Thursday

Nominations for the 2025 Academy Awards are released, with Sinners receiving 16 overall nominations, breaking the record for most nominations for a film that was previously held by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016). (DW) (Los Angeles Times)

The death toll from a massive fire five days ago at a multi-story shopping mall in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, increases to 67 people. (AP via CTV News)

Two people are killed and several others are reported missing with no sign of life detected, including children, in landslides in Mount Maunganui and Welcome Bay, Tauranga, New Zealand. Further north, a man is swept away by a flood in Warkworth. (BBC News) (Sky News) (The Independent)

A state of emergency is declared in several U.S. states in anticipation for a potentially severe winter storm affecting the South and Eastern United States, Atlantic Canada, and Northern Mexico. (CBC)

The death toll from the school bus collision with a truck near Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, South Africa, increases to 14 children killed, while the bus driver is charged with murder. (AP)

The African Union lifts sanctions on Guinea and restores its membership, citing progress in the country's political transition which culminated in Mamady Doumbouya's election as president. (AFP via Vanguard)

Colombia suspends electricity exports to Ecuador and announces a 30% tariff on selected Ecuadorian goods to reciprocate Ecuador's imposition of the same surcharge on Colombian imports effective February 1, which Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa attributed to a trade deficit and a lack of cooperation ‌on combating drug trafficking. (Reuters)

The French Navy boards and seizes a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker subject to international sanctions in the Mediterranean Sea. (Al Jazeera)

The United States's withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) takes effect, becoming the first member state to leave the WHO. (Reuters)

A regional court in Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines, sentences journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and her accomplice to up to 18 years in prison for financing terrorism following their arrest in 2020, but acquits them on a weapons possession charge. Press freedom and rights groups condemn the verdict. (AFP via The Guardian) (BBC News)

Three people are killed and another is critically injured in a suspected domestic violence mass shooting in Lake Cargelligo, New South Wales, Australia. The shooter fled the scene by vehicle and is at large. (The Guardian) (BBC News)

Three people are killed, including the perpetrator, and another is critically injured in a school shooting at a primary school in Ntabankulu, Eastern Cape, South Africa. (Independent Online)

South Korea enacts a law that requires human oversight of high-impact artificial intelligence (AI) systems, mandates disclosure and labeling of certain AI uses, and provides fines of up to ₩30 million (around US$20,400) for violations. (Reuters)