Portal:Current events/2011 January 18

• War in North-West Pakistan:
  • A US drone attack kills five militants in a compound in northwest Pakistan. (AP)
• Three Sudanese army officers are killed in a clash between rebel forces and the army in western Darfur. (Bloomberg)
• Israeli tanks enter the northern Gaza Strip; some fighting occurs killing one Palestinian and injuring two others in response to Palestinian militants who had detonated an explosive device targeting an army patrol along the border (BBC)(Tehran Times) (The Jerusalem Post)
• The Republic of China (Taiwan) conducts live-fire missile tests. (Focus Taiwan) (BBC)
• Nigerian Sharia conflict:
  • Nigerian soldiers are granted permission to shoot to kill "to protect civilians" in Jos. (BBC)
• A 25-year-old unemployed male dies after setting himself on fire in Alexandria. Another man, aged 40, sets himself on fire in Cairo in protests against rising prices. (BBC)

• The U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Justice Department approve a $28 billion merger of Comcast and NBC Universal with critics complaining of even greater media consolidation in the U.S. and how this merger removes competitive forces and hurts consumers. (NPR)(Common Dreams)
• European Union finance ministers agree to more stringent methodology to "stress test" the same 91 European banks tested in 2010. This is due to happen in May. (Al Jazeera)
• TV channel Headlines Today alleges that some "Indian-sounding names" feature in Swiss Bank secret accounts data retrieved from a former Swiss banker by Julian Assange, spokesperson for the WikiLeaks website. (The Times of India)
• Farmers begin a seven-day strike in Argentina. (BBC)
• Delta Air Lines says that it expects sharp fuel cost increases in 2011, perhaps to $2.60 a gallon from $2.47 last year. (MarketWatch)
• Apple records record profits of $6 billion as consumers consumed more of its products than was thought. (BBC)

• Brazil's military increases rescue and supply operations following the worst disaster in the country's history. (BBC)
• South Africa declares eight of its nine provinces disaster areas following the deaths of 41 people during floods. (BBC)
• Hundreds of flood victims in Sri Lanka protest over the alleged unfair distribution of emergency aid. (AFP via Google News)

• President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, on his first visit to the West Bank as head of state, confirms "support [for] the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem." (Al Jazeera) (The Jerusalem Post)
• The Puntland autonomous region of Somalia says it is "breaking away" from the federation until a legitimate government is put in place. (Al Jazeera)
• Chinese President Hu Jintao begins a four-day state visit to the United States. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• The British government suggests the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), a private company run by police chiefs, ought to have its power to run undercover spies removed after recent revelations about Mark Kennedy, policeman and undercover spy on international activists, as it acknowledges for the first time that "something had gone very wrong". (The Guardian)
• Arrest of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier:
  • Haitian authorities arrest former president Jean-Claude Duvalier. (Reuters via Alertnet) (BBC)
  • Corruption and theft charges are filed against Duvalier. (Al Jazeera)
• Sudanese police arrest opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi and eight others after they called for a "popular revolution" if price rises were not reversed. (Reuters)

• Situation in Tunisia:
  • Tunisia's interim President Fouad Mebazaa and Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi resign from the ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally party amid a row over the make-up of the new government. (BBC) (AFP via Google News)
  • Four ministers resign. (Al Jazeera)
  • France defends itself, alleging that it "had not seen these events coming any more than anyone else." (BBC)
• Situation in Ireland:
  • Taoiseach Brian Cowen wins a vote of confidence in his leadership, a secret ballot held at a meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party in Dublin. (BBC) (RTÉ)
  • Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin resigns. (Bloomberg)
• Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani appoints Mohammed Saleh al-Sada as Energy Minister, succeeding Abdullah Al-Attiyah in a cabinet reshuffle. (Al Jazeera)
• Voting continues at a congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam as it selects a new leadership. (AP via Google News) (Times Live)
• United States Senate:
  • Kent Conrad, a Democrat from North Dakota, announces he will not run again in the 2012 Senate election. (Fox News)
  • Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who caucuses with the Democrats, also decides not to run for re-election in 2012. (The New York Times)