Top News Stories –

Flight QZ8501 crash possibly caused by climbing too fast –
Initial investigations believe the reason for the AirAsia QZ8501 airline crash on December 28th 2014 was because it climbed too quickly to avoid bad weather. Data collected from the “black boxes” show that the plane climbed at over 4,000 feet per minute which might have cause it to stall.

Powerful waves –
The 64-meter wide Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia has picked up a “short, sharp flash” of radio waves from a mysterious source up to 5.5 billion light years from Earth which places the source outside the galaxy. Astronomers have yet to come up with an explanation for the radio waves.

Flagging civil rights –
The Chinese version of WhatsApp called WeChat accidently sent US flag icons over the screen if the key words “civil rights” were entered. The company behind the app, Tencent, blamed the effect on a technical glitch.

Rapper AK Canserbero murder/suicide –
Venezuelan singer songwriter Tirone González known as rapper AK Canserbero has been found dead after jumping from the 10th floor of a building in Maracay he was 26. It appears he had stabbed to death Carlos Monar, the bass player of another band before committing suicide.

Video of the Day –

A FISTFUL OF WOLVES – MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK BERLIN from Danny Sangra on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Shia insurgency in Yemen
  • Houthi rebels take over the residence of the President amidst calls by the rebel leader for negotiations to adjust the country’s power structure. (The Washington Post)
• The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant threatens to kill two Japanese citizens unless it receives a ransom of $200 million. (Reuters)
• Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claims responsibility for the attack on the town of Baga, Nigeria in which an unknown number of civilians were killed. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)

Business and economy

• Oil services company Baker Hughes will lay off 7,000 people due to falling crude oil prices. (AP via ABC News America)

Disaster and accidents

• A fire in a bowling alley causes a roof collapse in Taoyuan City, Taiwan killing six firefighters. (AP)
• An overpass of I-75 in Cincinnati, Ohio collapses while undergoing demolition, killing one worker and injuring a trucker whose vehicle was struck by debris. (Cincinnati.com)
• According to preliminary tests at the Glendive, Montana city water treatment plant, the January 17 oil spill in theYellowstone River contains benzene, a chemical that causes cancer. (National Geographic)(LA Times)

Law and crime

• A gunman shoots a cardiovascular surgeon to death at Harvard Medical School‘s Brigham and Women’s Hospital inBoston, Massachusetts, and then commits suicide. (USA Today)

Politics and elections

• Zambian presidential election, 2015
  • Voters in Zambia go to the polls for a presidential election following the October 2014 death of incumbent PresidentMichael Sata. Defence Minister Edgar Lungu (the Patriotic Front) and Hakainde Hichilema (the United Party for National Development) seek the office. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• 2015 State of the Union Address
  • The President of the United States Barack Obama delivers a State of the Union address to the United States Congress. (AP),(AP),(AP)

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