Portal:Current events/2015 January 16

• Syrian Civil War
  • The United States Department of Defense announces that it will send 400 troops to train moderate Syrian rebels in the spring of 2015. (AP)
• A hostage crisis at a post office in Colombes, Paris, ends with the attacker releasing the hostages and surrendering himself to the police. (Daily Mail) (CNN)
• The Military of Chad enters Cameroon to assist in fighting against Boko Haram insurgents. (Reuters)

• U.S. federal magistrate Carl Barbier's ruling caps BP's fine under the Clean Water Act for its 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico at $13.7 billion. (Reuters)
• The Obama Administration eases trade restrictions with Cuba, now permitting the sale of tools and equipment for private-sector use in Cuba. (USA Today)

• An explosion of the Hunga Tonga submerged volcano in the South Pacific Ocean, near Nuku'alofa, Tonga, disrupts air travel and creates a one-kilometer new island. (Radio Australia) (The Weather Channel) (Discovery News)
• 2015 Malawi floods:
  • Flash flooding continues since January 14 in the African nation of Malawi with at least 176 people killed and 110,000 displaced. (ABC News Australia)

• Chinese officials impose an emergency ban on tourists approaching pandas subsequent to the death of two pandas from a canine distemper virus. (USA Today)

• Polk County, Florida police arrest four men who face charges in having allegedly robbed an Auburndale, Florida pawn shop, and then fatally shot two women in their central Florida home. (AP via MSN)
• Mexican authorities arrest an alleged hitman for the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel, Felipe Rodriguez, in connection to the September 26, 2014 death of 43 college students. (AP via ABC News America)
• The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to consolidate and hear four appellate rulings whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. It is currently allowed in Washington, D.C. and 36 states. Oral arguments will take place in April and a ruling may occur by June. (CNN) (The New York Times)
• Pittsburgh police arrest Ryan Williams for the October 18, 2014 McKeesport, Pennsylvania arson attack and charge him with arson, burglary, and six counts of criminal homicide. The victims include four children ages 2 through 7. (AP) (WTAE)
• The Obama Administration imposes restrictions on state and local police's ability to seize personal property under the guidelines of the Equitable Sharing federal program. (The Washington Post)

• NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers state that 2014 is the hottest year since record keeping began in 1880. (Xinhua) (NASA) (NOAA)(The New York Times) (Russia Today) (The Guardian) (The Wall Street Journal)
• NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter finds the Beagle 2 spacecraft that disappeared in 2003 intact on the surface of Mars. An error had stopped the spacecraft's solar panels from working and communicating back to Earth. (TNN via Times of India)
• Public video emerges of the January 10 SpaceX CRS-5 mission Falcon 9 failed landing. (The Telegraph)

• St. Louis, Missouri announces a new multimillion dollar public-private venture open-air riverfront stadium that would be aimed at keeping the NFL's St. Louis Rams from relocating to their former home of Los Angeles, where there are also plans for stadium development. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)