Portal:Current events/2018 January 8

• Pharmaceutical company Pfizer discontinues research into treating patients with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. (The Telegraph)

• Sanchi oil tanker collision
  • MV Sanchi is still ablaze this morning and it continues to leak oil. Chinese officials mention the danger of explosion and sinking. (BBC) (CNN)
  • The body of a crew member is found on the ship. (Reuters)
• 2018 Kadovar eruption
  • All residents are evacuated, 500 of them to the nearby island of Blup Blup, while the once-dormant Kadovar volcano in the Schouten Islands, Papua New Guinea, erupts for the first known time, sending an ash cloud 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mi) above sea level. (carbonated tv) (News.com.au)

• Law of India
  • The Supreme Court of India orders a review of Section 377, a colonial-era law that criminalizes consensual sex between men, and of the Court's December 2013 verdict that upheld the law. In August 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that all Indian citizens have a constitutional right to privacy, noting in the judgment that "sexual orientation is an essential attribute to privacy." (The New York Times) (Hindustan Times)

• Temporary protected status in the U.S.
  • The Trump administration will, in 18 months, end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from El Salvador living in the U.S. under the TPS issued after a series of devastating earthquakes in 2001. The Department of Homeland Security estimates about 200,000 Salvadorans will be impacted. (BBC)
• 2018 Tunisian protests
  • Amid protests against rising prices and tax increases, a protestor is killed and five others are injured in clashes with security forces in the Tunisian town of Tebourba. (Reuters)
  • Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, in a statement, comments, "... while living conditions may have slightly improved, El Salvador now faces a significant problem with drug trafficking, gangs and crime." (CNN) (House.gov)

• 2018 in spaceflight
  • The U.S. government's highly classified Zuma satellite is reportedly lost after being launched by SpaceX on a Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Northrop Grumman, who built the satellite, and SpaceX have both refused to confirm the mission's failure due to its classified nature. (CNBC) (Los Angeles Times)

• 2017–18 in English football
  • Video assistant referee (VAR) technology makes its debut in an English club competition during a 2017–18 FA Cup match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace. (BBC)
• NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
  • In the College Football Playoff National Championship, Alabama defeats Georgia 26–23 in overtime. It is the second national title for Alabama in three years, the sixth for coach Nick Saban, and the 17th officially claimed by Alabama. (ESPN)