Portal:Current events/2013 January 7

Current events of January 7, 2013 (2013-01-07) (Monday)

Business and economy For $8.5 billion, ten banks settle to stop mortgage foreclosure process audits. The United States government regulators had been engaged in a loan-by-loan review of home loan practices during the Great Recession. Bank of America, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo & Co, MetLife Bank, Aurora Bank FSB, PNC Financial Services Group Inc, Sovereign Bank NA, SunTrust Banks Inc, and U.S. Bancorp settle with regulators to pay out cash up to $125,000 to homeowners whose homes were being foreclosed when the paperwork problems emerged. Further, Bank of America agrees to pay $11.6 billion to government mortgage finance company Fannie Mae. (Reuters) Disasters and accidents An explosion in a coal mine in the Turkish province of Zonguldak kills eight mine workers. (Hürriyet Daily News) Law and crime A court in Delhi, India, charges five men with the murder of a 23-year-old woman who was gang-raped on a bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012. (BBC) Politics and elections U.S. President Barack Obama nominates PIAB Chairman Chuck Hagel to be the next Secretary of Defense and HSC Advisor John O. Brennan to be the next Director of the CIA. (BBC) (AP) (The Washington Post) Science and technology Scientists from the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics estimate that there are at least 17 billion planets approximately the size of Earth in the Milky Way. (AP) Sport In association football, Lionel Messi of Argentina wins the 2012 FIFA Ballon d'Or as the best player for a third consecutive time. Abby Wambach of the United States wins the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year award, the first time in ten years that an American has won the award. (FIFA) (BBC) (ABC News Australia) Three cities, Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid, submit their official bid books to the International Olympic Committee as part of their efforts to secure the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics for their cities. (Olympic.org) (The Daily Telegraph) In American football, the Alabama Crimson Tide defeats Notre Dame Fighting Irish to win the 2013 BCS National Championship Game. (ESPN)