Portal:Current events/2011 January 7

January 7, 2011 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

A suicide bomber kills 17 people and wounds at least 20 others in a public bathhouse in Kandahar province, Afghanistan; the Taliban claims responsibility for the attack. (The Washington Post) (AP via Google News)
Seven people are killed in Jos and at least two people are killed at a rally in Bayelsa State. (Al Jazeera)
Eight people are killed and three injured following an armed attack on a bus traveling between Catacamas and Juticalpa in eastern Honduras. (CNN) (The Jerusalem Post)
Six people are killed and 20 injured in political violence in West Bengal, India. (Hindustan Times)
South Korea lowers its surveillance alert level against North Korea. (Xinhua)
Israeli troops round up five men and kill a 67-year-old Palestinian man during an operation into the West Bank, aiming at arresting members of Hamas. (Haaretz) (BBC) (The Jerusalem Post)

Business and economy

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upholds a lower court ruling that halted the efforts of two large banks to foreclose in cases in which they failed to prove they were holding the mortgages in question. (Reuters) (The New York Times).

International relations

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and First Lady Carla Bruni begin an official trip to the overseas departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique. (UPI)
Ghana says a threat of force by the Economic Community of West African States to remove Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo would "not bring about peace" in the country. (Bloomberg)
Laurent Gbagbo expels the ambassadors for Canada and the United Kingdom from Côte d'Ivoire. Both nations reject the decision, recognizing Alassane Ouattara as the rightful President. (CNN)
Chile recognises the State of Palestine. (Ynetnews) (The Jerusalem Post) (The New York Times)

Law and crime

Dozens of Christians in Iran are arrested, after security forces forcibly entered their homes and verbally and physically abused them, in a crackdown on converts from Islam and evangelical groups, which an Iranian official who confirmed the arrests called an "enemy cultural invasion." (Voice of America)
A lawsuit by the estate of Adrian Jacobs against Scholastic, claiming that J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire plagiarised one of his own works, is dismissed by a court in the United States. (BBC)
Former British Labour MP David Chaytor is sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for fraudulently claiming more than £20,000 in expenses. (BBC)

Politics

The United Nations says thousands of people are arriving in Southern Sudan from north Sudan ahead of the independence referendum on Sunday. (Al Jazeera)
Parents in China demand compensation after more than 200 children are poisoned by lead. (Reuters)
Youths in Algeria riot for a second night in unrest over social and political grievances. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (Africa News)
Youths in Tunisia protest for several days over social (job market, purchase power, goods' price) and political grievances. Lawyers go on strike against police repression of protesters. (The Irish Times)

Sports

2011 AFC Asian Cup:
- The fifteenth edition of AFC Asian Cup is officially opened in Qatar in a ceremony held in the Khalifa International Stadium. (Al Jazeera Sport)
- Uzbekistan defeats Qatar 2-0 in opening match. (the-AFC)
England wins the final Ashes test to clinch the 2010–11 series with a 3-1 victory over Australia. (BBC Sport)