Portal:Current events/2014 January 17

Current events of January 17, 2014 (2014-01-17) (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks 2013–14 Thai political crisis: An explosion rocks the protests in Bangkok resulting in dozens of injuries. (CNN), (AP) At least three people are killed and fifteen are injured after an explosion in a passenger train travelling from Peshawar to Karachi. (PTI via Business Standard) Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon: A rocket fired into the Lebanese border town of Arsal kills seven people and wounds 15. (Reuters) Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan: Twenty-one people are killed in a suicide bombing attack on a Kabul restaurant. (The Wall Street Journal) Post-coup unrest in Egypt: Two people were shot dead as clashes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and police flared up across Egypt. (Reuters) Arts and culture One of the last Japanese soldiers to surrender from World War II, Hiroo Onoda, who surrendered in the Philippines in 1974, dies at the age of 91. (CNN) Zara Phillips, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II gives birth to a daughter. (BBC) President Yoweri Museveni refuses to sign a Ugandan bill that would criminalize homosexuality saying that they should instead be rehabilitated. (The Huffington Post) A fragment of pelvis bone unearthed in Winchester in 1999 may belong to King Alfred the Great or his son Edward the Elder. (BBC) Disasters Bushfires in the Australian state of Victoria claim at least one life with towns in the Grampians National Park region evacuated. (The Australian) Police in Glendora, California arrest three men suspected of starting the Colby Fire burning in the San Gabriel Mountains. (Los Angeles Times) California Governor Jerry Brown declares a drought emergency and asks residents of the state to voluntarily conserve water. (Los Angeles Times) A stampede at the home of Muslim religious leader Mohammed Burhanuddin in the Indian city of Mumbai results in 18 deaths. (SBS World News) International relations President Barack Obama announces a sprawling reform that would begin the process of change in the National Security Agency. (The Chicago Tribune) Australia apologizes to Indonesia for breaching its territorial waters while conducting operations against people smugglers in Operation Sovereign Borders. (Sydney Morning Herald) Law and crime A controversy regarding capital punishment in the United States erupts after the execution of Ohio killer Denis McGuire took 25 minutes. (BBC) Two students, a male and a female in stable condition, are each shot in the arm by an at-large gunman, who may be a student, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Delaware Valley Charter School high school. (MSN) Sport 2014 Winter Olympics Vladimir Putin cautions gay people should not "spread gay propaganda" when visiting the host city of Sochi. (BBC)