Top News Stories –

Mariah Carey stormed out of 2016 with a technical meltdown –
Mariah Carey had a very public and very embarrassing end to 2016. She had a massive technical meltdown during her performance at a New Year’s Eve party. And it wasn’t exactly an intimate gig – it was the New Year’s Eve party in Times Square in New York. Thousands of people watched there, millions more saw it on American TV. She said: “We’re missing some of these vocals, but it is what it is. “We didn’t have a sound check, but it’s New Year’s baby. That’s ok.” It didn’t look ok though. She half-heartedly mimed a few bars and then decided not to bother. “I’m going to let the audience sing, OK?” she said. Her male dancers carried on, as she diva-strutted across the stage. At one stage she asked “I wanted a holiday too, can I not have one?” As the song ended, she said “That was…. amazing.” Finally, she told the audience: “It just don’t get any better”, and walked off stage. [BBC]
Mariah Carey

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2017 Istanbul nightclub attack
  • A Gunman opens fire in a nightclub in Istanbul, on the European coast of the Bosphorus, killing at least 39 people with an additional 69 wounded. (BBC), (AP via ABC News Australia), (Fox News)
• A suicide car bomb explosion and gunmen attack in Iraqi al-Qadisiya town situated in west of Najaf, kills at least 7 people and injures more than 17 others. Yesterday, 29 people were killed in a bomb explosion at a busy market in Iraq’s capital Baghdad. ISIS claims responsibility. (Reuters), (Tasnim News Agency)
• A gunman shoots dead Burundi‘s environment minister Emmanuel Niyonkuru in the nation’s capital, Bujumbura. (FRANCE 24)

Disasters and accidents

• A ferry catches fire en route to Indonesia‘s Thousand Islands, killing at least 23 people and injuring 17 others. (The Melbourne Age)

International relations

• North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
  • Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, claims that the country is close to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile. (Reuters)
• Syrian Civil War
  • The United Nations Security Council unanimously votes in favor of the Russian and Turkey-backed ceasefire currently in effect in Syria. (Al-Jazeera)
• United Nations Secretary-General selection, 2016
  • Portugal‘s António Guterres begins his term as United Nations Secretary-General, replacing South Korea’s Ban Ki-moon. (India Today), (Al Jazeera), (AP)
• United Nations Security Council election, 2016
  • Bolivia, Ethiopia, Italy, Kazakhstan, and Sweden begin their terms on the United Nations Security Council, replacing Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, and Venezuela. (Inter Press Service News)
• Foreign relations of the Gambia, Gambian presidential election, 2016
  • Gambian President Yahya Jammeh accuses the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, of “declaring war” after it said it was putting forces on alert in case he refused to step down at the end of his mandate on January 19. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Campinas massacre
  • A gunman shoots dead at least 11 people, including his former wife, and then himself in a murder–suicide at a New Year’s Eve party in the southeast Brazilian city of Campinas. Several others reportedly remain in critical condition. (Reuters)
• Spanish and Moroccan authorities clash with migrants on the Moroccan-Spanish border along Ceuta, as they attempt to climb and rush the border fence. (Express UK)
• Police arrest Anthony K. Boisvert after a foot chase in Lebanon, New Hampshire, charging him in the setting a fire which destroyed an abandoned building on January 2016, and two other fires, one which destroyed the historic First Baptist Church on December 2016 and stabbing two at a condominium complex December 29. (The New Hampshire Union Leader)
• Authorities seek three men after they rob $6 million on New Year’s Eve from the offices of high-end jewelry designer Gregg Ruth in New York City. (ABC NYC)

Politics and elections

• The Church of Norway officially ceases to be the state church of Norway after almost 500 years. (The Christian Daily)
• Quirino Ordaz Coppel is sworn in as Governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa. (Periódico Zócalo)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource