Portal:Current events/2011 January 23

• U.S. drone attacks on Pakistan:
  • A suspected U.S. drone fires two missiles at a vehicle and a house in a militant stronghold in northwestern Pakistan, killing four alleged insurgents. (AP via Google News)
  • The attacks are the first carried out by the United States on the region since Friday's protest rally highlighting civilian deaths. (Al Jazeera)
  • Tribesmen march in their numbers in Mir Ali, North Waziristan to demand an end to U.S. drone strikes in the area, the second such march inside three days. (Xinhua)
• Egyptian authorities blame the Gaza-based Army of Islam group for an attack on a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria on 1 January. (Al Jazeera)
• Australian SAS Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith is awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in action in the offensive in the Shah Wali Kot region in Afghanistan in June 2010. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC)
• Somali pirates threaten to kill all hostage South Korean seamen in revenge for the killing of pirates by South Koreans. (Reuters)

• Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is permitted to leave hospital and return home, eight days after undergoing the amputation of her right leg. (BBC)

• Philippe Henri Dacoury-Tabley, head of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, announces his resignation. (Al Jazeera)
• Google is to give $100million to Eric Schmidt, an outgoing CEO.(Reuters)(The Wall Street Journal)

• The death toll in Brazil's worst flood disaster tops 800 people. (BBC)
• The Dominican Republic officially registers its first cholera death since the launch of the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak. (BBC)

• Talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany break down without an agreement to end the eight-year-old impasse over Iran's nuclear program, after Iranian officials refused to negotiate unless preconditions including an immediate halt to UN sanctions on Iran were met. (The Washington Post) (The Telegraph)
• The BBC apologises after offending the sensibilities of Japanese viewers by broadcasting jokes targeting Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived both atomic bomb attacks carried out by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. (BBC)
• WikiLeaks revelations:
  • A "spy" computer is found in an office next to Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir who has been the target in the United States Department of Justice/Twitter case concerning the WikiLeaks website. (Iceland Review)
  • Nearly two months after the WikiLeaks website launched the release of U.S. diplomatic cables, the total amount released stands at just over 1 per cent of its trove. (AP via Google News) (The Washington Post)
  • Speaking in Der Sonntag, WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange criticises the arrest of a Swiss bank employee who passed on details of tax evasion to the website and suggests that the Swiss authorities ought to instead investigate the tax evasion that has been uncovered. Rudolf Elmer has been detained for the weekend. (Reuters)
• The Palestine Papers
  • The largest ever release of confidential files in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, are released. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian) (The Jerusalem Post)
  • The Palestinian Authority condemns Al- Jazeera for releasing the documents and denies that the Palestinian Authority had agreed to make far-reaching concessions on Jerusalem as the documents purportedly reveal.(The Jerusalem Post)
• Israeli inquiry into the Gaza flotilla raid:
  • An Israeli inquiry finds its own army acts "legal pursuant to the rules of international law" during May's fatal Gaza flotilla raid in which 9 Turkish activists were killed; a separate United Nations inquiry said there had been an "unacceptable level of brutality". The inquiry also declares Israel's naval blockade of Gaza to be legal. (The Jerusalem Post) (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (The Irish Times) (AFP via Google News)
  • The Prime Minister of Turkey says that the results of the Israeli inquiry into the raid have no value or credibility. (BBC) (Ynet) (The Jerusalem Post)

• Arrest warrants are issued to six members of the republican guard in Albania over the deaths of three people in unrest. (BBC) (RTÉ)
• Tunisian police arrest two politicians linked to former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was recently ousted in a popular uprising. (BBC)
• As many as 430,000 people infected with Hepatitis B from reused needles settle their legal action and are to receive payments in Japan's biggest medical dispute. (Al Jazeera)

• Thousands of people of all ages march through Brussels in a rally, "Shame: No government, great country", to protest against nationalism and the lack of a proper government for the past seven months. The protest is initially started by students but soon expands to other parts of society. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian) (The Irish Times)
• Around 27,000 anti-government red shirt protestors march in Bangkok, Thailand, calling for the release of imprisoned leaders. (BBC) (Thai News Agency)
• Political discontent in the Arab World:
  • A female Islamic activist is arrested in Yemen after organising a 2,500-strong demonstration at the Sana'a University. (The Telegraph) (Al Jazeera)
  • Hundreds of Tunisians ignore a curfew placed on them by their rulers to travel hundreds of kilometres in a "Liberation Caravan" to gather with protesters in Tunis to voice their discontent with the interim government that replaced ousted Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. (Al Jazeera)
  • A man dies after setting himself on fire in a protest in southwestern Saudi Arabia, among apparent copycat incidents in the Arab world following events in Tunisia. (BBC)
• Situation in Ireland:
  • Ireland's Green Party meets Taoiseach Brian Cowen to decide whether to quit the coalition and trigger early elections. (BBC) (The Guardian)
  • Support for the historically dominant Fianna Fáil party falls to a record low of 8 per cent, down from the previous record low of 17 per cent. (Sunday Independent) (The Wall Street Journal)
  • Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, Jnr and Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport Mary Hanafin formally announce their candidacies for the leadership of Fianna Fáil following yesterday's resignation of Brian Cowen as party leader. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)
  • The Green Party withdraws from Ireland's coalition government. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
  • The two Green Party ministers, John Gormley and Eamon Ryan, resign: Taoiseach Brian Cowen assigns their responsibilities to existing Fianna Fáil cabinet members, Éamon Ó Cuív and Pat Carey, giving each of them an unprecedented third portfolio due to a lack of ministers. There are now only seven ministers left in the cabinet, the absolute minimum allowed under the constitution. (The Irish Times) (Irish Examiner)
• Voters in Portugal take part in a presidential election with current President Anibal Cavaco Silva being reelected. (BBC) (AFP via Google News), (CNN)
• The Central African Republic votes: voters complain of long delays in the country's presidential and legislative elections. (Al Jazeera)
• David Bartlett resigns as the Premier of the Australian state of Tasmania. (ABC News Australia)
• President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad designed Ali Akbar Salehi, the current acting Foreign Minister to the Parliament to succeed Manouchehr Mottaki who was dismissed on December. (IRNA)

• President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari launches an emergency polio immunisation programme targeting 32 million children under the age of five. (The Guardian)

• Sky Sports soccer commentators Richard Keys and Andy Gray are embroiled in controversy over multiple sexist comments about "hopeless" women they had a discussion about during a live television broadcast. One of their targets describes comments aimed at her as "absolutely abhorrent" and a spokesperson says they are "not acceptable". (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph) (BBC) (Press Association via Google News)
• Lance Armstrong ends his international cycling career after a final race in Australia. (Al Jazeera)
• 2010-11 NFL playoffs
  • The Green Bay Packers win the National Football Conference Championship Game defeating the Chicago Bears 21-14. (New York Times)
  • The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the New York Jets 24-19 to win the American Football Conference Championship Game. (New York Times)