Portal:Current events/2010 January 12

• A bomb blast damages the Mozdok – Makhachkala – Kazi Magomed pipeline in Russia's Republic of Dagestan, leaving eleven towns in the republic without gas supply. (ITAR-TASS)
• China's top search engine Baidu is allegedly attacked by Iranian hackers, sparking a retaliatory attack by Chinese hackers on Iranian sites. (The Guardian) (People's Daily) (AFP)
• Masoud Alimohammadi, an Iranian nuclear physics professor, is killed in a bomb attack in the capital Tehran; Iran state media accuses Israel and the United States of involvement. (Press TV) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican Drug War:
  • Mexican authorities report the capture of Teodoro García Simental, one of the country's most notorious drug lords, in a raid in La Paz, Baja California Sur. (New York Daily News)

• U.S. talk show host Conan O'Brien announces his intention to quit The Tonight Show if NBC goes forward with their plan to move the show from its long standing 11:35pm timeslot to 12:05am in favor of The Jay Leno Show. (AP)
• The first map in Chinese to show the Americas, created by Matteo Ricci at the request of the Wanli Emperor, goes on public display. (ABC News) (IOL)

• Google says it may end its operations in China as it is no longer willing to continue censoring its search results. (Reuters) (BBC) (Google blog) (The Guardian)

• A severe 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Haiti. Tsunami watches issued across the Caribbean. (CTV) (USGS) (BBC)

• A United Nations investigation clears Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom in the murder of lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano, and rules that Rosenberg plotted his own murder. (BBC) (Al-Jazeera) (CNN)
• UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is ‘encouraged’ by recent developments in Guinean politics, and states the UN will continue working with the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other partners. (UN News Centre)
• Chile becomes the first South American country to be admitted to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (Santiago Times) (Al Jazeera)

• The European Court of Human Rights rules that powers contained in the UK Terrorism Act 2000 violate the European Convention on Human Rights. (The Guardian) (BBC)
• The United Kingdom bans the Islamist organisation Al-Muhajiroun and an offshoot group, Islam4UK. (VOA)
• A gunman kills two people at a bar in Habikino, Japan, before turning the gun on himself. (Kyodo) (AFP) (BBC) (The Times of India)
• Five Thai policemen are charged with murder over the disappearance of a Saudi businessman 20 years ago that was linked to the theft of Saudi royal jewellery. (Bangkok Post) (AFP) (BBC)
• Four men feature in the first Crown Court criminal trial to be held without a jury in England and Wales for more than 350 years. (The Daily Telegraph) (BBC) (Ealing Times)
• Police in Kent, UK, admit the unlawful searching of two 11-year-old children who were left "crying and shaking" after being targeted at a demonstration near Hoo. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• The 1980s Welsh popstar Michael Barrett (Shakin' Stevens) is convicted of assault and criminal damage at a court in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Belfast Telegraph)

• Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa announces that Tamils will be given greater say in matters of governance, proposing power sharing agreements. (The Hindu) (AFP)
• Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua gives his first interview since going into hospital in Saudi Arabia to the BBC, saying he hopes to return home soon as protests in the capital Abuja demand an end to the political situation. (BBC) (Vanguard)

• The "bizarre behaviour" of a nocturnal raspy cricket pollinating a flower is caught on camera on the island of Réunion, contradicting the image of crickets destroying flowers. (BBC) (New Scientist)

• The Confederation of African Football officially "disqualifies" and plans to punish the Togo national football team for failing to take part in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, despite the fatal machine gun attack on their team bus. (The Times) (The Daily Telegraph)

• Australia experiences its hottest night since 1902, as a heat wave grips the country. (BBC) (Xinhua) (IBN Live)