Digest year-ender for international stories for month of January, 2020

Jan 25Beijing China announced plans to build a second hospital to treat more cases of the coronavirus as the fast spreading virus continues to wreak havoc in the country and abroad with 41 people dead and more than 1,300 infected.Jan 26Beijing Scientists in China increased efforts to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus as the death toll rose sharply to 56 and the number of infected people expected to reach 3,000.

Jan 1:Islamabad: Pakistan shared a list of its nuclear installations with India under a bilateral agreement. Jan 2:Islamabad: Pakistan has rejected India's Army Chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane's statement that New Delhi reserves the right to ''preemptively strike'' across the LoC. Jan 3:Washington: General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq to protect American personnel abroad.

Jan 4:Jakarta: Indonesian rescue teams flew helicopters stuffed with food to flood-hit communities as the death toll from the disaster jumped to 60. Jan 5:Washington: President Donald Trump has warned Iran that the US has identified 52 possible targets in the country and will hit it harder than ever before if Tehran carries out any attack against America to avenge the killing of Qasem Soleimani. Jan 6:New York: Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on new sex crime charges in Los Angeles, just as his trial on separate rape and sexual assault charges in New York was poised to get underway.

Jan 7:Madrid: Spain's parliament confirmed Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez as prime minister for another term at the helm of the country's first-ever coalition government. Jan 8:Tehran: A Ukrainian airliner crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.

Jan 9:London: Britian's Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle announced plans to step back as senior royals to divide time between the UK and US. Jan 10:Lahore: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has concluded the cross examination of prosecution witnesses in the terror financing case against Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his three close aides. Jan 11:Tehran: Iran's Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it accidentally shot down the Ukrainian jetliner that crashed earlier this week, killing all 176 aboard.

Jan 12:Washington: The State Department has described the recent visit of envoys of 15 countries to J&K as an ''important step'' but expressed concern over the continued detention of political leaders and restrictions on internet. Jan 13:Lahore: A top court here declared Pervez Musharraf's trial in the high treason case as ''unconstitutional'', leading to the annulment of the death sentence against the ex-Army chief by a special tribunal.

Jan 14:Lahore: Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed pleaded ''not guilty'' in two terror financing cases against him as the Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief recorded his statement in a Pakistani anti-terrorism court. Jan 15:Moscow: President Vladimir Putin accepted the resignation of his prime minister after proposing constitutional amendments that could herald his intention to carve out a position that would let him stay at Russia's helm after his presidency ends.

Jan 16:Washington: The US House of Representatives passed a resolution and submitted the articles of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate for a trial to remove him from office. Jan 17:Beijing: China's GDP grew by 6.1 per cent last year, the lowest in 29 years, as sluggish domestic demand and the bruising 18-month trade war with the US seriously impacted the country. Jan 18:Islamabad: Pakistan's Supreme Court has returned the petition of self-exiled former dictator Pervez Musharraf against his conviction and sentencing by a special tribunal with objection that he is not allowed to appeal without surrendering to the law. Jan 19:Dubai: Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has termed as ''internal matters'' of India the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens, but at the same time said the act was ''not necessary''. Jan 20: Davos:The IMF on Monday lowered India's economic growth estimate for the current fiscal to 4.8 per cent and listed the country's much lower-than-expected GDP numbers as the single biggest drag on its global growth forecast for two years.

Jan 21:Bloemfontein: Defending champions India outclassed debutants Japan by 10 wickets in their second match to secure a spot in the Super League quarterfinals of the ICC U-19 World Cup. Jan 22:Beijing: The death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak in China nearly doubled to 17 with the confirmed cases rising to 444, even as the cases of the infection were reported from the US, Hong Kong, Macao and Mexico. Jan 23:Beijing: China stepped up measures to control the spread of coronavirus, locking down Wuhan and Huanggang cities in the Hubei province.

Jan 24:Beijing: Battling the fast spreading coronavirus, China said that it is building a 1,000-bed hospital for patients infected with the virus that has claimed 26 lives so far with over 880 confirmed cases. Jan 25:Beijing: China announced plans to build a second hospital to treat more cases of the coronavirus as the fast spreading virus continues to wreak havoc in the country and abroad with 41 people dead and more than 1,300 infected.

Jan 26:Beijing: Scientists in China increased efforts to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus as the death toll rose sharply to 56 and the number of infected people expected to reach 3,000. Jan 27:Ljubljana: Slovenian PM Marjan Sarec announced he would step down and called for fresh elections, following weeks of rising tensions within his five-party coalition government.

Jan 28:Jerusalem: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was formally indicted on corruption charges, becoming the first sitting premier to face criminal charges. Jan 29:London/New Delhi: A number of global airlines, including Air India, British Airways, Lion Air and Indigo airline suspended their flights to China as Beijing struggled to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus within the country.

Jan 30:Beijing/Wuhan: The coronavirus has hit all provinces in China, mostly due to travellers from Wuhan city, the ground zero of the epidemic, as the virus claimed 170 lives, infected 7,736 others and spread to 20 countries. Jan 31:New York: Indian-origin technology executive Arvind Krishna has been elected Chief Executive Officer of IT giant IBM after a ''world-class succession process''.