Wednesday January 4
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Somali Civil War
- Mahas bombings
- Al-Shabaab jihadists kill 35 people in a double car bombing outside a politician's home and a market in Mahas District, Hiran, Somalia. (BBC News)
- Mahas bombings
- Terrorism in Pakistan
- Two intelligence officers, including the director of the provincial counterterrorism department, are shot dead outside a restaurant in Khanewal, Punjab, Pakistan, by suspected Pakistani Taliban gunmen. (Al Jazeera)
Arts and culture
- #MeToo movement
- Actors Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, who starred in the 1968 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, file a lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court against Paramount Pictures for US$500 million, alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and fraud, and for being filmed in the nude without their knowledge. (AFP) (Variety)
Business and economy
- Meta Platforms is fined €390 million by the European Union, claiming that the company's collection of personal data from Facebook and Instagram accounts for personalized ads was in violation of EU privacy laws. (Reuters)
- The Competition Commission of India rejects an appeal from Google over its ruling in October that Google's dominant position in the search engine market and control of the Android app store violated India's antitrust laws. (Reuters)
International relations
- Equatorial Guinea–Spain relations
- The Supreme Court of Spain says that it will investigate two sons of Equatorial Guinean president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo over the kidnapping and torture of two Spanish citizens who oppose Obiang's rule. (VOA)
Law and crime
- Killing of the Haight family
- Three adults and five children are found dead inside a home in Enoch, Utah, United States, after police conduct a welfare check. (The New York Times)
Science and technology
- Hurricane Katrina
- The National Hurricane Center publishes a new Tropical Cyclone Report for Hurricane Katrina, lowering the death toll from over 1,800 to 1,392. (National Hurricane Center via Twitter)(National Hurricane Center)