September 19, 2012 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian civil war:
- Syrian opposition forces facilitate infiltration from Turkey by seizing control of a border crossing in the province of Ar-Raqqah. (The Washington Post)
- A car bomb targeting a van belonging to the Pakistan Air Force explodes in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least nine people and wounding up to 20 others. (BBC)
Business and economy
- Teachers go back to work in Chicago after the union leadership votes to suspend its strike while the membership reviews a tentative pact with mayor Rahm Emanuel. (Los Angeles Times)
- The Czech Republic temporarily imposes a ban on hard liquor after a spate of deaths related to bootleg hard alcohol poisoning. (Los Angeles Times)
Environment and health
- The cabinet of Yoshihiko Noda reverses a pledge made by the Japanese government earlier in the week to end reliance on nuclear power by the 2030s. (Kyodo News and Jiji Press via The Japan Times)
International relations
- Senkaku Islands dispute:
- A man turns himself in to police after throwing smoke bombs into the premises of the Chinese Consulate General in Fukuoka, Japan. (Jiji Press via Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Police in Hong Kong arrest a man accused of attacking a Japanese couple near the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade on Monday. (Kyodo News via The Japan Times)
- China's Xi Jinping denounces Japan's nationalization of the Senkaku Islands as a "farce" and that Tokyo should "rein in its behavior." (Reuters via Asahi Shimbun) (Jiji Press)
- Demonstrators in Taipei gather before Taiwan's Legislative Yuan building chanting anti-Japanese slogans and burning Japanese flags. (Jiji Press via The Japan Times)
- Protesters in Beijing surround a car transporting US ambassador to China Gary Locke and attack it as it tried to make its way into the gate of the Japanese embassy. (Los Angeles Times)
- Beijing informs its citizens via mass-text messages that it has imposed a ban on any further anti-Japan protests. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Over 700 Chinese fishing vessels are operating in the contiguous zone surrounding Japan-controlled waters around the Senkaku Islands. The Japan Coast Guard is monitoring the situation. (Kyodo News via The Japan Times)
Politics
- The US Justice Department's inspector general finds that the agency's Operation Fast and Furious created a "significant danger to public safety". The investigation also finds that Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. had no prior knowledge of the operation. (Los Angeles Times)