Portal:Current events/2020 January 23

• Syrian Civil War and Northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020)
  • The Russian Ministry of Defence says that hundreds of rebels stormed Syrian Army positions in Idlib Governorate, the ensuing fighting left 50 rebels dead and 90 wounded while government forces reported 40 dead and 80 wounded. A military source cited by Syrian state news agency SANA says the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists used various weapons such as car bombs, under an "intensive fire cover". (Reuters via Al Arabiya) (SANA) (BBC News)

• The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists advances the Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds before midnight, citing the threats to human survival posed by nuclear proliferation, climate change and "cyber-based disinformation." This is the closest to midnight that the clock has been since the project began in 1947. (BBC News)

• Malaysian agriculture giant FGV Holdings Berhad announces it will increase its sugar imports from India from 88,000 tonnes to 133,000 in an attempt to resolve the palm oil trade dispute between the two nations. (Reuters)

• 2019–20 Australian bushfire season
  • A C-130 water bomber crashes in southern New South Wales, Australia, while helping control a bushfire. Three American firefighters are killed. (ABC News)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • The death toll from the new coronavirus rises to 25 and 830 confirmed cases in China as four more Chinese cities, Huanggang, Ezhou, Chibi and Zhijiang are to be placed under quarantine. The total number of people under quarantine is now over 20 million people. (BBC News) (Business Insider)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
    • Singapore confirms its first case of new coronavirus, a 66-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan who was travelling with his family. (Channel NewsAsia)

• Heads of state and dignitaries from around the world attend the fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp and to address the resurgence of antisemitism worldwide. (The Washington Post)

• The International Court of Justice orders Myanmar to protect the Rohingya population from atrocities. The Gambia had brought a lawsuit before the court over charges of genocide. (Reuters)
• A judicial source close to former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn says that Lebanon and Japan will have 40 days to decide whether he will be extradited back to Japan or stand trial in Lebanon. (Reuters via Al Arabiya)

• Brexit
  • The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 is given royal assent in the United Kingdom, formally making the bill law. (Vox)