Portal:Current events/2019 January 8

• Syrian Civil War
  • The military police of Russia says that it has started patrolling the area surrounding Manbij. (TASS)
  • The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces say that they captured five foreign nationals who fought for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Two are reportedly from the United States, two from Pakistan and one from Ireland. (BBC News)

• A bankruptcy judge grants Sears Chairman Eddie Lampert another chance to buy Sears and save it from liquidation. (CNBC)

• Mountain View train collision
  • Two passenger trains collide in Pretoria, South Africa, killing at least four people and injuring at least 620 others. (ABC News)
• A Vietnam-registered oil tanker explodes off Hong Kong's southern coast, killing at least one person and leaving three others missing. (ABC News)

• China–North Korea relations
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrives in Beijing for his fourth summit meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. (The Japan Times)
• Brazil formally withdraws from the UN's Global Compact for Migration pact; however, Brazil's Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo says that the country will continue to accept Venezuelan refugees. (Reuters)

• A Polish woman, Elżbieta Piotrowska, is attacked with an axe and dies from her injuries in Ardee, County Louth, Ireland. A man known to her was later arrested. (RTÉ)
• An attack on a primary school in Beijing leaves 20 children injured, with three children receiving serious but non-life-threatening injuries. All injured children are receiving hospital treatment. The suspect was apprehended at the scene and an investigation has been launched. (AP News)
• German politician Frank Magnitz, a member of the AfD party, was beaten unconscious by three masked assailants in the city of Bremen on Monday. AfD party leader Alice Weidel calls the attack an "assassination attempt" and politicians from other German parties condemn the attack. (BBC News)
• Aftermath of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash
  • Jaskirat Sidhu, the driver involved in a fatal crash involving the Humboldt Broncos, pleads guilty to 29 charges against him, including 16 counts of dangerous operation of motorized vehicle causing death and 13 counts of dangerous operation of motor vehicle causing bodily injury. (Sporting News) (CBC)
• List of UAV-related incidents
  • Flights from London's Heathrow Airport are temporarily suspended after a report of a drone sighting in the area. (BBC News)

• Politics of Malaysia
  • Following Muhammad V of Kelantan's abdication as King of Malaysia on Sunday, the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal explains that the Conference of Rulers will elect a new King on 24 January, who will assume duties immediately after taking the oath of office on 31 January. (The Star/ANN via AsiaOne)
• Qatar diplomatic crisis
  • Retired USMC General Anthony Zinni resigns as U.S. envoy for the Qatar diplomatic dispute because regional leaders couldn't agree on a "viable mediation effort" to resolve the stalemate. (CNN) (CBS News)
• United States federal government shutdown of 2018–2019
  • U.S. President Donald Trump gives the first prime-time address of his tenure in office to talk about the partial government shutdown and its key issue, proposed increased funding for the Mexico–United States barrier. (The New York Times)

• Main-belt comets
  • The asteroid 6478 Gault, 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) in diameter, is found to have been impacted by another large (>500 metres (>0.31 miles)) asteroid in late October 2018, the largest asteroid-to-asteroid collision in recorded history. (Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams)
• The University of Hawaii reports that Lonely George, the last known member of the Achatinella apexfulva species of land snail in Oahu, Hawaii, died aged 14 on New Year's Day. Despite being listed as critically endangered the species is now considered extinct. (National Geographic)