January 8, 2010 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Several churches in Malaysia are attacked amid tensions over the use of "Allah" by non-Muslims in the country. (Malaysia Star) (The Times) (Al Jazeera)
- Riots break out amongst immigrants and local inhabitants in the town of Rosarno in southern Italy in a protest against an attack on African workers by white youths. (TVNZ) (AFP)
- One person is killed and several are injured after gunmen open fire on a bus carrying the Togo national football team to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. (BBC) (ESPN) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian)
Arts and culture
- A large statue of the Pharaoh Taharqa is discovered deep in Sudan. (The Independent)
Business and economy
- China Mobile, the world's largest mobile telephone operator, sacks its vice chairman Zhang Chunjiang. (The Washington Post)
- China becomes the number one automobile market in the world. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- Mehdi Karroubi's car is hit by fire in Qazvin, Iran. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (ABC News) (The New York Times)
Environment
- The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's anti-whaling speedboat Ady Gil, which was damaged on Wednesday during a confrontation with the Japanese security vessel Shonan Maru 2, sinks in the Southern Ocean shortly before 3:30 a.m. AEDT as the Society's Bob Barker attempts to salvage the boat. (ABC News)
Health
- Sékouba Konaté, the interim head of the junta in Guinea, is flown to Senegal after falling ill. (BBC) (Reuters South Africa)
International relations
- A Georgian flight lands in Moscow, Russia, the first since the 2008 war. (RIA Novosti) (China Daily)
- British MP George Galloway is deported from Egypt. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- Police in England respond to a security alert on a Dubai-bound flight from London Heathrow Airport. (Reuters) (Sky News) (Toronto Star)
- Two people are arrested over a bomb plot in New York City last year. (BBC) (AFP)
- Two Burmese whistleblowers are sentenced to death for leaking details of secret government visits to North Korea. (The Sydney Morning Herald) (The New York Times)
- Three people are arrested for their involvement in the killing of six Copts as they left a church in southern Egypt. (AFP) (BBC)
Politics and elections
- The Portuguese parliament approves a bill to legalise same-sex marriage. (CBC) (RTÉ) (Deutsche Welle)
- The Ugandan death penalty for homosexuality may be declared "not necessary". (BBC) (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Science and technology
- French research in Analytical Chemistry suggests that the heavy eye make-up of Cleopatra could be medically useful. (BBC) (ANSAmed)