WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2012 – Special operations forces rescued an American woman and Danish man who had been held captive in Somalia for three months, President Barack Obama announced early this morning.
The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today voiced regret over the decision by the United States to withhold its dues to the agency, saying that reduced funding will affect its ability to implement crucial programmes in education, support for emerging democracies and the fight against extremism.
24 January 2012 – The United Nations human rights chief said today she was shocked at reports that 34 people were executed in Iraq in a single day last week and called on the country to institute an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
The sun erupted late on January 22, 2012 with an M8.7 class flare, an earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), and a burst of fast moving, highly energetic protons known as a "solar energetic particle" event. The latter has caused the strongest solar radiation storm since September 2005 according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center.