Portal:Current events/2018 January 22

January 22, 2018 (Monday)

Armed conflict and attacks

Seven people die in clashes between security forces and worshippers taking part in an Ethiopian Orthodox religious ceremony marking Timkat (Epiphany) in Woldiya, Amhara, Ethiopia, over the weekend. (Reuters)
South Thailand insurgency
- A motorcycle bomb kills at least three people and wounds 22 others at a market in Thailand's southern Yala Province. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Net neutrality in the United States
- Montana Governor Steve Bullock signs an executive order that bars any Internet service provider with state contracts from blocking or charging more for faster delivery of websites to any customer in the state. Montana is the first state to respond this way to the FCC's December 14, 2017, net neutrality ruling. (The New York Times) (The Hill)

Disasters and accidents

2018 Mount Mayon activity
- The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raises Mount Mayon's alert level to 4, its second highest volcano category which indicates a hazardous eruption is imminent. Mayon's activity, which began the afternoon of January 13, 2018, has displaced about 40,000 residents in Albay Province on Luzon island. (Reuters via NBC News) (CNN Philippines)
- Mayon erupts at 12:43 p.m. (PST). The eight-minute phreatomagmatic eruption was a dense, five-kilometer tall column of volcanic ash, followed by two explosion-type earthquakes. Fountains of intense but sporadic lava, which lasted between three to 30 minutes, began at 9:37 p.m. (GMA News Online) (PHIVOLCS bulletin)
An explosion on an oil rig in the U.S. state of Oklahoma leaves one injured and five people reported missing. (CBC)
A landslide pushes a bus into a ravine in Colombia, killing 13 people. (Reuters)

International relations

Law and crime

Crime in Germany
- German nurse and convicted serial killer Niels Högel is charged with 97 further counts of murder. (Deutsche Welle)

Politics and elections

2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Carles Puigdemont, ex-President of Catalonia, travels to Denmark while Spanish Attorney General requests the European Arrest Warrant. The Speaker of the Catalan Parliament appoints Puigdemont to be invested as President. Spain's Supreme Court refuses to reactivate the arrest warrant. (BBC) (RTE)
United States federal government shutdown of January 2018
- The United States Senate reaches an agreement to reopen federal agencies through to February 8. A bill is working its way through the legislative process. The first Senate vote was 81–18. (AP).
Politics of Liberia
- George Weah takes office as President of Liberia, and Jewel Taylor as Vice President. It is the first peaceful transition between two Liberian presidents in 74 years. (New York Times)

Sport

USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal
- Three members of the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors resign amid criticism over their handling of sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar. (NBC News)