Portal:Current events/2019 January 1

January 1, 2019 (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan
- The Taliban kills 27 members of the Afghan National Security Forces in a series of coordinated attacks in northern Afghanistan after refusing to discuss peace in the region with government officials. (The New York Times)
War in North-West Pakistan
- Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan gunmen attack a security base in the Loralai area of Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of four security guards and four terrorists, including a suicide bomber. Two guards were also injured in the attack. (Channel NewsAsia)

Disasters and accidents

At least nine people are killed and 34 others are missing after a landslide strikes a village in Sukabumi, West Java, in Indonesia. (Sunday Times)

Law and crime

2019 Tokyo car attack
- A car plows into New Year's celebrators in Tokyo, Japan, injuring eight. A ninth person was assaulted by the driver after he got out of the vehicle. Police believe the incident to be intentional. (Global News) (Channel NewsAsia)
Bottrop and Essen car attack
- Five people are injured after a man intentionally drives a car into multiple crowds of people in the cities of Bottrop and Essen, Germany. Police say the incident appears to be a xenophobic, far-right attack. (The Independent)
Armed men believed to be traditional hunters have killed at least 37 people in an attack on a village in central Mali. (BBC News)
A Thai man kills six members of his family before killing himself in a drunken shooting spree. (RT) (BNO News)
Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Austria. (ABC News)
Intersex rights in Germany
- A law recognising a third gender that can be administered for intersex people takes effect in Germany. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election
- U.S. and EU diplomats urge the Congolese government to restore internet connection to the country after it was shut down the previous day amid fears of election fraud. (The Guardian)
U.S. President Donald Trump requests a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers to discuss the wall as a partial government shutdown enters its second week. (MPR News)

Science and technology

2019 in spaceflight
- New Horizons makes a flyby of Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69, nicknamed Ultima Thule, at 05:33 UTC, becoming the farthest object in the Solar System visited by a spacecraft. It is a contact binary. (The New York Times)