Portal:Current events/2017 January 19

January 19, 2017 (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Business and economics

Uber agrees to pay $20 million to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission claims the company exaggerated prospective earnings and downplayed the costs of buying/leasing a car when recruiting new drivers. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Operation Car Wash
- A small plane carrying Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki crashes into the sea near the tourist town of Paraty in the state of Rio de Janeiro, killing the magistrate and two other people. Zavascki had been handling the politically-charged Operation Car Wash corruption trials. (Reuters)
The 17-story Plasco Building collapses after a blaze in Tehran, Iran. The building was evacuated but 30 firefighters have been killed in the collapse. (Deutsche Welle) (AP)
An eruption on Bogoslof Island of the Aleutian Islands disrupts air transportation routes, distributing tephra over populated areas, including Kodiak Island, 660 miles (1,060 km) away from the volcano. (Alaska Dispatch News)
2017 Rigopiano avalanche
- An Italian rescue official says a number of people have been killed by an avalanche, possibly connected to Wednesday's earthquakes, that buried a ski resort on a slope of the Gran Sasso mountain in Italy's Abruzzo region. About 30 guests and staff were at the hotel. The only survivors are two men who had been outside when the disaster struck. (BBC) (Daily Express) (Reuters)
At least 15 children are killed and 45 more are injured after a school bus collides with a truck in Etah, India. (BBC)
At least six Britons from Manchester and Glasgow are killed in a bus crash in Saudi Arabia while they were on pilgrimage. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

2016 South Korean political scandal
- A court in South Korea strikes down a request by prosecutors to issue an arrest warrant for Samsung vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, who is accused of bribery and embezzlement, in connection to a corruption scandal involving impeached President Park Geun-hye. (BBC)
Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán is extradited to the United States, where he will face charges for his role as leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. (Business Insider)

Politics and elections