Portal:Current events/2026 January 12
January 12, 2026 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Gaza war
- Palestinian internal political violence
- The Israeli-backed militant organization Counter-Terrorism Strike Force says it has assassinated Mahmoud Al-Astal, head of a Hamas-run police unit in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip. (Reuters)
- Palestinian internal political violence
- Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- A roadside bomb targeting a police vehicle kills six officers near the Afghan border in northwestern Pakistan. (AP)
- Myanmar civil war, Bangladesh–Myanmar relations
- Bangladesh detains 53 Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army members that crossed into Bangladesh amid fighting with the Arakan Army in Rakhine State, Myanmar. (AFP via The Straits Times)
- Sudanese civil war
- A Rapid Support Forces missile strike kills ten civilians and wounds nine others in Singa, Sennar State, Sudan. (AA)
Business and economy
- Spanish property bubble
- Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez issues a decree that tightens rent regulations by limiting short-term rentals and offering full tax refunds to landlords who renew contracts without rent increases, as the country faces a housing shortfall of about 500,000 homes and average rents that have doubled over the past decade. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- One person is killed and 35 others are injured in a meteotsunami at several beaches in Argentina. (People)
- Authorities say a wild Asian elephant has killed 20 people since the start of the year in the Indian state of Jharkhand and remains on the loose. A search operation involving more than 100 park rangers is underway to locate the elephant. (BBC News)
Health and environment
International relations
- Somalia–United Arab Emirates relations
- Constitutional crisis in Somalia
- Somalia's Council of Ministers terminates all agreements between the Federal Government of Somalia and the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), disallowing the UAE from operating in the ports of Berbera, Bosaso, and Kismayo for their support of Somaliland. The Somaliland, Puntland, and Jubaland governments subsequently dismiss the decision. (Middle East Eye) (Dawan Africa) (The New Arab)
- Constitutional crisis in Somalia
Law and crime
- War on drugs
- Swedish police seize three tonnes of cocaine found in a shipping container from South America at the Port of Helsingborg, making it the country's single-largest seizure of the illegal drug. (Reuters)
- Spanish police, in coordination with the UK National Crime Agency and the US DEA, seize 10 tonnes of cocaine hidden among a cargo of salt on a cargo ship off the Canary Islands. It is the country's largest ever seizure of drugs at sea. Thirteen people on board the vessel are arrested. (The Guardian)
- Cambodia–South Korea relations, Scam centers in Cambodia
- Cambodian and South Korean police arrest 26 suspects accused of impersonation scams and sexual exploitation that allegedly defrauded 165 South Korean victims of about ₩26.7 billion (US$18.25 million), with authorities set to extradite the suspects to South Korea. (Reuters)
- Corruption in Georgia
- Former Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili pleads guilty to large-scale money-laundering charges and receives a five-year prison sentence and a ₾1-million (US$371,829) fine after investigators seize about $6.5 million in cash during raids on his residence. (Reuters)
- Corruption in Poland, Hungary–Poland relations
- Former Polish justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro receives political asylum in Hungary while Polish prosecutors investigate him on 26 counts related to alleged misuse of a crime victims fund and other abuses of office under the first Morawiecki cabinet. (The Guardian)
- Corsican conflict
- Former National Liberation Front of Corsica leader Alain Orsoni is assassinated by a gunman at his mother's funeral in Vero, Corse-du-Sud, Corsica, France. (Reuters)
- Venezuela releases more than 100 political prisoners who were detained due to acts associated with civil disobedience the constitutional order. (Al Jazeera)
Science and technology
- Criticism of Twitter
- The United Kingdom's Ofcom opens an investigation into X over complaints about the creation of deepfake sexualised images by its chatbot Grok. (RTÉ)
- Meta reports that it has shut down over 544,000 accounts of users under the age of 16 on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in response to Australian social media age restrictions. (DW)