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Australians choose alternative flag which removes the Union flag in new survey –
Australians have chosen a favourite alternative national flag amid calls to remove the Union flag from the current “outdated” design which has been flown since 1901. The preferred design, labelled the Southern Horizon, was the most popular of six options and captured 31 per cent of the vote in a survey conducted by the University of Western Sydney. The second most popular option, the Reconciliation Flag, received 28 per cent of the vote. The competition was prompted by the New Zealand government’s decision to hold a referendum on changing the flag – a process which is due to be completed in March. [Daily Telegraph]
Southern Horizon flag

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War
  • A suicide bomb attack on a Syrian Army (SAA) checkpoint in the city of Homs kills at least 22 people, including around a dozen soldiers. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the attack. (AFP via Daily Mail) (Reuters Canada)
  • Second Battle of Al-Shaykh Maskin
    • The Syrian Army, backed by Hezbollah militiamen and Russian airstrikes, retakes full control of the strategic town of Al-Shaykh Maskin in Syria‘s southern Daraa Governorate, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • A U.S. drone strike kills at least 6 ISIL militants in Afghanistan‘s Nangarhar Province, according to the Afghan defense ministry. (The New Indian Express)
  • An Afghan police officer, allegedly tied to Taliban, poisons and kills ten of his colleagues in Urozgan province. (AL Jazeera)

Business and economy

• French taxidrivers, air traffic controllers and school teachers go on strike over working conditions and competition from non-traditional services such as Uber. (AP via ABC News America)

Disasters and accidents

• January 2016 United States blizzard
  • The death toll from the blizzard rises to 38. (AP via ABC News America)
• Malaysian authorities find 13 bodies washed up on Johor beach believed to be Indonesian migrants. (Reuters via Channel News Asia)

Health

• Zika virus outbreak in the Americas (2015–present)
  • Virologists find the Zika virus in Australian tourists returning from South America. (ABC News Australia)

International relations

• Moldova–Romania relations
  • Romania offers neighboring Moldova a $65 million (60 million euros) loan to help stave off economic collapse and keep the former Soviet Republic on a pro-European course, provided the Moldovan government implements major reforms. Government funds were needed to cover more than $1 billion that “disappeared” from three Moldovan banks in November 2014. In the frigid capital Chișinău, 15,000 people from both the pro-European and pro-Russian sides of the political divide, protested on Sunday against the current government and demanded new elections. Prime Minister Pavel Filip, who took office last week, is the country’s sixth PM in a year. (AP) (Reuters) (The New York Times)

Law and crime

• The Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak is cleared of corruption by the Attorney-General of Malaysia Apandi Ali after returning US$607 million worth of donations to his personal account from the Saudi Royal Family. (Channel News Asia)
• Authorities in the People’s Republic of China say that Wang Baoan is under suspicion for “serious violation of discipline” (a phrase usually associated with corruption charges) as the head of that country’s powerful National Bureau of Statistics. (BBC)
• Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
  • U.S. federal authorities arrest militia leader Ammon Bundy and several of his followers following an exchange of gunfire at a traffic stop on U.S. Route 395 in Harney County, Oregon. One person, LaVoy Finicum, a rancher from Arizona and spokesman for the militia, was killed in the shootout. (CNN), (Oregon Live)
• Homelessness in Seattle
  • Two people are killed and three others are hospitalized, two with life-threatening injuries, following a shooting in the “The Jungle” homeless encampment in the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington. Police are searching for two suspects. (NBC News) (seattlepi.com)
• Terrorism in the United States
  • The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation arrests a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, man who is alleged to have been planning a machine gun mass shooting at a local Masonic Temple. (The Washington Post)(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) (FBI)

Politics and elections

• Marshall Islands President Casten Nemra is defeated in a vote of no confidence. Nemra had just been elected President in early January 2016. A successor is expected to be selected soon. (Radio New Zealand International)

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