CURRENT EVENTS WORLD JANUARY 2008

Hundreds Die in Tribal Violence in Kenya (Jan. 1-4): After incumbent president Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner in the presidential election over opposition candidate Raila Odinga, who had a wide lead in preliminary results, about 50 Kikuyu who sought refuge in a church in Kiambaa die when a mob of mostly Luo burn down the church. Odinga is Luo, and Kibaki is Kikuyu. Nearly 500 people die in fighting across the country. (Jan. 8): Odinga refuses Kibaki's invitation to discuss the political crisis after Kibaki appoints his cabinet, which does not include any members of Odinga's Orange Democratic Party.
Suicide Bomber Kills Dozens in Baghdad (Jan. 1): In the worst attack in Iraq in months, a suicide bomber kills 30 people at a home where mourners were paying their respects to the family of a man killed in a car bomb.
Pakistani Government Postpones Elections (Jan 1): In the wake of the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, parliamentary elections, which were scheduled for Jan. 8, are postponed until February 18.
U.S. Attorney General Opens Investigation into Destroyed Tapes (Jan. 2): Michael Mukasey orders a formal criminal investigation into the destruction in 2005 of CIA videotapes of the interrogation of two al-Qaeda suspects. The tapes, from 2002, reportedly included agency operative using harsh interrogation techniques. Federal prosecutor John Durham is chosen to head the inquiry.
President of Georgia Is Reelected (Jan. 4): Mikhail Saakashvili wins 52.% of the vote over his nearest challenger, Levan Gachechiladze, who tallies 27%. Saakashvili called for early elections in November 2007, after massive protests during which demonstrators accused him of abusing power and stifling dissent.
War Crimes Trial of Former President of Liberia Reopens (Jan. 7): The trial of Charles Taylor, who's charged with crimes against humanity for supporting rebel troops in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war that claimed the lives of about 300,000 people in the 1990s, resumes at the Hague.
Insurgents Kill Several U.S. Soldiers in Iraq (Jan. 9): Six soldiers die in Diyala Province when they enter a home that had been booby-trapped.
U.S. Drops Dozens of Bombs Near Baghdad (Jan. 10): Air attacks, in which about 40,000 pounds of bombs are dropped, target insurgents linked to al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia on the outskirts of southern Baghdad.
Suicide Bomber Targets Police in Pakistan (Jan. 10): Attacker blows himself up outside a courthouse in Lahore, where a rally of opposition lawyers was set to occur. About 25 people, mostly police officers, are killed.
Iraqi Parliament Passes Law to Allow Some Baathists to Resume Jobs (Jan. 12): Measure creates a new committee to determine if lower-level Baathists, former members of Saddam Hussein's party, are eligible to be reinstated to their government jobs. It also will pay pensions to many former Baathists who will not be permitted to return to their positions. Most Baathists lost their posts after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. If passed by the presidential council, it would be the first major benchmark of political progress reached by the Iraqi government. The law, called the Justice and Accountability Law, was criticized for being vague and confusing, and its many loopholes may exclude more Baathists from government jobs than it allows.
Israeli Strike Kills Several Palestinians in Gaza (Jan. 15): As many as 20 Palestinians, many member of Hamas, die in the attack. The Israeli operation was in retaliation to the firing of Qassasm rockets and mortar bombs into Israeli towns by Palestinian militants. (Jan. 18): Israel closes all border crossings into the Gaza Strip in response to the Palestinian attacks. Aid and fuel shipments are affected by the border closing. (Jan. 22): Facing criticism for shutting off fuel deliveries to Gaza, Israel resumes oil shipments.
Palestinian Militants Break Through Border Fence (Jan. 23): After members of Hamas destroy parts of a wall that separates the Gaza Strip from Egypt, tens of thousands of Palestinians pass into Egypt to buy food and supplies that are either unavailable in Gaza or are exorbitantly priced.
Italy's Government Collapses (Jan. 24): Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigns after losing a no-confidence vote in the senate. He survived one a day earlier in the lower house.
Popular Kenyan Opposition Politician Is Murdered (Jan. 29): Melitus Mugabe Were, a member of Parliament representing the Orange Democratic Movement who has worked to mend the ethnic strife in Kenya and help the poor, is dragged from his car and shot. Members of the opposition said the killing was a political assassination. The ethnic violence that has dragged on for a month since President Mwai Kibaki was narrowly re-elected in a race deemed tainted by international observers, has spun out of control throughout the country. (Jan. 31): A second member of the Orange Democratic Movement, David Kimutai Too, is shot and killed by a police officer. His supporters say his death was a political assassination. The police, however, call it a "crime of passion," saying the police officer who shot Too was upset that Too was traveling with his girlfriend.
U.S. Strike Kills al-Qaeda Leader (Jan. 31): The United States announces that Abu Laith al-Libi, a senion commander of al-Qaeda who recruited and trained operatives, was killed in a missile strike in northwest Pakistan.
Report on Israeli Offensive in Lebanon Finds Failures (Jan. 31): Final report by an Israeli-government-appointed panel, the Winograd Commission, on Israel's 2006 war against the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, calls the operation a "large and serious" failure and criticizes the country's leadership for failing to have an exit strategy in place before the invasion. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is spared somewhat, as the commission says that in ordering the invasion, he was acting in "the interest of the state of Israel."