Portal:Current events/2023 January 23

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Allied Democratic Forces insurgency
  • Makugwe massacre
    • Allied Democratic Forces insurgents kill 23 people at a bar in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The jihadists also torched several homes and shops in the village during the attack. Islamic State claims responsibility. (AFP via France 24)

Business and economy

• 2021–2023 inflation surge
  • Swedish music streaming service Spotify announces that it will cut 600 jobs, around 6% of its workforce, citing low revenue growth and a need to improve efficiency. Dawn Ostroff will also depart as its chief content and advertising business officer. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• A major power outage in Pakistan leaves nearly 220 million people without electricity after a failure at the national power grid. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered a reduction in energy consumption as the country faces a severe energy crisis. (CNN) (Reuters)
• An Algerian Air Force Mi-171 helicopter crashes during a military exercise, killing three crew onboard in Aïn Defla Province, Algeria. (MEHR)
• Two people are killed and two others are injured after a fire in a church in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey. (DailySabah)

International relations

• Sweden–Turkey relations
  • Enlargement of NATO, Sweden–NATO relations
    • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rules out Turkish support for Sweden's bid for NATO membership following the burning of a Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm by Rasmus Paludan and a series of pro-Kurdish demonstrations where protestors waved PKK flags. (AP)
• Estonia–Russia relations
  • Estonia announces the expulsion of the Russian ambassador in Tallinn Vladimir Lipayev to reciprocate Russia's expulsion of the Estonian ambassador in Moscow Margus Laidre due to a "downgrade" of relations. Both envoys will depart their respective assignments on February 7. (AP)
• Latvia–Russia relations
  • Latvia asks Russian ambassador Mikhail Vanin to leave the country by February 24 in "full solidarity" with Estonia. (Politico)

Law and crime

• Mass shootings in the United States
  • 2023 Monterey Park shooting
    • An eleventh person dies in the hospital from injuries sustained in Saturday's mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, United States. (Los Angeles Times)
  • 2023 Half Moon Bay shootings
    • Seven people are killed and one other person is injured in a shooting spree in Half Moon Bay, California, United States. A suspect is taken into custody afterwards. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Aftermath of the 2020 Beirut explosion
  • Judge Tarek Bitar resumes his investigation into the explosion, 13 months after Hezbollah officials filed complaints against Bitar that prompted him to suspend the investigation. (AFP via Zawya)
• Eugenics in Japan
  • The Kumamoto district court orders the government to compensate two plaintiffs ¥22 million (US$170,000) worth of damages for their compulsory sterilization under the now-obsolete Eugenic Protection Act of 1948. (Kyodo News)

Science and technology

• A new study by seismologists at Peking University in Beijing says that Earth's inner core stopped rotating faster than the rest of the planet in 2009. (Nature) (New Scientist)