Portal:Current events/2012 December 16

December 16, 2012 (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- A Palestinian refugee camp in the capital of Damascus is reported to be attacked by Syrian war planes. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least eight deaths. (BBC)
- Islamist rebels claim to have captured a Syrian Army infantry base in Aleppo. (AP via CBS News)
War in North-West Pakistan:
- Taliban militants launch a coordinated raid on Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing at least four civilians and injuring more than 40 others. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Cyclone Evan bears down on Fiji, disrupting international flights after leaving at least 4 people dead in Samoa with 8 others missing. (AAP via SBS News) (AFP via Yahoo News)^{[permanent dead link]}
Philippine authorities announce the death toll from Typhoon Bopha has reached 1,020. Another 844 are still missing, most of them fishermen lost on boats out at sea. More than two weeks after the passage of the storm, nearly 27,000 people remain in emergency shelters. (AFP via Yahoo News)
Heavy snow hits Scandinavia disrupting transport in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. (Sky News)
Ecuador issues a volcano alert for Tungurahua covering nearby Tungurahua and Chimborazo provinces. (AAP via News Limited)

Law and crime

Two police officers are fatally shot outside a supermarket in Topeka, Kansas, United States. A 22-year-old man wanted in connection with crime, David Edward Tiscareno, is at large. (Reuters via Yahoo!)
A 22-year-old physiotherapy intern is beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in South West Delhi, India. (The Hindu)

Politics and elections

Japanese general election, 2012:
- Japanese voters go to the polls for a general election, with the opposition Liberal Democratic Party led by former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe poised to win a majority. (BBC) (ABC News America)
- Outgoing Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihiko Noda resigns as the head of the Democratic Party of Japan. (CNN)
- Shinzō Abe is elected Prime Minister of Japan as the Liberal Democratic Party win an absolute majority in the House of Representatives. (BBC) (Los Angeles Times)
Counting continues in the first round of the Egyptian constitutional referendum with unofficial results indicating majority support so far. (Ahram Online)
Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, leads thousands of officials in a memorial service for his father Kim Jong-il, the former leader, who died on 17 December 2011. (AAP via News Limited)
South Africa's governing party, the African National Congress, starts a 5-day conference where President Jacob Zuma faces a challenge from Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. (BBC)
Voters in Venezuela go to the polls for gubernatorial elections with Hugo Chávez's Socialist Party winning in at least 19 of 23 states. (The Telegraph)

Science and technology

Sport