Top News Stories –

Greek parties form anti-austerity coalition –
The winner of yesterday’s election in Greece, the far-left Syriza party won 149 seats, just two short of an absolute majority. It has formed an anti-austerity coalition right-wing party, the Greek Independents led by Panos Kammenos.
Panos Kammenos, leader of the Greek Independents

Greek F-16 crashes at Spanish airbase –
A Greek F-16 jet “lost power” during take-off at the Los Llanos airbase in Albacete in central Spain and crashed into a number of parked planes and ground crew. Ten people have died including the two pilots of the plane.

Demis Roussos dies –
Demis Roussos, a Greek singer who sold more than 60 million albums worldwide most during the 1970s and 1980s has died aged 68 in Athens. He was best known for solo hits including Forever and Ever, Goodbye and Quand je t’aime as well as writing the soundtrack to the film Abigail’s party.

Video of the Day –

Light Goes On from Darren Pearson on Vimeo.

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
  • Kurdish fighters recapture at least 90% of Kobanî, Syria. (CNN)

Arts and culture

• India honors billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates and his wife Melinda with the Padma Bhushan award for their work on improving health in developing countries. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• 2014–15 Russian financial crisis
  • Standard & Poor’s ratings agency cuts Russia’s credit rating to junk status due to the impact of falling oil prices and sanctions. (Wall Street Journal via The Australian)(Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

• January 2015 nor’easter
  • The blizzard begins as an ongoing winter storm across the Central and Eastern United States. States of New Jerseythrough New York and New England enact blizzard warnings. (The Telegraph) (NOAA)(AP)
  • The blizzard causes the cancellation of over 6,000 flights, the cancellation of public transport services in New York City and Boston, and the Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo ordering of cars off the road in thirteen counties.(NBC News)
• An F-16 jet belonging to the Hellenic Air Force crashes in southern Spain during a NATO exercise, killing ten people and injuring 21. (Bloomberg)

Law and crime

• The U.S. Secret Service recovers a flying drone from the lawn at the White House. (AP)
• The US FBI arrests three alleged Russian Foreign Intelligence Service spies working in the United States. The three men sought secrets about US economic plans and proposed sanctions against Moscow. (The Telegraph)
• The US Eastern District Court of Virginia convicts a disgruntled former CIA officer, Jeffrey Alexander Sterling, of leaking secrets to a reporter. All nine charges he faced stem from a secret CIA mission to derail Iran’s nuclear weapons program. (AP)

Politics and elections

• Chinese authorities name Huang Lixin as the Communist Party Secretary of Nanjing, following the investigation and dismissal of former party chief Yang Weize. Huang becomes the first woman in city history to take the top office.(Jiangsu News)
• A single day after the radical-left SYRIZA party wins the Greek elections, it forms an anti-austerity coalition governmentwith the right-wing Independent Greeks (BBC)

Religion

• The Church of England ordains Libby Lane as their first female bishop, at York Minster, United Kingdom. (AP)

Sports

• 2015 Hong Kong Marathon
  • A 24-year-old man dies in a hospital after his collapse and subsequent head injury just one hundred meters from the finish line. (RTHK)
• 2015 AFC Asian Cup
  • South Korea defeats Iraq 2–0 to advance to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup Final. (Skysports)

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