Portal:Current events/2024 January 18

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Insurgency in Balochistan
  • 2024 Iranian missile strikes in Pakistan, Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar, 2024 Iran–Pakistan border skirmishes
    • The Pakistan Air Force launches "precision airstrikes" on militant targets inside Iran a day after Iranian missile strikes in Balochistan, Pakistan, killed two at least two civilians. Camps belonging to the Baluch Liberation Front and Balochistan Liberation Army are reportedly hit. (India Today) (First Post)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Ukraine says that it struck an oil terminal in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with a domestic-produced long-range drone, as part of a new campaign against strategic targets inside Russian territory. However, Russia reports that the attack failed. (Reuters)
• Jordanian intervention in the Syrian civil war
  • Jordan launches airstrikes against alleged drug traffickers in Arman, Syria, hitting several buildings and killing ten civilians. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

• 2022–2024 United Kingdom industrial disputes and strikes
  • The largest general strike in more than 50 years occurs in Northern Ireland. (BBC News)
• Indian multinational company Tata Steel announces the closure of both its blast furnaces in Port Talbot, Wales, with the loss of around 3,000 jobs across the United Kingdom, in what trade unions are calling a "worst-case scenario" for workers. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• Ten people are killed, two are injured and one person is missing due to landslides caused by heavy rains in Davao de Oro, Philippines. (AP)
• Twelve children and two teachers are killed after a boat on a school trip capsized into a lake near Vadodara, Gujarat, India. (BBC)
• An Atlas Air cargo Boeing 747-800 suffers an engine malfunction after takeoff in Miami International Airport, and shortly makes an emergency landing. No injuries were reported.

International relations

• International reactions to the Israel–Hamas war
  • Mexico and Chile announce that they have filed a request for the International Criminal Court to investigate allegations of war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip. (Hindustan Times)

Law and crime

• 2024 Ecuadorian conflict
  • Two people are arrested for killing public prosecutor César Suárez [es]. (NBC News)
• Corruption in Singapore
  • Singaporean Transport Minister S. Iswaran resigns both as cabinet minister, member of parliament of West Coast GRC and as a member of the PAP after being charged with 27 counts of corruption and receiving gratification as a public servant by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). It is considered as the highest-profile graft involving a cabinet minister in 38 years. (CNA)
• Shakahola Forest incident
  • Ninety-five people are charged in Kenya over the deaths by 429 followers of a religious cult in 2023. (Al Jazeera)
• Protests and riots erupts across Comoros after incumbent president Azali Assoumani was declared winner following an election earlier this month. A government minister’s house is set on fire and roads are barricated in the capital Moroni, while protestors are tear gassed by police. A person is killed and six more injured. (AP)

Politics and elections

• Government shutdowns in the United States
  • The United States Congress approves a stopgap bill to extend the deadline for government funding to March 2024, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown, which would have begun at midnight, January 19. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• Commercial Lunar Payload Services
  • Astrobotic's and NASA's Peregrine Mission One lunar lander is destroyed as it reenters Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean following the failure of its propulsion system. (BBC News)
• Water on Mars
  • The European Space Agency probe Mars Express finds huge deposits of dusty ice beneath the equator of Mars, with the discovery being the largest amount of water ice ever found near the planet's equator. (Space.com)