By Atish De

Internet Resistance Delays SOPA, PIPA Indefinitely

On January 20th, spokesmen from the Senate and the House of Representatives announced almost simultaneously that they were tabling the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and the PIPA (Protect IP Act), their respective anti-online piracy bills. The bills would allow sites containing, using, or linking to copyrighted material to be blocked without an appeal. Opponents to the bill claimed that the bill was poorly written, citing clauses that would potentially violate free speech and asserting that the DNS filters being used to censor sites containing pirated material could be easily defeated, rendering them useless. Wikipedia, Reddit, and numerous other websites with user-generated content shut down their websites in protest, while Google generated over 3,000,000 signatures on its anti-SOPA/PIPA petition.

Cruise Ship Crashes, Capsizes off Coast of Italy

On January 13th, a cruise ship leaving from Isola Del Giglio crashed into a reef, creating a large gash in the side of the boat. When the boat tried to turn towards land, it began to list to one side, leading it to ultimately capsize. 3,206 passengers were on board, as well as 1,023 crew members; as of January 21st, 12 of these people have died, another 21 were missing, and 64 were injured. The captain of the ship admitted that he was not using the ship’s navigation technology at the time of impact with the reef, and is currently facing charges of failure to assist passengers in need, multiple manslaughter, and abandoning ship

Huntsman Drops Out of Presidential Race

John Huntsman, a former Governor of Utah, diplomat to China, and hopeful for the GOP nomination for president, suspended his campaign on Monday, January 16th. Since entering the race last June, he has been labeled as a more moderate alternative to candidates like Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, and he cited his experience as a businessman, a governor and a diplomat as making him a viable candidate against Barack Obama in the election in November. However, after campaigning intensely ahead of the New Hampshire primary and finishing a distant third, as well as declining poll numbers overall, Huntsman announced his decision to stop running and endorse Mitt Romney. (See our article on the next page for more complete coverage of the Republican primaries.)

Attacks in Nigeria Kill Over 150

Militant attacks have wreaked havoc on the Nigerian city of Kano, killing over 150 civilians. The group that claims responsibility for the organized attack is Boko Haram, an Islamic fundamentalist group whose name means “western education is sacrilege.” Their aim is to impose sharia law in Nigeria, which is split between Muslims and Christians. They have claimed responsibility for over 500 deaths in 2011, but this is the bloodiest single attack ever attributed to the group. The U.S. has expressed fears that the group is affiliated with Al Qaeda and receiving training based on the well-organized nature of the attack.