
- 2026 Chilean wildfires
- Much of the city of Penco is destroyed as wildfires continue to spread across Chile with the death toll rising to nineteen. (AFP via Barron's) (BBC News)
- Vanderbijlpark scholar transport crash
- Thirteen children are killed and several others are injured in a collision between a truck and a school bus in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng province, South Africa. (Legit) (BBC News)
- 2026 Gilgit-Baltistan earthquake
- Two people are killed, four others are injured and several houses collapse in a Mw 5.6 earthquake in Barishal, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. (Dawn) (ReliefWeb)
Health and environment
- Aging of China, Aging of South Korea
- Reflecting a broader demographic decline across East Asia, the birth rate in China fell to 5.6 per 1,000 people last year, the lowest since records began in 1949, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, as similar downward trends persist in Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. (CNBC) (BBC News)
International relations
- Greenland crisis
- Operation Arctic Endurance
- Denmark announces that it will send "a substantial number" of troops to Greenland in response to threats from United States president Donald Trump. (AA)
- NORAD announces that it will deploy American and Canadian aircraft to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland for long-planned activities, describing the deployment as routine and coordinated with the Denmark with diplomatic clearances and with the Government of Greenland informed of the planned operations. (AA) (Task & Purpose)
- Operation Arctic Endurance
- Kiribati–New Zealand relations
- Kiribati and New Zealand sign a partnership agreement on economic opportunity, foreign policy, health, and security, marking their first bilateral agreement since a diplomatic crisis began in 2025. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Crime in Guatemala
- A ninth policeman succumbs to his injuries from prison riots and attacks on police officers in Guatemala. A dozen officers were also injured in the attacks, and a state of emergency has been declared. (AFP via France 24)
- Flood control projects scandal in the Philippines
- Former Philippine senator Bong Revilla surrenders to police after the Sandiganbayan ordered his arrest over the alleged misuse of ₱92.8 million (US$1.6 million) in a flood-control project, while the Ombudsman pursues graft and malversation charges against Revilla and several former public works officials. (Gulf News)
- September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état
- Togo announces the arrest of Burkina Faso's former transitional president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba in Lomé last week and expels him after Burkinabè officials accuse him of plotting attempted coups and targeted assassinations against the ruling junta. (AFP via The Peninsula)
- A gunman shoots and kills one person and injures six others, before killing himself, in a mass shooting at the town hall of Chřibská, Czech Republic. (Reuters)
Science and technology
- The Sun releases the largest solar particle event towards Earth since the 2003 Halloween solar storms. (CNN)
Sports
- 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship
- In American football, the Indiana Hoosiers defeat the Miami Hurricanes, 27–21, to win the College Football Playoff National Championship. (ESPN)
January 18, 2026 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian conflict
- SDF–Syrian transitional government clashes
- 2026 northeastern Syria offensive
- Tribal forces allied with the Syrian Army take control of the Mashlab neighbourhood in Raqqa from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (Al Jazeera)
- Syrian government forces seize control of the Al-Omar field in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, the largest oil field in Syria, following the withdrawal of SDF forces. (BBC News)
- 2026 northeastern Syria offensive
- The Syrian government announces a ceasefire with the Syrian Democratic Forces. (AP) (BBC News)
- SDF–Syrian transitional government clashes
- Communal conflicts in Nigeria
- Boko Haram insurgency
- The Nigerian Air Force launches airstrikes against Boko Haram in Borno State, Nigeria, reportedly killing at least 40 militants. (Reuters)
- Kidnapping in Nigeria
- Gunmen abduct about 163 Christians after storming two churches in Kaduna State, Nigeria. (AFP via Insider Paper)
- Boko Haram insurgency
- Russo-Ukrainian war
- Dnipro strikes, Kharkiv strikes, Khmelnytskyi strikes, Odesa strikes, Zaporizhzhia strikes
- At least two people are killed and dozens are injured in Russian drone strikes across Ukraine, including in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Odesa, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia. (DW)
- Dnipro strikes, Kharkiv strikes, Khmelnytskyi strikes, Odesa strikes, Zaporizhzhia strikes
- Colombian conflict
- Clashes between two factions of the FARC dissidents in El Retorno, Guaviare Department, Colombia, leave at least 27 insurgents dead. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- 2026 Adamuz train derailments
- At least 39 people are killed and 245 more are injured after two high speed trains derailed in Adamuz, province of Córdoba, Spain. (The Telegraph)
- 2026 Binaliw landslide
- Search and rescue operations in the collapsed landfill in Cebu City, Philippines, conclude after retrieving the last victim, bringing the total number of deaths to 36. (GMA News)
- 2026 Indonesia Air Transport ATR 42 crash
- Search and rescue finds the wreckage of an Indonesia Air Transport ATR 42-512 aircraft that crashed in Maros Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The crew recovers one body of the eleven passengers from a ravine. (AP)
- Five people are killed and over 80 others are injured after a bus overturned due to brake failure in Latehar district, India. (Devdiscourse)
- Four people are killed, 84 others are injured, and six are reported missing in an explosion at a steel factory in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China. Chinese police detain those in charge of the factory the following day. (AP) (CTV News)
Law and crime
- Crime in Guatemala
- Guatemalan president Bernardo Arévalo declares a 30-day nationwide state of emergency after gangs killed eight police officers and took dozens of prison staff hostage, while security forces have retaken three prisons and freed the captives. (AFP via The Korea Herald)
- Libyan authorities say they have freed more than 200 migrants from an underground prison in Kufra held by a human trafficker in inhumane conditions. The freed migrants were mostly Sub-Saharan Africans, mainly from Somalia and Eritrea. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- 2026 Portuguese presidential election
- Portuguese citizens vote in the first round of the presidential election between 11 candidates to succeed incumbent Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has reached his term limit. Socialist Party candidate António José Seguro and CHEGA leader André Ventura advance to the second round. (AP)
Sports
- 2025 Africa Cup of Nations
- In association football, Senegal wins its second Africa Cup of Nations title after defeating hosts Morocco 1–0 after extra time in the 2025 final in Rabat. Sadio Mané is named the tournament's best player. (Reuters)
- 2026 Australian Open
- In tennis, Venus Williams becomes the oldest player to participate in the women's singles draw of an Australian Open at the age of 45 years and 7 months, surpassing Kimiko Date's record from 2015. (The Independent)
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