January 19, 2011 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- An army commander in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is accused of leading a recent mass rape in Fizi of at least 50 women. (BBC)
- A suicide bomber driving an ambulance kills at least 12 people and injures another 50 in Iraq's Diyala Governorate. (Reuters)
- A suicide bomber kills at least 13 civilians in Afghanistan's Paktika Province. (Reuters via Alertnet)
1 US service member was killed in Afghanistan. Spc. Joshua T. Lancaster
Business and economy
- China and the United States sign a $45 billion export deal, including 200 Boeing airplanes. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Disasters
- A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hits Pakistan with an epicentre 50 kilometres west of the town of Dalbandin. (The Telegraph)
- The death toll from the Brazilian floods and mudslides reaches at least 765. (CNN)
Health and wellness
- American Samoa bans smoking in all public and private enclosed spaces. (RNZI)
International relations
- President Hu Jintao of China is welcomed at an official ceremony at the White House by U.S. President Barack Obama. (CNN)
- Palestine calls for the "immediate, full lifting of the Israeli blockade" and "the sustained opening of Gaza's border crossings for the movement of persons and goods." during a debate at the UN Security Council.(Xinhua)
Law and crime
- Rudolf Elmer:
- Former Swiss bank employee Rudolf Elmer, who passed details of rich tax evaders to the WikiLeaks website, is found guilty of breaching Switzerland's strict bank secrecy laws. (BBC)
- Rudolf Elmer is then arrested by Swiss police. (IOL) (BBC)
- Jean-Claude Duvalier:
- Haitian authorities file corruption and theft charges against former president Jean-Claude Duvalier. (Al Jazeera)
- Duvalier is sued for torture and other crimes against humanity by former United Nations spokeswoman Michèle Montas and three Haitians jailed during Duvalier's rule. (BBC)
- Two attempts in South Africa to arrest former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni for alleged war crimes during the war on Gaza are rejected. (Al Jazeera)
- Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi gives a ten-minute television address vowing to punish those investigating him in relation to claims he purchased an under-age prostitute. (BBC)
- The British Home Office says that American pastor Terry Jones is excluded from the UK for the public good. (BBC)
- Prosecutors in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania charge a Philadelphia illegal abortionist with eight counts of murder for killing a patient and seven live born babies. (AP via Google)
- A United States Federal grand jury indicts Jared Lee Loughner for attempted murder of Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and two of her aides with further charges pending. (Reuters), (AP via Washington Post)
Politics and elections
- Nguyễn Phú Trọng is elected as General Secretary of Communist Party of Vietnam to succeed Nông Đức Mạnh. (Communist Party official)
- The opening of the Afghan parliament is delayed by a month amid allegations of fraud in the parliamentary election. (AFP via ABC Online)
- Tunisia frees all of its remaining political prisoners. (Reuters)
- Situation in Ireland:
- Taoiseach Brian Cowen tells his government he is to take on the foreign affairs portfolio after his challenger Micheál Martin's resignation yesterday. President Mary McAleese accepts Martin's resignation. (BBC)
- Irish Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney announces her resignation and decision not to contest the upcoming general election, becoming the second ministerial resignation in as many days. (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)