Portal:Current events/2025 January 7

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Three Pakistani soldiers and 19 Taliban insurgents are killed in shootouts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP)

Business and economy

• Argentine debt restructuring
  • Argentina's country risk index, measured by the JPMorgan GBI-EM Index, briefly drops to 444 points, its lowest level since 2018, before closing at 561 points due to technical adjustments linked to upcoming bond payment amid improved market sentiment driven by cooling inflation and signs of economic recovery. (Reuters)
• International flights resume from Damascus International Airport in Syria for the first time since the fall of the Assad regime. (France 24)
• The merger of the providers of stock photography Getty Images and Shutterstock, by the acquisition of the latter by the former, is announced. (AP News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 California wildfires
  • January 2025 Southern California wildfires
    • An exceptional Santa Ana wind event reaching hurricane-force in some locations in southern California, United States, cause multiple power outages and wildfire outbreaks, including a rapidly-spreading >2,900 acre wildfire in Los Angeles County which causes several burn injuries and forces 30,000 people to evacuate. (CNN) (NBC News)
• 2025 Tibet earthquake
  • At least 126 people are killed and dozens of others are injured when a magnitude M_w 7.1 (M_s 6.8) earthquake strikes Tingri County, Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. (Al Jazeera) (AP)
• A light aircraft crashes near Rottnest Island, Western Australia, killing the pilot and two tourists from Denmark and Switzerland while injuring three other passengers. (Reuters)
• Thirteen Cuban soldiers go missing after explosions at an arms and ammunition depot in Holguín Province. (CNN)

Health and environment

• HMPV outbreak in East Asia
  • India confirms their first cases of the human metapneumovirus disease. (CBS News)

International relations

• Denmark–United States relations, Proposals for the United States to purchase Greenland, Panama–United States relations
  • U.S. president-elect Donald Trump refuses to rule out using military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, declaring U.S. control of both to be "vital to American national security". (AP)
  • Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. makes a personal visit to Greenland weeks after Trump announced that "ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity". In response to the visit, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen states that "Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders". (BBC News)
  • Panamanian foreign minister Javier Martínez-Acha asserts that only Panamanians operate the Panama Canal and that its sovereignty is non-negotiable, dismissing Trump's claims that China operates the canal and his suggestion of potential U.S. military action to regain control. (DW)
• Hungary–United States relations
  • The U.S. Treasury imposes sanctions on Hungarian cabinet minister Antal Rogán for alleged corruption, accusing him of using his position to secure financial benefits for himself and political allies. (Reuters)
• Sudan–United States relations
  • The United States accuses the Rapid Support Forces of committing genocide in Sudan during the ongoing civil war and imposes sanctions on the group's leader Hemedti. (AP)

Law and crime

• 2024 Venezuelan political crisis
  • Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González reports the kidnapping of his son-in-law Rafael Tudares by masked men in Caracas, as political tensions persist following González's contested claim of victory in the country's July presidential election. (Al Jazeera)
• Former Cambodian opposition lawmaker Lim Kimya is shot dead by a gunman on a motorcycle in Bangkok, Thailand. Cambodian officials deny allegations of involvement in Lim's death. (The Guardian)
• Lebanon approves the extradition of Abdul Rahman Yusuf, the son of late Egyptian ulama Yusuf al-Qaradawi, to the United Arab Emirates following his detention on December 28 after returning from Syria. (Reuters)
• Mauritius issues an arrest warrant for former finance minister Renganaden Padayachy over alleged embezzlement involving the disbursement of Rs. 45 million (US$1 million) from the Mauritius Investment Corporation. (Reuters)
• Two people are killed and one is injured in a mass shooting at Zahnradfabrik Hanel in Bad Friedrichshall, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The perpetrator is arrested. (DW)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Venezuelan political crisis
  • Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro announces the arrest of seven foreign individuals, whom he accuses of planning terrorist acts to disrupt his upcoming inauguration, with security forces conducting a nationwide deployment. (Al Jazeera)
• Death and state funeral of Jimmy Carter
  • The body of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter arrives in Washington, D.C. for a three-day mourning period, including a lying in state at the Capitol. (Reuters)
• Libyan crisis
  • The House of Representatives of Libya approves a national reconciliation and transitional justice law aimed at unifying the country after over a decade of conflict. (Reuters)
• John Mahama is sworn in for a second term as President of Ghana, having previously served as president from 2012 to 2017. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• Meta Platforms announces an end to its third-party fact-checking program and a transition to a crowd-sourced model similar to X's Community Notes. (AP)