January 15, 2012 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- A bomb detonates near a Shia Muslim procession in the Pakistani town of Khanpur, killing at least 18 people and wounding 30. (The Guardian)
- Insurgents trigger bombs and storm a police station in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, with six people reportedly killed and 14 injured. (BBC)
- Clashes continue between demonstrators and riot police in Romania, after thousands take to the streets for a third day of protests. (BBC)
- 2011–2012 Bahraini uprising: Opposition leaders and activists say reforms proposed by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa are "cosmetic" and will do little to stop the uprising. (Al Jazeera)
- 2011–2012 Syrian uprising:
- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on the Syrian regime to "stop killing its own people". (Daily Star Lebanon)
- President Bashar al-Assad offers a general amnesty for crimes committed since the uprising began. (The Independent)
Business and economy
- The Russian tanker Renda, accompanied by the US Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC Healy, prepares to deliver fuel to Nome, Alaska. A fall storm had blocked an earlier fuel delivery, leaving the city facing fuel shortages. (AP via Google)
Disasters
- A fuel freighter, the Doola No. 3, explodes near the South Korean port city of Incheon, killing at least three crew members. (CNN) (Los Angeles Times) (MSNBC)
- Three trapped survivors are rescued from the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia, over 24 hours after it ran aground off the coast of Italy. Two corpses are also found, bringing the known death toll of the incident to five. (BBC)
International relations
- South Sudan accuses neighboring Sudan of "stealing" its oil exports. (Al Jazeera)
Politics and elections
- Jon Huntsman will drop out of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries and will endorse rival candidate Mitt Romney, according to media reports. (CNN) (BBC)
Science
- Russia's unmanned Fobos-Grunt space probe re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after a failed mission to the Martian moon Phobos. The 13-ton spacecraft disintegrates over the southern Pacific Ocean at approximately 16:45 UTC. China's first Mars probe, Yinghuo-1, which was launched together with Fobos-Grunt, is also destroyed. (BBC) (Spaceflight 101)
Sports
- Finnish enduro rider and five-time world champion Mika Ahola dies from injuries sustained during training in Girona, Spain. (The Daily Mirror)
Television
- CBS Season Premiere of Undercover Boss