Current events: 2025-01-20

[Wikipedia Current Events]

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Colombian conflict
  • Catatumbo campaign
    • 2025 Catatumbo attacks
      • The death toll from fighting in the Catatumbo region rises to more than 100 as the National Liberation Army (ELN) launches more attacks. The Colombian government vows "war" against the ELN with Colombian president Gustavo Petro saying the group has "chosen the path of war, and a war they will have". (The Guardian)
      • More than 11,000 people flee across the border into Venezuela as ELN fighters clash with FARC dissidents. (France 24)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Ukrainian drones attack industrial facilities in Tatarstan, Russia, prompting the Federal Air Transport Agency to temporarily suspend flights from Kazan International Airport and Begishevo Airport. (ABC News)
• Israel–Hamas war
  • An IDF reservist is killed and four others are injured, including a senior officer in critical condition, after their David light armored vehicle hits a roadside bomb during a patrol in Tammun, West Bank. (Times of Israel)
  • Medical sources said that the remains of 137 people were recovered from Rafah. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

• Kingdom Holding announce the resumption of the construction on the {{conv|1000|m}}-tall Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, set to be the world’s tallest building. (Al Arabiya)

Law and crime

• 2024 Kolkata rape and murder
  • A court in Kolkata, India, sentences a 33-year-old police volunteer to life in prison for the August rape and murder of a medical trainee. (DW)
• 2024 Southport stabbing
  • Axel Rudakubana pleads guilty to all 16 charges, including three of murder in relation to the mass stabbing he committed in Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom in July. He is due to be sentenced on Thursday. (ITV News)
• Capital punishment in China
  • China executes the perpetrators of the 2024 Zhuhai car attack and the 2024 Wuxi stabbing attack. (Al Jazeera)
• Presidency of Joe Biden
  • Outgoing U.S. president Joe Biden issues pre-emptive pardons for his siblings, former Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and members of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack before president-elect Donald Trump takes office. (BBC News)
  • Biden also offers clemency to Indigenous activist and convicted murderer of two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents Leonard Peltier. (HuffPost)
• Eight people are killed and seven more are injured in an arson attack at a nursing home in Barajevo, Belgrade, Serbia. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Second presidency of Donald Trump
  • Second inauguration of Donald Trump
    • Donald Trump and JD Vance are inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States and 50th Vice President of the United States in Washington, D.C. Trump becomes the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve nonconsecutive terms. (AP)
    • The inauguration is held indoors due to cold temperatures, making it the first inauguration since the 1985 inauguration of Ronald Reagan to be held indoors. (Today.com)
    • The inaugural parade is held at Capital One Arena with the Middletown High School marching band performing. Trump also signs executive orders at the arena after speaking to supporters. (USA Today) (WKYC)
    • During celebrations of the inauguration, businessman Elon Musk appears to make two consecutive Nazi salutes into a cheering crowd. (The Guardian) (The Independent)
  • Protests against Donald Trump
    • Anti-Trump protests are held in cities across the United States, as well as in other countries, such as Mexico, Panama, and the United Kingdom. (The Guardian)
  • Second cabinet of Donald Trump
    • The United States Senate unanimously confirms Marco Rubio as United States Secretary of State, making him the first Cabinet official of Trump's second term to be confirmed by the Senate. He is also the first Latino American to serve as Secretary of State. (The Hill)
  • On his first day of his second term, Trump signs his first executive orders on gender and immigration. His administration also ends the CBP One app and plans to again withdraw from the Paris Agreement. (Boston Globe)

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