Portal:Current events/2018 January 5

• Northern Rakhine State clashes
  • ARSA insurgents, using small arms and homemade land mines, ambush a Burmese military convoy in the village of Turaing. Three members of Myanmar's security forces are reportedly wounded. (BBC) (The Guardian)

• Donald Trump on social media
  • Twitter, in response to criticism over its handling of U.S. President Donald Trump's account, says it will not block world leaders or remove their controversial tweets. (Reuters)
• Weinstein effect
  • Four women accuse film and television producer, director, and writer Paul Haggis (Crash and Million Dollar Baby) of sexual misconduct including two rapes. (Hollywood Reporter)

• 2018 Luxor hot air balloon crash
  • A hot air balloon crashes due to strong winds in Egypt's Luxor Governorate. A tourist from Australia is killed and 12 other tourists are injured. The Egypt Aviation Authority says there were 20 passengers on the balloon. (CNN)

• Accession of Turkey to the European Union
  • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says he is "tired" of waiting for the European Union to approve Turkey's membership in the political union. (Al Jazeera)
  • French President Emmanuel Macron suggests that Turkey could have a "partnership" with the EU instead of full membership. (France 24)
• Palestine–United States relations
  • An anonymous U.S. State Department official says no decision has been made on the scheduled January 1, 2018, $125-million payment to the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), which administers aid for Palestinian refugees. Media reports had stated the money was frozen. The official added the government is still reviewing U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority and has until January 15 to resolve the issue. (Reuters) (The Hill)
• Belgium–Netherlands relations
  • Belgium and the Netherlands, by swapping 48 acres of land, agree that one section of their border is now the center of the Meuse River. This is expected to fix a police jurisdiction problem. (UPI) (The Independent)
• Foreign relations of Iran
  • During a session of the United Nations Security Council, the United States repeat its "unapologetic" support for the ongoing Iranian protests. Russia denounces the "veiled [U.S.] attempt to use the current moment to continue to undermine" the JCPOA. France calls to "be wary of any attempt to exploit this crisis for personal ends". (The New York Times)

• Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
  • Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary refer the British spy Christopher Steele to the U.S. Department of Justice for a potential criminal investigation. (ABC News)

• Politics of the United States
  • National Security Agency director Admiral Mike Rogers plans to retire this spring. President Donald Trump is expected to nominate a successor later this month. (Politico) (New York Magazine)

• Ozone depletion
  • NASA research, published in Geophysical Research Letters, implies that the ozone layer is starting to recover due to man's actions. The decline in ozone-depleting chemicals, specifically chlorine from chlorofluorocarbon (an effect from the 1980's CFC ban, say the scientists), has resulted in 20 percent less depletion since 2005. (Newsweek)
• Six-time U.S. NASA astronaut John Young dies at the age of 87. He was the 9th man who walked on the Moon. (Time Magazine)