Portal:Current events/2011 January 3

• A further 35 officers in Bangladesh are sentenced over their involvement in a mutiny in February 2009. (Xinhua)
• Coptic Christians clash with police in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt, as they demand more protection for Egypt's Christian minority following a New Year's Day bombing of a Coptic church that killed 21. (Ynet) (Los Angeles Times)
• Sudanese soldiers kill one woman and rape six others near Attash Camp in South Darfur. (Radio Dabanga)
• In response to the firing of a Kassam rocket from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, Israel planes bomb three targets, including two refugee camps and a weapons factory in the Gaza Strip, injuring two people. (The Jerusalem Post) (ABC News)
• Pakistani forces fire on Indian posts along the border along the Line of Control in the Poonch district of the disputed Kashmir region, in a second ceasefire violation since December 29. (The Hindu)

• Investments in Facebook totaling US$500 million lead to speculation that its value could be as high as US$50 billion. (CNN)

• Floods in Queensland, Australia:
  • The Australian government announces that it will make relief payments of hundreds of millions of dollars for flood victims.(The Australian)
  • The death toll from the floods rises to 10. (Adelaide Now)
• 7 people are missing after a fishing boat sank in the Xi River in south China. (Straits Times)
• Two boats capsize off the southern coast of Yemen with a total of 80 people missing. Only three have been found alive. (BBC) (IOL) (Press TV)
• A six-alarm fire destroys a former hotel built in 1888 and recognized as a heritage building on Toronto's Yonge Street before it was scheduled for demolition; the fire forced the temporary closure of Ryerson University and nearby schools and hot spots remained a danger after extinguishing the fire. Two firefighters who fell into the building were rescued uninjured while arson remains a suspected cause. (CBC) (Toronto Sun)

• A delegation of African leaders from Benin, Cape Verde, Kenya and Sierra Leone travels to Côte d'Ivoire to offer incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo an amnesty if he resigns from office. (BBC) (Voice of Russia)
• According to a new Wikileaks document, U.S. ambassador to France, Craig Stapleton, asked Washington to penalize nations, including France, who do not support genetically modified crops.(The Guardian)

• An Iranian judiciary official says that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani could be spared execution by stoning for murder, manslaughter, and adultery, pointing out that ambiguities remain in her case. (The Australian) (Adelaide Now)

• The second-largest party in Pakistan's coalition, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, quits the government leaving it with a minority in parliament. (CNN)
• A study reports that 61% of Americans believe the best way to solve the budget deficit is to raise taxes for the wealthiest, in contrast to a plan by Republicans to permanently extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans(Reuters)
• Republican U.S. Representative Darrell Issa calls for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign over lack of progress in prosecuting Julian Assange, and plans are announced of holding a congressional inquiry into Wikileaks and Assange. (The Guardian)

• Scientists are investigating the sudden dieoff of over 5,000 red-winged blackbirds in Beebe, Arkansas, United States, on New Year's Eve. (CNN.com)
  • In another event not far way from the bird dieoff, scientists are investigating a fish kill of nearly 100,000 drum in the Arkansas River. (USA Today)
• China announces a breakthrough in spent nuclear fuel reprocessing technology that could solve the country's uranium supply problem. (China Daily) (BBC)