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Sexy China TV drama busted, returns to air more sedate –
A Chinese television drama that was pulled off the air after the female characters appeared on screen showing cleavage has returned to the screen, though this time showing only the actresses’ heads, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday. The drama, “The Empress of China” also known as the “Saga of Wu Zetian”, was removed by commercial satellite station Hunan TV for “technical reasons” in late December, Xinhua said. Chinese Internet users responded by complaining about the censorship on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. Several complained that they would not be able to see the hundreds of costume changes by Fan Bingbing, one of China’s most popular actresses, who plays the Empress Wu. [Reuters]

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
  • Two Sunni mosques are bombed in central Iraq and a muezzin is killed amid fears of renewals of sectarian strife following Saudi Arabia‘s execution of Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia. (AFP via Straits Times)
• Killing of captives by ISIL
  • The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) releases a video showing the killing of five men accused of committing espionage on the militant group for the United Kingdom. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office released a statement saying that they are examining the content of the video. (AFP via ABS-CBN News) (CBS News)
• 2016 Pathankot attack
  • Five of the terrorists who attacked an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab are reported to have been killed; mopping-up and search operations continue. National Security Guard officials state the operations will continue until the air base is made safe. (Indian Express)
• Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
  • The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant‘s branch in Libya attacks the Libyan oil port of Sidra, which is Libya’s largest oil depot. Two members of the Petrol Facilities Guard militia, which is defending Sidra, were reportedly killed in clashes. Islamic State militants were reportedly pushed back from the port, but the group now says it controls the town of Bin Jawad, 30km west of Sidra on the road from its stronghold in Sirte. (BBC)

Business and economy

• 2015 Chinese stock market crash
  • Trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange are suspended for the day after stock indices plummeted by 6.85% and 8.1% respectively. (CNBC)
  • In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average closes 275 points down due to concerns over the Chinese economy. (NBC News)
• Nokia, the telecommunications giant based in Finland, announces that it has gained control of French counterpart Alcatel-Lucent, and sets the date for formal consolidation as January 14. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2016 Northeast India earthquake
  • At least six people are killed and dozens injured from a 6.7 magnitude earthquake that struck 20 miles from the city of Imphal, the capital of the Indian state of Manipur, near the border with Myanmar. (NBC News) (The Times of India), (Ap), (AFP via Yahoo! News)

International relations

• Foreign relations of Iran
  • Sudan and Bahrain follow Saudi Arabia‘s lead and cut diplomatic relations with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates downgrades diplomatic ties. (BBC)
  • Saudi Arabia will end all air traffic and trade links with Iran, and demands that Iran must “act like a normal country” before it would restore severed diplomatic relations. (Reuters)
  • Syria‘s political opposition in-exile urges all Arab countries to sever diplomatic ties with Iran. The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition declared its support for Riyadh‘s move, calling on “all Arab and Islamic countries to take a similar step”, and criticized what it said was Iran’s support for Shia militias in Syria and Iraq. (Jerusalem Post)
• European migrant crisis
  • In efforts to control an influx of migrants, Denmark introduces ten days of identity checks on its southern border with Germany, while Sweden introduces similar measures on the Øresund Bridge between itself and Denmark. All three countries are subject to the Schengen Agreement on the free movement of people. (BBC)

Law and crime

• The President of the United States Barack Obama announces executive orders to expand background checks for firearms and toughen regulation of firearms. (The New York Times)
• New Year’s Eve Cologne sex attacks
  • German police begin investigations into a gang of up to 1,000 men of North African and Arab appearance who committed sexual assaults on women in Cologne‘s main square on New Year’s Eve. (AFP via The New York Times)

Politics and elections

• Marshallese general election, 2015
  • Casten Nemra is elected President of the Marshall Islands by the Nitijela. Nemra narrowly defeated Alvin Jacklick by a 17-16 vote. (Marshall Islands Journal)
• Former “Peking University prodigy” Li Shulei is named the Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the municipality of Beijing. (SCMP)

Science and technology

• The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry confirms the addition of four new chemical elements to the periodic table after scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratoryin Livermore, California, United States provided sufficient evidence to fill the elements 113, 115, 117 and 118, which were temporarily named ununtrium, ununpentium, ununseptium and ununoctium, respectively. (The Guardian)

Sports

• In association football, La Liga powerhouse Real Madrid sack manager Rafael Benítez, replacing him with former Real and France great Zinedine Zidane. (ESPN FC)
• In American football, the National Football League receives relocation applications from the San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders to relocate to Los Angeles. (ESPN)

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