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2025 January 29

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Kivu conflict
  • M23 offensive
    • 2025 Goma offensive
      • M23 rebels solidify control of Goma, North Kivu Province, and are confirmed to be holding captured Congolese troops and allied Wazalendo militants at the Stade de l’Unité. They also begin advancing on Bukavu, capital of the South Kivu Province, according to senior Congolese officials and a Rwandan diplomat. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
      • In an emergency address to the nation, Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi calls for calm and says “a vigorous and coordinated response against these terrorists and their sponsors is underway” by the armed forces, and also cancels participation in a regional summit with Rwandan president Paul Kagame. (Foreign Policy) (Le Monde)
    • Around 280 Romanian mercenaries fighting alongside the Congolese military in North Kivu surrender to the M23, according to the Rwandan military. They are now being transported to Kigali after being handed over to Rwandan authorities. (BBC News)
• War against the Islamic State
  • War in Somalia
    • Islamic State insurgency in Puntland
      • Puntland authorities deport around a thousand undocumented Ethiopians from the cities of Bosaso, Galkayo, Qardho, and the state’s capital, Garoowe, as part of an ongoing crackdown on foreigners without legal status, following the discovery of foreign fighters acting as Islamic State recruiters in the Cal Miskaad mountains of the Bari Region. (Hiiraan Online) (Idil News) (Horseed Media)
• Gaza war
  • 2025 Gaza war ceasefire
    • U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff visits the Gaza Strip and meets with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to assure that the ceasefire remains intact. (NPR)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Battle of Chasiv Yar
    • Russian forces capture the city of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, after a year of intense fighting for control of the front line city. (The Moscow Times)

Business and economy

• Expansion of Heathrow Airport
  • UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves approves the construction of a third runway at Greater London’s Heathrow Airport after decades of delays. (Sky News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Prayag Kumbh Mela
  • 2025 Prayag Maha Kumbh Mela crowd crush
    • At least 30 people are killed in a crowd crush at a Hindu festival in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. (BBC News)
• 2025 Light Air Services Beechcraft 1900 crash
  • A Beechcraft 1900D carrying employees of an oil company crashes in Unity, South Sudan, killing 20 of the 21 people onboard, including one Indian and two Chinese nationals. (CNN) (Reuters)
• 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision
  • A PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 operating as American Eagle Flight 5342 collides with a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk over the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., United States, killing 67 people between both aircraft and causing a shutdown of flights in and out of the airport, leaving no survivors. (WUSA-9) (NBC NEWS)
• Thirteen artisanal miners, including three children, are killed when a tunnel at a gold mine floods after a reservoir spill in Kangaba, Koulikoro, Mali. (Reuters)
• Five people, four from Norway and one from Switzerland, are killed in two separate avalanches while off-piste skiing in the French Alps. (BBC)
• A Venezuelan Ministry of Interior, Justice and Peace Cessna Citation II aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base in Caracas, Venezuela, killing all three people on board. (Caraota Digital)

International relations

• Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger formally withdraw from the ECOWAS regional bloc. (BBC)

Law and crime

• First 100 days of the second Donald Trump presidency
  • U.S. President Donald Trump signs the Laken Riley Act into law, the first legislation of Trump’s second term. (NBC News)
  • President Trump announces plans to transform the United States detention facility in Cuba’s Guantánamo Bay into a holding center for undocumented immigrants, capable of hosting 30,000 people. (Al Jazeera)
• Police in Stuttgart, Germany, arrest 59 French fans of the Paris Saint-Germain football club for hooliganism before a match against German club VfB Stuttgart. (DW)
• Former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey is sentenced to 11 years in prison, following his conviction on bribery and corruption charges. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• Second presidency of Donald Trump
  • 2025 United States federal government grant pause
    • The United States Office of Management and Budget rescinds a memo from Monday that would have paused federal financial assistance programs implicated by select executive orders of President Donald Trump, following a temporary block of the order on Tuesday by a federal judge. Following the rescission, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt states that the Trump administration will continue to pursue a freeze of federal funds. (BBC News)
• Syrian civil war
  • Ahmed al-Sharaa is declared the president of Syria during the transition period, a month after Bashar al-Assad was ousted by rebel forces. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2025 in sumo
  • Mongolian sumōtori Hōshōryū Tomokatsu becomes the 74th yokozuna. (NHK)

2025 January 28

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War against the Islamic State
  • Somali Civil War
    • Islamic State insurgency in Puntland
      • Puntland authorities ban illegal foreign entries and direct telecom firms to deactivate SIM cards linked to undocumented individuals and Islamic State operatives, aiming to disrupt the group’s financial networks amidst ongoing anti-IS offensives by Puntland forces. (VOA) (Garowe Online) (International Organization for Migration)
      • Puntland’s highest military court sentences two influencers to prison terms in absentia for promoting Islamic State propaganda and spreading disinformation intended at discrediting Puntland forces’ ongoing operations. (Hiiraan Online) (Idil News)
      • At least four civilians are killed in an airstrike by an unknown combat drone in the Sihan area of Qandala district in Puntland’s Bari region. (Garowe Online) (Hiiraan Online)
• Kivu conflict
  • M23 offensive
    • Battle of Goma
      • M23 rebels take full control of Goma International Airport in Goma, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to senior diplomatic and Congolese security officials. (Reuters)
      • Four more South African peacekeepers are killed after M23 forces launch a mortar attack on their position at Goma Airport, bringing the total number of foreign peacekeepers killed in recent clashes to 17. (Anadolu Ajansi)
      • Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe says Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi “will have to accept talks with M23 to end the situation once and for all”. (The Hill)
    • 2025 Kinshasa riots
      • Mass rioting takes place in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, amid public outrage over the loss of Goma to Rwandan-backed rebels. Multiple embassies are stormed and attacked by anti-government protesters, including the embassies of France, Rwanda, and Uganda. Widespread looting is also reported in the capital. (Reuters)
• Gaza war
  • Gaza humanitarian crisis
    • Israel announces it will cease all contact with the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, after a ban on the organization’s work on Israeli territory goes into effect on January 30. (DW)
• Insurgency in Balochistan
  • Two Pakistan Army soldiers and five insurgents are killed in a shootout in Killa Abdullah District, Balochistan, Pakistan. (AP)
• Israeli invasion of Syria
  • Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announces that Israel Defense Forces will remain on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon indefinitely, apparently backtracking on repeated assurances from Israel that the move was temporary. (Times of Israel) (Middle East Eye)

Business and economy

• German economic crisis
  • Verdi, Germany’s second-largest trade union, calls for a one-day labor strike for workers at logistics and courier company DHL, which also manages Deutsche Post. (DW)

Disasters and accidents

• Air Busan Flight 391
  • Seven people are injured when an Air Busan Airbus A321-200 aircraft catches fire before taking off from Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea. All 169 people on board are evacuated from the aircraft. (Korea Herald)
• A United States Air Force F-35 pilot ejects during a crash at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. The aircraft is destroyed. (CBS News)

Law and crime

• 2025 Drents Museum heist
  • Following the heist of multiple Dacian artifacts last Saturday at the Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands, Romanian Minister of Culture Lucian Romașcanu fires the director of the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest. (NOS)
• Censorship in Pakistan
  • The Senate of Pakistan passes a bill to criminalize the spread of disinformation in Pakistan, with the possibility of up to 3 years imprisonment and fines of up to Rs. 2 million (US$7,121). (DW)
• Kyoto Animation arson attack
  • The Kyoto District Court finalizes the death sentence for Shinji Aoba, the perpetrator of the arson attack on a Kyoto Animation studio in 2019, after he withdraws his appeal to the court’s ruling. (The Japan Times)
• Three people, including the perpetrator, are killed and two police officers are injured in a mass shooting at a Martin’s Supermarket in Elkhart, Indiana, United States. (AP News)

Politics and elections

• Second presidency of Donald Trump
  • 2025 United States federal government grant pause
    • United States federal judge of the District Court of D.C. Loren AliKhan temporarily blocks President Donald Trump’s executive order to pause funding for federal assistance in the country. (DW) (AP)
  • The United States Office of Personnel Management offers a “deferred resignation” scheme to the 2 million federal government employees to announce their resignation by February 6, while stating that employees who resigned would still receive salary and benefits until September 30, 2025. (OPM)(OPM FAQ)(Reuters)(FNN)
• 2024–2025 Serbian anti-corruption protests
  • Serbian prime minister Miloš Vučević resigns following protests prompted by the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse. (BBC)
• 2025 Ontario general election
  • Ontario Premier Doug Ford announces that a new general election in the Canadian province of Ontario will be held on February 27. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• 2025 in aviation
  • Boom Technology’s XB-1 supersonic demonstrator trijet becomes the first privately-funded jet-powered plane to break the sound barrier at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, United States. (Reuters)
• Doomsday Clock
  • The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announces that the Doomsday Clock has been moved up to 89 seconds before midnight. (Reuters)
• Google confirms that it will rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America on Google Maps for US users in line with the official position of the Trump administration. (The Guardian)
• Social media service Bluesky announces it has reached a milestone of 30 million users. (The Verge)

2025 January 27

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Colombian conflict
  • Catatumbo campaign
    • 2025 Catatumbo clashes
      • Local authorities of Teorama, Norte de Santander, Colombia, find the bodies of thirteen FARC combatants. (El Espectador)
• Kivu conflict, Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda tensions
  • M23 offensive
    • Battle of Goma
      • M23 rebels claim to have captured the city of Goma in North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The government says its troops still hold the Goma International Airport and other key locations, and that Rwandan army soldiers are present in Goma. Congolese and Rwandan forces exchange fire along the border. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (DW)

Business and economy

• A global technology stocks selloff on the Nasdaq Stock Market, prompted by the release of the Chinese DeepSeek-R1 model, leads to record losses in the market capitalizations of AI and computer hardware companies. (Reuters)

International relations

• China–India relations
  • Following the meeting between Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, China and India agree to resume direct air travel between the two countries after a five-year hiatus. (CNA).

Law and crime

• Interpol Terrorism Watch List
  • A joint INTERPOL and AFRIPOL operation including eight East African nations leads to the arrest of 37 people and the seizure of small and heavy weapons in Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, and Tanzania. (INTERPOL)

Politics and elections

• Second presidency of Donald Trump
  • Executive Order 14186, Executive Order 14183
    • President Trump signs an executive order eliminating “gender radicalism in the military”, targeting transgender personnel in the military, and another executive order that mandates a process to develop an American Iron Dome. (France 24)
  • Second cabinet of Donald Trump
    • The United States Senate votes to confirm Scott Bessent as U.S. Treasury Secretary, making him the highest rank LGBTQ official to run the U.S. Treasury and the highest-ranking LGBTQ person in the United States. (TIME)
  • United States Office of Management and Budget acting director Matthew Vaeth orders federal government agencies to temporarily pause all federal financial assistance programs, with the exception of Medicare and Social Security, that could be implicated by select executive orders from President Donald Trump. (Politico)

2025 January 26

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israeli invasion of Lebanon
  • 2024 Israel–Lebanon ceasefire agreement
    • January 2025 southern Lebanon attack
      • Israeli soldiers open fire against the Lebanese Army and civilians in two villages in southern Lebanon, killing 22 people and wounding at least 124 more. (Al Jazeera) (The Times of Israel)
    • The United States announces that the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended to February 18. (Axios)
• Kivu conflict
  • M23 offensive
    • Battle of Goma
      • March 23 Movement rebels begin their advance into the city of Goma, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Al Jazeera)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Velyka Novosilka offensive
    • The Russian Ministry of Defence claims that Russian forces have captured the village of Velyka Novosilka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Mathrubhumi)
• Boko Haram insurgency
  • At least 27 Nigerian soldiers, including the commanding officer of the 149th Battalion, are killed and dozens of others wounded in a suicide bombing carried out by an Islamic State fighter in Malam-Fatori, Borno State, Nigeria. (Al Jazeera) (AFP via Inquirer)

Business and economy

• The Syrian newspaper Enab Baladi announces it will return to Syria after a decade in exile following the beginning of the Syrian civil war. (The New Arab)

Disasters and accidents

• A bus overturned in Potosi Department, Bolivia, killing 19 and injuring nine. (Barron’s)
• A bus traveling from Vientiane to Pakse Laos, crashed into a tree after the driver fell asleep, killing five and injuring 13. (The Times of Israel)

International relations

• Colombia–United States relations, Mass deportation of immigrants in the second presidency of Donald Trump
  • Colombian President Gustavo Petro blocks two U.S. military aircraft carrying deported Colombians as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown from landing in his country. (The Guardian)
  • In response to President Gustavo Petro’s refusal, U.S. President Donald Trump enacts a 25% tariff on all goods traded to the U.S. from Colombia, which will be raised to 50% in one week. Hours after Trump’s announcement, President Petro orders the commerce ministry to raise tariffs on U.S. imports by 25%. (CNN)
  • The dispute is settled with an agreement to use the Colombian presidential plane to fly the deportees from the U.S. to Colombia. (AP) (The Hill)
• Belarus–United States relations
  • U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces the release of American citizen Anastasia Nufer from a prison in Belarus. (RFE/RL)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda tensions
  • United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges Rwanda to end its support for rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and withdraw Rwandan soldiers from Congolese territory. (Al Jazeera)
  • Congolese Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner calls Rwanda’s military support for M23 rebels a “declaration of war”. (DW)

Law and crime

• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is formally indicted on insurrection charges over his declaration of martial law in December 2024. (The Washington Post)
• Two people, including the perpetrator, are killed and six others are injured in a vehicle-ramming attack in Tampa, Florida, United States. (NPR)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Belarusian presidential election
  • A vote is held in Belarus for president, with President Alexander Lukashenko expected to extend his rule in an election that the Belarusian opposition, the United States, and the European Parliament have called a sham election. (Al Jazeera)
  • A protest in Warsaw, Poland, is organized by Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya after Lukashenko’s rule was extended to a 7th term. (Balkan Insight)

Sports

• 2025 ATP Tour
  • 2025 Australian Open
    • In tennis, Jannik Sinner defeats Alexander Zverev 6–3, 7–6 (7–4), 6–3, in the men’s singles final to win his second Australian Open title and his third Grand Slam overall. (The Guardian) (ATP News)
• 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship
  • 2025 24 Hours of Daytona
    • In motor racing, the Porsche Penske Motorsport team wins the 63rd 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race with drivers Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy, and Laurens Vanthoor. (The Daytona Beach News-Journal)
• 2024–25 NFL playoffs
  • In American football, the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs win their respective conference championship games to reach Super Bowl LIX, a rematch of two years prior. (FOX Sports)
• In association football, Chelsea F.C. Women sign American defender Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave for a world-record fee of US$1.1 million (£881,540), making her the most expensive woman player and the first million-dollar transfer in women’s soccer. (CBS Sports)

2025 January 25

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Colombian conflict
  • Catatumbo campaign
    • 2025 Catatumbo clashes
      • Eighty-four National Liberation Army (ELN) combatants surrender to Colombian authorities as offensive operations resume in the Catatumbo region. Colombian authorities also rescue 20 child soldiers from the ELN’s 33rd Front. (El Colombiano)
  • A police officer is shot dead by an ELN sniper in Río Iró, Chocó Department, Colombia. (El Tiempo)
• Gaza war
  • 2025 Gaza war ceasefire, Gaza war hostage crisis
    • Israeli forces open fire on a crowd of displaced Palestinians waiting at the Netzarim Corridor, killing two people and wounding seven others, including a child. Israeli authorities allege that the shooting was due to the delayed release of Israeli hostage Arbel Yahud. (Anadolu Ajansi) (Al Jazeera)
    • Hamas frees four Israeli hostages, including Naama Levy, in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners, including 121 people serving life sentences after being convicted of carrying out deadly attacks against Israelis, as part of the ceasefire deal. (AP)
  • Israel accuses Hamas of violating the deal by failing to release female civilians, including Arbel Yehud, before female soldiers. As a result, Israel blocks Palestinians from returning to North Gaza through the Netzarim Corridor. (AP) (BBC News)
• Kivu conflict
  • M23 offensive
    • Thirteen peacekeepers, including nine from South Africa, three from Malawi and one from Uruguay, are killed as fighting intensifies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between government forces and M23 rebels, the latter backed by the Rwandan military. (Le Monde)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Siege of El Fasher
    • At least 70 people are killed in a drone attack on the Saudi Hospital, one of the last functioning hospitals in El Fasher, Sudan. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• Eighteen people are killed and ten more injured in a gasoline tank truck explosion along an expressway in Enugu State, Nigeria. (AP)

International relations

• Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda tensions (2022–present)
  • The Democratic Republic of the Congo severs its diplomatic relations with Rwanda as Rwandan-backed rebels advance on the city of Goma, the capital of the DRC’s North Kivu province. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

• Islam and blasphemy, Capital punishment in Pakistan
  • A Pakistani court sentences four people to death for blasphemy, after they allegedly posted sacrilegious material on social media about Islamic religious figures and the Quran. (Al Arabiya)
• 2025 Drents Museum heist
  • A heist at the Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands, results in the loss of valuable Dacian gold and silver artifacts, including the Helmet of Coțofenești. (Dutch News) (Romania Insider)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Greek presidential election
  • The Hellenic Parliament fails to elect the new President of Greece. A second round is called between the candidates Konstantinos Tasoulas and Louka Katseli. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2025 Australian Open
  • In tennis, Madison Keys wins her first major title after defeating the two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, 6–3, 2–6, 7–5, to win the women’s singles title at the Australian Open. (CNN)
  • Henry Patten and Harri Heliövaara defeat Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 6–7 (16–18), 7–6 (7–5), 6–3, in the men’s doubles final to win their first Australian Open title and their second joint Grand Slam title. (BBC News) (AO)
  • Kateřina Siniaková and Taylor Townsend defeats Hsieh Su-wei and Jeļena Ostapenko 6–2, 6–7 (4–7), 6–3, to win the women’s doubles final title.

2025 January 24

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Colombian conflict
  • Catatumbo campaign
    • 2025 Catatumbo clashes
      • The Colombian National Army and National Police begin offensive operations across eleven municipios of the Catatumbo region. (El Tiempo)
• War against the Islamic State
  • Somali Civil War
    • Islamic State insurgency in Puntland
      • At least thirteen Islamic State militants are allegedly killed in heavy fighting as Puntland forces claim they successfully took over the towns of Turmasaale and Janno-Jiifta in the Bari region, Puntland, Somalia. (The Somali Digest) (Idil News)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • A Ukrainian drone strike targets an oil refinery in Ryazan Oblast, Russia, in one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia of the conflict to date. The Russian military says it shot down at least 121 drones over 13 regions overnight. (BBC News)
  • Kyiv strikes
    • A Russian drone strikes a ten-storey apartment building in Fastiv, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, killing at least three people. (Euronews)
  • Mobilization in Ukraine
    • Ukraine finalizes military reforms aimed at recruiting 18- to 25-year-olds to the armed forces, penalizing draft dodgers, and lowering the minimum compulsory military service age to 25 from 27. (The Kyiv Independent)
  • The Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announces that, with assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the bodies of 757 Ukrainian soldiers have been returned to Ukraine. (The Kyiv Independent)
• Gaza war
  • Hamas confirms that an Israeli airstrike last summer killed Rawhi Mushtaha, who according to Israel was the “head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip”, along with Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio in Hamas’s political bureau, and Sami Odeh, the head of Hamas’s “general security mechanism”. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Arts and culture

• 97th Academy Awards
  • I’m Still Here becomes the first Brazilian film to be nominated for Best Picture, while Karla Sofía Gascón becomes the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for Best Actress. (The Washington Post) (Reuters) (AP)

Business and economy

• Canadian economic crisis
  • The Canadian Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship department announces a limit of 437,000 study permits for 2025, a 10% reduction from 2024, as part of efforts to address pressures on housing, healthcare, and other public services caused by the country’s rapid population growth. (Reuters)
• Saudi Arabia–United States relations
  • Saudi Arabia announces that it will invest US$600 billion in the United States economy. (Al Arabiya)
• Spirit Airlines announces a ban on passengers who wear “lewd” clothing or have “offensive” tattoos. (The Hill)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 European windstorm season
  • Storm Éowyn
    • A wind gust provisionally measured at 183 km/h (114 mph) was recorded in Connemara in County Galway, Ireland, and a mean wind speed measured at 135 km/h (84 mph), would surpass Ireland’s previous records. (The Irish Times)
    • A man is killed in County Donegal, Ireland, after high winds cause a tree to fall on his car. (BBC News)
• Environmental issues in Somalia
  • At least 140 dolphins are found stranded on the shores of Mareero Beach near Bosaso, Puntland, Somalia, with 60 confirmed dead and 30 returned to the sea. (Idil News) (Reuters) (Horn Observer)

International relations

• Mexico–United States border crisis
  • Mass deportation of illegal immigrants in the second presidency of Donald Trump
    • Mexico denies a request from the United States to allow a military aircraft deporting migrants from the U.S. to land in Mexico. (Reuters)
• The U.S. State Department freezes nearly all foreign aid except military aid to Israel and Egypt, as well as emergency food programs. (Global News)

Law and crime

• The Cabinet of Hun Manet approves a bill that strengthens penalties for Cambodian genocide denial, proposing prison terms of one to five years and fines of US$2,500 to $125,000. (AP)

Politics and elections

• 2024–2025 Serbian anti-corruption protests
  • Mass protests and a general strike are held across Serbia in an escalation of months of anti-government protests. (France24)
• 2025 Slovak protests
  • Over 60,000 people demonstrate across Slovakia in protest of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s anti-Ukrainian, pro-Russian, and Eurosceptic policies. (AP)
• Second cabinet of Donald Trump
  • Pete Hegseth is confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Defense in a 51–50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. (NBC News)

2025 January 23

Disasters and accidents

• Twenty-five people are killed and 14 injured after a bus overturned in Dawunt District, Ethiopia. (The Sudan Times)
• Four people are killed and five more injured in a stampede at Cambodian businessman Sok Kong’s home in Phnom Penh as he was giving away food and money amid Lunar New Year celebrations. (AP)
• Nineteen vehicles figured in a pileup along the Yekaterinburg-Almaty highway near Aksu-Ayuly, Kazakhstan, Karaganda Region, injuring six. (Kazinform)

Law and crime

• 2024 Southport stabbing
  • A court in Liverpool, England, sentences the man who was found guilty of killing three children and injuring 10 others in a mass stabbing in Southport, Merseyside, to life imprisonment with a minimum of 52 years in prison. (DW)
• LGBTQ rights in Thailand
  • Thailand becomes the 38th country and the first in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. (Reuters)
• The International Criminal Court prosecutor requests arrest warrants against Afghanistan’s Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Taliban chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, accusing them of crimes against humanity. (Reuters)
• United States federal law enforcement and ICE agents arrest nearly 500 undocumented migrants with arrest warrants in sanctuary cities, including in New Jersey and New York. (CTV News)

Politics and elections

• Second presidency of Donald Trump
  • Executive actions by Donald Trump
    • Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
      • U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order to declassify files related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. (Axios)
  • State of Washington v. Trump (2025)
    • U.S. District Judge for Washington John C. Coughenour temporarily blocks President Trump’s executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional”. (Reuters) (The New York Times)
  • The U.S. Department of State bans consular posts from flying any flags other than the U.S. flag as part of the Trump administration targeting several instances during the Biden administration when LGBTQ pride and Black Lives Matter flags were flown at embassies abroad. (The Guardian)
• 2024 Irish general election, Government of the 34th Dáil
  • Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael form a coalition government with the backing of several independent TDs. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin is elected as Taoiseach, with Fine Gael leader Simon Harris as Tánaiste. (Politico)

Sports

• 2025 Australian Open
  • In tennis, John Peers and Olivia Gadecki, both from Australia, defeats Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith 3-6, 6-4, 10-6, in the mixed doubles final to win their first Australian Open title. (The Guardian)

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