Top News Stories –

Plane crashes into Taipei river –
Dramatic video footage has been captured on a car dashboard camera of a TransAsia turboprop plane crashing into a river in Taiwan shortly after taking off from Taipei airport. The plane was carrying 58 people, mostly Chinese tourists, and initial figures show that 31 died, 15 survivors were pulled from the wreckage and 12 people remain missing.

Kim Kardashian tries to break the internet again –
A new picture of Kim Kardashian apparently leaked from a future edition of Love magazine, shows the reality star standing in a doorway, totally naked and glistening with baby oil. Her previous attempt on total internet meltdown was a naked shot on the cover of New York’s Paper magazine in November 2014.
Kim Kardashian

Scherzinger and Hamilton split for fourth time –
The on-off romance between Pussycat Doll’s lead singer Nicole Scherzinger and Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton is officially over… again. The have been together for about 7 years and this is the fourth time they have split up, this time apparently over Hamilton’s refusal to settle down with her and start a family.
Nicole Scherzinger

I don’t want a guinea pig, I want a Josephoartigasia monesi –
Researchers from York in the UK and Montevideo in Uruguay reveal that a 1000kg bull-sized cousin to the guinea pig known as Josephoartigasia monesi had huge front teeth like tusks and its bite was as strong as a tiger. Named Josephoartigasia monesi it died out around two million years ago, so you can’t have one as a pet.

Josephoartigasia monesi

Google starts to search tweets –
Twitter has done a deal with Google to make tweets part of the results from a web search. Tweets will immediately be included in searches as Google will have access to Twitter’s firehose the datastream of tweets created by Twitter’s 284 million users.

Video of the Day –

AirAsia plane crash

List of the day –

Kim Kardashian data file from famousfix.com

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflict and attacks

• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
  • Jordan executes convicted Iraqi terrorists Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad al-Karbouli in response to the execution by ISIL of Jordanian Air Force lieutenant Muath Al-Kasasbeh. (USA Today)
• Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
  • Gunmen storm Libya‘s al-Mabrook oil field. (Reuters)
• War in Donbass
  • A shell hits a hospital in the rebel-held city of Donetsk killing at least three people with many injured. (BBC)
• Boko Haram
  • Boko Haram militants reportedly raid the Cameroonian town of Fotokol in Cameroon’s Far North Region with scores of people killed. (Voice of America), (CNN)
  • The Chad Army claims to have killed 200 militants and lost nine soldiers in fighting in northern Nigeria. (BBC)
• Anthem Inc. discloses that criminal hackers have broken into its servers and potentially stolen over 80 million records that contain personally identifiable information from its servers. According to Anthem, the data breach extends into multiple brands Anthem uses to market its healthcare plans, including, Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Amerigroup, Caremore, Unicare,Healthlink, and DeCare. Anthem says the medical information and financial data was not compromised. (NBC News),(AP)

Business and the economy

• Under investigation for corruption, Mao Xiaofeng resigns as the President of Minsheng Banking Corporation. China‘s Communist Party anti-graft agency links him and disgraced Chinese official Ling Jihua. (SCMP)

Disasters and accidents

• TransAsia Airways Flight 235
  • A TransAsia Airways ATR 72 turboprop aircraft with 58 people on board en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipeito Kinmen, Taiwan crashes into the Keelung River near Taipei just after liftoff killing at least 31 people with several injures and missing. (Bloomberg), (Fox News), (BBC)
• 100 km/h winds spark a scrub fire near the Christchurch suburb of Hornby in New Zealand destroying two homes with several others damaged. (Stuff)

Law and crime

• A Manhattan federal court convicts Ross Ulbricht, aka “Dread Pirate Roberts”, the owner of the Silk Road Deep Webillicit products website, on seven charges including trafficking and money laundering in the United States. (AP)

Politics and elections

• 2015 Mamasapano clash
  • The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines says that it will not join growing calls for the impeachment and resignation of Philippines President Benigno Aquino III following the January 25 botched police operation. (UCA News)
• Fiji will adopt a replacement for its flag which it says is a symbol of colonialism. (BBC)

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