Top news: Sri Lanka's election authority has announced that incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa has won the country's first presidential election since the end of a 26-year civil war, but the results have been challenged by the runner-up, Gen. Sareth Fonseka.
According to the commission, Rajapaksa won 57.8 percent of the vote to Fonseka's 40 percent, but the challenger, the former commander of Sri Lanka's armed forces, says that Rajapaksa misappropriated funds, used state media to attack him and prevent ethnic Tamils from voting. Fonseka has promised a legal challenge to the results.
The election commissioner agreed, saying before he announced the results that he had been shamed by how the election was carried out and submitted his resignation. "I cannot bear this anymore," he said. Troops have surrounded the hotel in Colombo where Fonseka is staying.
While the campaign for the presidency had been acrimonious and occasionally violent, election day was mostly peaceful, though there were a series of explosions near camps set up for Tamil's displaced in last year's fighting which some feared could have been meant to discourage them from voting. Turnout was less that 30 percent in these areas compared to 70 percent in the country as a whole.
Haiti: With international aid still bogged down, the Haitian government has begun directly distributing food to earthquake victims. The country has also halted the airlifting of orphaned children to the U.S.
Tonight: U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.
Middle East
- U.S. troops have been involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops over the past six weeks, reports the Washington Post.
- World leaders are meeting for talks on how best to assist Yemen.
- Iranian forces clashed with Kurdish rebels near the Turkish border.
Asia
- North Korea and South Korea exchanged artillery fire near their disputed sea border.
- The U.N. has lifted sanctions on five key Taliban officials.
- A bombing in a village in northwest Pakistan killed three children.
Americas
- Porfirio Lobo has been sworn in as the new president of Honduras after months of political turmoil.
- Guatemalan police arrested former president Alfonso Portillo, who is wanted on money-laundering charges in the U.S.
- Hundreds of tourists have been stranded by mudslides in Machu Picchu.
Europe
- NATO and Russia formally resumed military ties.
- The World Economic Forum opened in Davos, Switzerland.
- Britain is setting out proposals for a crackdown on tax evasion.
Africa
- Guinea swore in a new civilian prime minister, 13 months after a military junta seized power.
- Sudan former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi will run against President Omar al-Bashir -- who overthrew him in a 1989 coup -- in upcoming elections.
- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blamed the increasing radicalization of young Nigerians like the Christmas Day bomber on failures of the country's leaders.
INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images
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