January 12, 2016 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- January 2016 Istanbul bombing
- At least 10 people are killed and 15 injured, mostly German tourists, following an explosion in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square. A Syrian suicide bomber, an ISIL member, is responsible, according to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. (Nine MSN) (BBC) (Reuters via Sky News Australia) (The New York Times) (CNN)
- Sixty alleged Islamic militants are arrested in Turkey with twenty one people arrested in the city of Sanliurfa. (ITV)
- Syrian Civil War
- Latakia offensive (2015-present)
- The Syrian Army, backed by Russian airstrikes, retakes control of the strategic town of Salma in the northern Latakia Governorate. The town had been mostly under rebel (FSA) and jihadist (Al-Nusra Front) control since 2012. (AFP via Yahoo!)
- United Nations War Crimes Commission investigators are gathering information about conditions in the western town of Madaya, where an aid convoy just brought the first food and medical relief for three months. The city has been under a siege by Syrian government forces since July. Doctors Without Borders is treating 250 people with severe acute malnutrition. (Reuters) (Médecins Sans Frontières)
- Latakia offensive (2015-present)
- Boko Haram insurgency
- Boko Haram militants shoot and kill 7 people and burn down 10 houses in Madagali, Adamawa. (ENCA)
Arts and Culture
- A Bronze Age village is discovered in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. (BBC)
Business and economy
- Junior doctors in the United Kingdom go on strike over a proposed new contract. (BBC)
Disasters and accidents
- 2016 Pacific hurricane season
- Hurricane Pali becomes the earliest hurricane on record in the central Pacific Ocean. It is currently no threat to land. (Weather Channel)
- Five people are dead and 65 people are injured after trucks carrying garment workers crash in Cambodia's Kampong Speu Province. (Today Online)
- An Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom II fighter jet crashes near the southeast port city of Konarak while on a training mission, killing both the pilot and co-pilot. (RT)
International relations
- Kuwait sentences two people to death for spying for Iran and Hezbollah. (Al-Arabiyah)
- In accordance with a major point of a nuclear agreement reached with several world powers, Iran removed a plutonium core and filled with concrete the Arak nuclear reactor, setting the stage for the removal of sanctions against Iran. (Washington Post)
- Iran–United States relations
- Iran seizes the crew of two small United States Navy boats near Farsi Island, in the Persian Gulf, after they had allegedly entered Iranian waters. Pentagon spokesman, Peter Cook, told Associated Press that Iran has assured the United States that the crew and vessels will be returned promptly. (AP)
- North Korea–United States relations, North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- The United States House of Representatives votes overwhelmingly in favor of legislation to tighten sanctions on North Korea in response to the North's latest nuclear test. (The Hill)
Law and crime
- Anti-corruption campaign in China
- Li Dongsheng, a former Vice Minister of China's Ministry of Public Security, is jailed for 15 years for corruption. (Reuters)
- Saudi Arabia arrests Samar Badawi, a human rights activist who received the International Women of Courage Award from the United States in 2012. Badawi is to appear in court on Wednesday, according to Amnesty International. Both her brother, Raif Badawi, publisher of the "Free Saudi Liberals" blog, and former husband, Waleed Sami Abulkhair, are currently imprisoned. (CNN) (Amnesty International) (The Guardian)
Science and technology
- Windows 8 along with Internet Explorer versions 8, 9 and 10 are now officially unsupported by Microsoft. (Forbes)
Sport
- The St. Louis Rams and potentially San Diego Chargers are approved for relocation to Los Angeles by a 30-2 NFL Vote. (NFL) (Los Angeles Times)