January 6, 2020 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Second Libyan Civil War
- The Libyan National Army says it has captured Sirte and the Al-Qardabiya airbase. (The Guardian)
- 2020 Gamboru bombing
- At least 30 people are killed in Gamboru, Borno State, in northeastern Nigeria after an improvised explosive device detonates at a market on a bridge. No group immediately took responsibility. (Reuters)
- Mali War
- Five soldiers are killed after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb while traveling in the Alatona region. (Al Jazeera)
Arts and culture
- Funerals of Qasem Soleimani
- A funeral service for Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian Quds Force commander who was slain in a targeted killing in Baghdad last week, is attended by hundreds of thousands of people in Tehran, Iran. (NPR) (Axios)
Business and economy
- American retailer Pier 1 Imports announces it will close 450 stores and some distribution centers, and may soon file for bankruptcy. (CNN Business)
Disasters and accidents
- A 5.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Puerto Rico, causing small landslides, power outages, and severely cracking some homes. (Associated Press)
- A German tourist critically injured in the crash yesterday in Luttach, Italy, dies from her injuries, bringing the death toll to seven. (The Garden Island)
Law and crime
- A court in the United Kingdom sentences 36-year-old Indonesian national Reynhard Sinaga to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting at least 48 young men in Manchester. Sinaga was convicted of a total of 159 sex offences, and is said to be Britain's most prolific serial rapist. (BBC News) (Reuters)
- Police shoot dead a Turkish man who tried to attack officers with a knife in the city of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Police say a search of the man's flat later did not suggest a terrorist motive and that he was mentally ill. (BBC News)
Politics and elections
- Politics of the Marshall Islands
- David Kabua is elected President of the Marshall Islands by the national legislature. He succeeds Hilda Heine, who was seeking a second term, but lost in the first session vote. (Radio New Zealand)