Portal:Current events/2014 January 2

January 2, 2014 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013):
- Armed tribesmen and ISIS militants control the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, after days of violence that erupted as a protest camp was removed. (Al Bawaba) (AFP)
- Thirteen people are killed in a suicide bombing in Balad Ruz, near Baqubah. (Ahram Online)
Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon:
- Five people are killed and 20 wounded in a car bomb which hit a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut. (BBC News)

Arts and culture

The Swedish Academy releases secret documents of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Literature that ultimately was awarded the Greek poet Giorgos Seferis, revealing that writers such as Samuel Beckett and Vladimir Nabokov were dismissed early in the selection process. (Svenska Dagbladet)

Business and Economy

Fisker Automotive in bankruptcy, asks the judge to reject the official creditors' committee's plan for an auction. The proposed auction would be based on an initial $24.725 million bid from the U.S. unit of Wanxiang Group, a major auto parts concern in China. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

A bus plunges off a cliff into a 400-foot ravine in Malshej Ghat, in western India, killing at least 30 people and injuring 10 others. (The Independent) (MSN)
The Italian navy rescues 233 migrants from an overcrowded boat at risk of sinking in rough waters in the Mediterranean Sea. The boat was spotted about 80 miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa. (CNN)
The East Coast of the United States braces itself for the first Nor'easter of the season set to bring below normal temperatures and heavy snow in places and prompting the governors of Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey to declare state emergencies. (NBC) (CNN)

Politics

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in critical condition following renal failure after being in a coma since 2006. (CNN)

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