Syria

At a recent conference to raise aid relief money for Syria, a staggering $2.4 billion was pledged in support.

“We are under no illusion that our job, or any of our jobs here, are to just write a check,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, “the international community must use every tool at our disposal to draw the world’s attention to these offenses. They are not just offenses against conscience. They also are offenses against the laws of war.”

Millions of Syrians have been forced out of their homes, but many still remain in areas of extreme fighting and violence.

Because of this situation, aid has had difficulty up to this point with reaching all of those in need. Many hope that these new aid pledges will help with this problem.

China

Chinese police were reported to have taken away a Uighur activist from his home after a six hour operation.

Police were also reported to have seized all cell phones and computers present in the Beijing apartment.

The activist was also a teacher, and the Chinese police had been reaching out to all of his students prior to the incident to question them about him.

In other news, pollution levels in Beijing reached dangerous numbers on Thursday Jan. 16. The levels were 26 times as high as those labeled as safe by the World Health Organization.

This caused a drop in tourism all over China, and the thick smog lasted through the week.

Indonesia

Flash floods and landslides on the island of Sulawesi lead to the deaths of at least thirteen people as of Jan 16. This comes after days of torrential rain.

Over 1,000 homes were flooded, which left many searching for safe ground. 40,000 are currently in temporary shelters.

Australia

Extreme heat warnings went into effect at the Australian Open on Jan. 16 and even stopped play.

Temperatures reached over 100 degrees fahrenheit and several players needed medical attention after the end of their third sets.

Romanian Simona Halep was one of the players who required medical attention.

“At first I didn’t understand what was going on but then my legs, my arms started to get heavier. I couldn’t focus at one point and started feeling dizzier and dizzier,” she said, according to the Associated Press.