Portal:Current events/December 2016

• Ethnic violence in South Sudan (2011–present)
  • A United Nations human rights commission in South Sudan claims a "steady process of ethnic cleansing is underway" in the war-torn nation. (Al Jazeera)
• Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
  • Battle of Mosul (2016–2017)
    • At least 15 children are killed by ISIS snipers in Mosul. (Iraqi News)
    • In al-Bakr district, Mosul, an ISIS mortar shell kills at least three people and wounded another three. (Iraqi News)
  • Four bombs kill two people and injured another seven in Sha'ab, a neighbourhood of Baghdad. (Iraqi News)

• Yoga, rumba and Nowruz are classified as 'treasures' by UNESCO. (BBC)

• LaMia Flight 2933
  • Bolivia's aviation authority suspends the operating license of LaMia. Investigation into the crash in Colombia, which killed 71 people, continues. (BBC)

• Ukrainian crisis, Russian military intervention in Ukraine (2014–present)
  • Ukraine starts a missile test near Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, while Russia puts its air-defense and naval forces in the region on high alert. (Reuters)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • The Israeli Ministry of Transportation orders a bus company in Beersheba to remove Arabic-language advertisements on their buses following complaints from several Jewish residents. (Al Jazeera)
• Iran–United States relations
  • The United States Senate votes 99–0 in favor of a ten-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act, the measure will now be sent to President Barack Obama to sign into law. The act was due to expire on December 31, 2016, if not renewed. (Reuters)

• Six members of one family, including three children, are found dead in Böheimkirchen, Austria. Police suspect a murder-suicide by one of the female relatives. (BBC News)

• Despite criticism by UN Special Envoy for Yemen, 42 cabinet members of the National Salvation Government in Yemen have taken oath and convened its first meeting. The new government, led by the former governor of Aden Abdel-Aziz bin Habtour, vowed to help UN efforts for peace and stability in the country.(UN News Center), (Al Manar tv), (SABA NET),(Muslim Times)
• 2016 Gambian presidential election
  • Elections are held in The Gambia. (Al-Jazeera)
• 2016 North Carolina gubernatorial election
  • Recounts begin in North Carolina. (CNN)
• 2016 United States presidential election recounts
  • The Jill Stein-initiated recounts begin in Wisconsin. (Fortune)
• 2017 French presidential election
  • François Hollande, the President of France, announces that he will not run in next year's presidential election. This leaves the selection of a candidate for the French Socialist Party wide open. (The Guardian)
• Presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • President-elect Donald Trump names retired United States Marine Corps general James Mattis as United States Secretary of Defense. (USA Today)

• Roscosmos cargo spacecraft Progress MS-04 fails to dock with the International Space Station after experiencing a rocket failure. The spacecraft is believed to have mainly burnt up in the atmosphere. (Euronews)

• Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present)
  • A military operation leaves three Turkish soldiers dead and another three wounded in Hakkâri Province, Turkey. (Anadolu Agency) (Daily Sabah) (Reuters)
• Second Libyan Civil War
  • At least eight are killed in clashes in Tripoli, Libya. (News 24), (The Daily Star)
• Military intervention against ISIL
  • Denmark's government announces it will be withdrawing its seven F-16 fighter jets from military operations against ISIL in Iraq and Syria from mid-December. (Reuters)

• Ministers of the European Union have given the EU president a mandate to lower charges that mobile phone services can impose on one another for keeping each others' customers connected as the customers "roam," that is, travel about Europe. (Reuters)
• United States President Barack Obama blocks China's Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund's acquisition of the U.S. semiconductor business of German-based Aixtron because of national security concerns. The German Economy Ministry withdrew its approval in October. (Reuters) (Bloomberg)

• At least 18 people die and two more are injured in a bus accident in Hubei, China. (Xinhua News Agency)
• 2016 Southeastern United States wildfires
  • The death toll from the wildfire that hit the U.S. town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, rises to 13. (AP)
• The bodies of 21 coal miners are retrieved from an unlicensed coal mine in the Chinese city of Qitaihe in the province of Heilongjiang. Four people have been arrested including the owner of the mine and three managers. (AP via Daily Mail)
• 2016 Oakland warehouse fire
  • At least nine people are killed and 40 are missing in a warehouse fire in Oakland, California. (BBC), (AP)

• Taiwan–United States relations
  • United States President-elect Donald Trump holds a telephone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, the first known contact between a U.S. president or president-elect with a Taiwanese leader since the United States recognized the People's Republic of China in 1979. (The Washington Post) (The New York Times) (CNN)
  • Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi blames Taiwan for making the call. (Reuters)
• Mercosur suspends Venezuela from the South American trading bloc for failing to meet membership requirements on trade and human rights. (BBC)

• A shooting in Palilula, Dolj County, Romania, leaves at least three people dead, including the gunman, with two more injured. (Digi 24) (Realitatea.net)
• The Russian Central Bank says hackers, who were attempting to steal about 5 billion rubles, did take more than 2 billion ($31 million) this year from member bank accounts. (Reuters) (CNN)

• Approximately 200,000 Muslims protest in the Indonesian capital Jakarta against the Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama for alleged blasphemy. This is the second mass protest in a month against the minority Christian governor. (AP via Washington Post)
• Indonesian president Joko Widodo attends the main event of the rally, Friday mass prayer, easing the tension of protesters. (The Jakarta Post)
• Gambian presidential election, 2016
  • Opposition candidate Adama Barrow defeats Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, bringing an end to Jammeh's 22-year-rule in the West African nation. (The Telegraph)

• The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry announces official names for recently-discovered superheavy elements Nihonium (113), Moscovium (115), Tennessine (117), and Oganesson (118). (BGR), (Live Science)

• In motor sport, current Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg announces his retirement. (MSN)
• 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season (American football):
  • In the Pac-12 Conference, the Washington Huskies defeat the Colorado Buffaloes 41–10 to win the Pac-12 Football Championship Game. It is the first Pac-12 football title for the Huskies since the conference expanded to 12 schools in 2011. (Seattle Times)
  • In the Mid-American Conference, the Western Michigan Broncos defeat the Ohio Bobcats 29–23, remaining unbeaten entering the bowl season and claiming the program's first MAC title since 1988. (AP via ESPN)

• Somali Civil War (2009-present)
  • Seven insurgents are killed in clashes northern Somalia. (Reuters)

• An Indonesian police plane, reportedly carrying 13 people, goes missing near Singapore en route to Batam. (AP via Fox News) (Koran Tempo)
• At least 17 are killed in a coal mine explosion in China. (Fox News)
• 2016 Oakland warehouse fire
  • Recovery efforts continue in the US city of Oakland, California, after a fire at a music party in a converted warehouse kills at least nine people with dozens missing. (NBC News) (East Bay Times)
• At least three first responders are injured battling a 10-alarm fire that's spread to seven buildings in Cambridge, Massachusetts (US). (CBS News)
• A house fire in Akron, Ohio (US), kills four people, including two young girls. One woman safely fled her attic bedroom. A seriously injured 12-year-old girl is revived and rescued. (AP) (Akron Beacon Journal)

• Rohingya insurgency in Western Myanmar
  • The Government of Malaysia claims that violence against Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority is "ethnic cleansing" ahead of a march in Kuala Lumpur led by Prime Minister Najib Razak. (Reuters via Trust)
• China–United States relations
  • The People's Republic of China lodges a complaint with the United States after President-elect of the United States Donald Trump speaks with President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen. The PRC and the United States view Taiwan as a breakaway province. (BBC)

• 2012 Pakistan garment factory fires
  • A man believed responsible for starting a devastating factory fire in Karachi has been arrested in Bangkok. (AFP via France 24)
• Murder of Maria Ladenburger
  • German police arrested a 17-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan in the rape and murder case of Maria L. in Freiburg while a similar case nearby is still under investigation. (Der Spiegel) (Die Welt)

• 2016 United States presidential election recounts
  • Jill Stein, the 2016 presidential candidate for the Green Party, withdraws her lawsuit in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania for a statewide recount of votes in Pennsylvania due to the cost. (NPR)
• Dakota Access Pipeline protests
  • Groups of U.S. military veterans join the protest as human shields against possible clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement when the United States Army Corps of Engineers' eviction deadline expires on Monday. They are building barracks for shelter in North Dakota's winter weather. (Reuters) (NBC News)

• 2016 International V8 Supercars Championship
  • In motor sport, Shane van Gisbergen of Triple Eight Race Engineering wins his first V8 Supercars Championship. Van Gisbergen is the first New Zealand driver to win a supercars title since Jim Richards. (AAP via Yahoo!)
• American college football
  • 2016 SEC Championship Game
    • Alabama defeats Florida, 54-16, to win their seventh Southeastern Conference championship game. (CBS)
  • 2016 Big Ten Football Championship Game
    • Penn State defeats Wisconsin, 38-31, to win the Big Ten Conference. (SB Nation)
  • 2016 ACC Championship Game
    • Clemson defeats Virginia Tech, 42-35, to win the Atlantic Coast Conference title. (Bleacher Report)

• Insurgency in the North Caucasus
  • The Russian Federal Security Service claims to have killed Rustam Asildarov, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's Caucasus Province and four other militants in the Dagestan region. (AFP via Yahoo! News Australia), (RFERL), (CNN)
• Syrian Civil War
  • At least 21 people are killed in suspected Russian airstrikes on Idlib, Syria. (RFERL), (The Times of Israel)

• 2016 Oakland warehouse fire
  • The confirmed death toll in Friday night's warehouse fire in Oakland, California rises to 33 with several people still missing. (NBC News) (ABC News)
• 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires
  • The death toll in the town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee rises to 14. (The Tennessean)
• Pollution in China
  • Sixty cities in the People's Republic of China issued smog alerts between December 2 and 4. (CCTV via Twitter)
• At least 12 people, including 10 children, are killed in a bus crash in Siberia, Russia. (RFERL)
• Human remains are found in the sea near where an Indonesian police plane carrying 13 people crashed. The plane was traveling to the island of Batam. (AP via Daily Mail)
• Floods caused by heavy rain over the past week has caused at least 13 deaths in central Vietnam with more heavy rain forecast. (Reuters via Jerusalem Post), (Reuters)

• Imatra shooting
  • Three women, the Imatra Town Council chairwoman and two local reporters, are shot dead outside a restaurant in Imatra, Finland, a town east of the capital, Helsinki. A 23-year-old suspect is apprehended by police. (YLE) (AP)

• Uzbekistani presidential election, 2016
  • Voters in Uzbekistan go to the polls for a presidential election, the first since the death of Islam Karimov who governed the country for 25 years. (AP via Daily Press)
• Austrian presidential election, 2016
  • Voters in Austria go to the polls to elect a new President in a second round run-off between Green candidate Alexander Van der Bellen and Freedom Party of Austria candidate Norbert Hofer. Projections show that Van der Bellen has won with Hofer conceding defeat. (Reuters) (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• Italian constitutional referendum, 2016
  • Italians go to the polls to for a referendum on whether to approve a constitutional law that amends the Constitution of Italy to reform the powers of the Italian Parliament. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who introduced the referendum bill, resigns after exit polls show that the no case is likely to be successful. (Reuters), (Reuters via ABC News Australia), (BBC)
• Rohingya protests
  • Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak leads a protest rally against the persecution of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority in the predominately Buddhist country, and calls on Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the United Nations to address the Rohingya's plight and end the violence. Myanmar's president's office said the rally is timed for Malaysian political purposes, and that Malaysia should respect the Association of Southeast Asian Nations's principle on sovereignty. (AP) (Asian Correspondent) (The Myanmar Times)
• Death and state funeral of Fidel Castro
  • The remains of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro are interred beside independence leader José Martí. (Reuters via Jerusalem Post)
• Dakota Access Pipeline protests
  • The United States Army Corps of Engineers denies a permit for Energy Transfer Partners planned Dakota Access Pipeline running through North Dakota and will begin exploring alternative routes for the pipeline following weeks of protests. (Reuters)
• Thousands of Indonesians protest in Jakarta for tolerance after a large protest rally against blasphemy on Friday. (AP via WTOP)
• Philippines Vice President Leni Robredo resigns her Cabinet post as housing secretary due to major differences in principles and values. Robredo says she is staying on in her elected position as vice president. (AP)

• At least 31 are killed in clashes in Kasai, DR Congo. (Reuters)
• Two Russian army medics are killed after around a dozen shells hit a mobile hospital in Aleppo. (Russia Today) (France24)
• Mexican war on drugs
  • Police report 14 suspected criminals, who attacked a police patrol, are killed in a gunbattle with police and Mexican Marines in Veracruz, Mexico. An unknown number fled. (Reuters) (AP via The Washington Post)

• Alaska Airlines cancels 20 flights into and out of Seattle due to inclement weather forecast in the Pacific Northwest area. (US Daily Mail)

• At least 12 people are killed and 75 others injured as a fire erupts in Karachi's Regent Plaza Hotel. (The Express Tribune Pakistan), (Dawn News)
• 2016 Oakland warehouse fire
  • Authorities report the death toll has risen to 36. Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern told the Associated Press they don't believe additional bodies will be found in the debris. (San Francisco Chronicle) (AP via Arizona Daily Star)

• The chief minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa, dies of cardiac arrest after being hospitalized since 22 September 2016. (The Indian Express)
• John Key resigns as the Prime Minister of New Zealand and leader of the National Party after 8 years as PM and 10 years as party leader due to personal reasons. (AAP via SBS)
• Impeachment process against President Park Geun-hye
  • The South Korean National Assembly begins hearings ahead of an impeachment vote against President Park Geun-Hye. (AFP via Daily Mail)
• 2016 United States presidential election recounts
  • A federal judge in Michigan, Mark A. Goldsmith, rules that a recount in the Presidential Election vote in that state must begin on Monday, December 5. (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • President-elect Donald Trump nominates Ben Carson for United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. (The Guardian)
• Italian constitutional referendum, 2016
  • Following the result of the constitutional referendum, Matteo Renzi will resign from his office as Prime Minister of Italy. With most ballots counted, the "No" vote leads with 60%. (BBC News)
• French presidential election, 2017
  • Manuel Valls, the Prime Minister of France, announces his candidacy for the Socialist Party nomination. He will step down as PM on Tuesday. (AFP via Channel News Asia)

• Tests, by a team of international archaeologists, of mummified legs found in QV66 in Egypt's Valley of the Queens indicate they most likely belong to Queen Nefertari, Pharaoh Ramesses II's first and favorite wife. (Phys.org) (NPR) (PLOS ONE)

• In association football, CONMEBOL officially awards Chapecoense the 2016 Copa Sudamericana title in the wake of the plane crash that killed almost the entire team. Atlético Nacional, which would have faced Chapecoense in the final and had campaigned for the Brazilians to be awarded the title, receives a fair play award from CONMEBOL. (ESPN FC)

• Six Pakistani nationals fishing in the Red Sea, off the coast of Mocha in the Taiz Governorate of Yemen, are killed and another six are unaccounted for after a Saudi air raid on a boat carrying 12 Pakistani sailors. (The News), (The Nation, Pakistan)
• Battle of Mosul
  • The Iraqi Army bears down on a strategic bridge across the Tigris River in Mosul. Fighting is occurring in the Salam neighbourhood less than 1.5 kilometres from the Tigris. (Al-Jazeera)

• After a meeting with President-elect of the United States Donald Trump, Masayoshi Son of SoftBank Group pledges to invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 jobs. (The New York Times)
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
  • Airlines serving the regional hub cancel 87 flights into and out of Sea-Tac airport, due to ice on airport runways. Among the affected air carriers, Alaska Airlines has cancelled 35 flights. (KTUU-TV)
• Alaska Airlines
  • The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) issues final approval for Alaska Airlines to acquire Virgin America, in a US$2.6 billion dollar merger. In exchange for approval, the DOJ requires Alaska Airlines to reduce its partnership with American Airlines. (The Wall Street Journal)

• Heavy flooding kills 14 people in Thailand and badly affects the islands of Samui and Pha Ngan in the Gulf of Thailand. It has also severed the rail link to southern Thailand and Malaysia. (Reuters)

• A meteorite lands near Sayanogorsk, the Republic of Khakassia, Russia at 18:37 UTC+3. No one was hurt. (Russia Today)

• Amnesty International criticizes a Saudi court decision to impose the death sentence on 15 people in a case involving 32 people including 30 Saudis, one Iranian and one Afghan national in an alleged Iranian spy cell. (The New York Times), (Amnesty)
• The U.S. Supreme Court upholds an appeals court decision in an insider trading case, Salman v. U.S., holding that there is no requirement that a tipper receive any pecuniary consideration for a breach of faith in order to predicate the prosecution of the tippee. (Scotusblog)

• Bernard Cazeneuve is announced as the new Prime Minister of France replacing Manuel Valls who is contesting the 2017 French Presidential Election. (Reuters)

• 2015 FIFA corruption case
  • The Court of Arbitration for Sport upholds former FIFA president Sepp Blatter's six-year ban from FIFA affairs. (AP via MSN)

• Syrian Civil War
  • Battle of Aleppo (2012–2016), Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
    • Syrian rebels withdraw from the old city of Aleppo. (BBC)
  • Turkish military intervention in Syria
    • Turkish Air Force jets strike 12 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant targets in Al-Bab District, killing at least 23 militants. (Reuters)

• President-elect of the United States Donald Trump is named Time Person of the Year. (Time)

• Carrier Air Conditioner move to Mexico
  • Union leader Chuck Jones criticizes Donald Trump's announcement of kept jobs saying that the numbers mentioned are lower. Jones says that 550 workers would actually lose their livelihoods, while other workers were never scheduled to leave. (Washington Post via MSN)
• U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday with the Dow industrials and S&P 500 notching new records. (Market Watch)

• 2016 Aceh earthquake
  • At least 96 people are killed following a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia's Aceh region. Hundreds of people are injured and several buildings have collapsed. (BBC), (AP), (USA Today)
• Pakistan International Airlines Flight 661
  • A Pakistan International Airlines aircraft carrying at least 48 people, including former singer Junaid Jamshed, crashes shortly after taking off from Chitral, Pakistan. (BBC), (Reuters)

• 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires
  • Two juveniles are charged with aggravated arson in relation to the wildfires that claimed 14 lives in the US town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. (CNN)

• Ghanaian general election, 2016
  • Voters go to the polls in Ghana for the country's presidential elections. It is expected to be a close race between incumbent president John Dramani Mahama of the ruling National Democratic Congress party and his rival Nana Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party. (Al-Jazeera)
• Philippine Drug War
  • Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte accuses the opposition Liberal Party of trying to oust him and install the current vice president Leni Robredo to the presidency. (Rappler)
• Presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • John F. Kelly is selected as Secretary of Homeland Security. (The Washington Post)
  • Linda McMahon is selected as Administrator of the Small Business Administration
  • Scott Pruitt is selected as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
• 2016 United States presidential election
  • Mark A. Goldsmith, a United States district judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ends a recount for the state of Michigan after a state court found that Green Party of the United States candidate Jill Stein had no standing to seek a recount. (AP via Yahoo! News)

• India has launched its Resourcesat-2A imaging satellite via its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket. (NASASPACEFLIGHT)

• War in Donbass
  • As of December 1, the total death toll for the war stands at an estimated 9,758 people according to a United Nations report released today. (United Nations)

• 2016 Aceh earthquake
  • International aid organisations arrive in the Indonesian province of Aceh as the death toll for the earthquake passes 100. (AP)

• Philippine Drug War
  • A panel formed by the Senate of the Philippines concludes that operations under Oplan Tokhang by the Philippine National Police is unconstitutional. (Rappler)

• New Zealand National Party leadership election, 2016
  • Australian Associated Press reports that Bill English has secured the support of a majority of members of the New Zealand National Party to succeed John Key as the Prime Minister of New Zealand. (AAP via Sky News Australia)
• Impeachment process against Park Geun-hye
  • A bill is introduced into the South Korean National Assembly to impeach President Park Geun-hye. A vote is expected tomorrow. (Reuters)
• Presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • Carl's Jr./Hardee's executive and minimum wage reform critic Andrew Puzder is selected as United States Secretary of Labor. (The New York Times)

• American astronaut John Glenn dies at the age of 95. (Space)

• Syrian Civil War
  • Battle of Aleppo, Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
    • Russia and the United States will continue talks on Aleppo after talks between the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. (AlJazeera)
• Six policemen are killed in a bomb explosion at a checkpoint in Cairo, Egypt. The Hasm Movement claims responsibility for the attack. (The Independent) (Reuters)
• Boko Haram insurgency
  • Madagali suicide bombings
    • At least 56 are killed and 70 wounded in a twin suicide attack in northeastern Nigeria. (NAIJ), (BBC), (The New York Times), (Newsweek), (FOX News)

• American film actor and producer Kirk Douglas, one of the last living movie stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, celebrates his 100th birthday. (CBS News)

• Iranian government approved a bill to switch country's currency from rial to the more commonly used toman. The bill must be approved by the parliament. (PressTV) (Euronews)
• Japan ratifies the Trans-Pacific Partnership. (ABC News)

• A 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Makira in the Solomon Islands, causing infrastructure damage, yet no casualties have been reported in the hours following the quake. (ABC News)

• The European Union grants visa-free travel for Georgia and Ukraine. (Reuters)

• Sam Rainsy, the Cambodian opposition leader, is tried yet again in absentia. (Fox News)
• Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders is convicted for hate speech. (The Guardian)

• Impeachment process against Park Geun-hye
  • South Korean lawmakers impeach President Park Geun-hye by a 234–56 vote. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, a staunch defender of Ms. Park, will serve as acting president. South Korea's Constitutional Court has up to 180 days to render a final decision. (The New York Times) (New York Daily News)
• Ghanaian general election, 2016
  • Opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo wins the presidency. (Al-Jazeera)
• Pro-Beijing Hong Kong leader CY Leung says he will quit after his term ends. (BBC)
• Presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • Donald Trump requests Gary Cohn, chief operating officer of investment bank Goldman Sachs, to join his administration as chair of the White House National Economic Council. (Reuters)
  • Cathy McMorris Rogers is selected as United States Secretary of Interior. (USA Today)
• Gambian presidential election, 2016
  • The President of Gambia Yahya Jammeh states he will not accept the result of the recent defeat a week after conceding defeat to Adama Barrow. (AP via Daily Mail)
• 2016 United States presidential election
  • The CIA has concluded that Russia actively tried to help Donald Trump win the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (Washington Post)

• University of Washington researchers report, in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology, the discovery of an odontoma — a benign tumor — in the fossil of a 255-million-year old Tanzanian mammal-like saber-toothed gorgonopsia. This is one of the oldest-known tumors ever found. (Reuters) (UPI) (JAMA)
• JAXA launches the unmanned cargo spacecraft Kounotori 6, also known as HTV-6, from the Tanegashima Space Center to resupply the International Space Station. (Space.com)

• Doping in Russia
  • Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren issues a report claiming that 1,000 Russian athletes have been involved in or the beneficiaries of "manipulations to conceal Positive testing". Germany and the United States have called for Russia to be banned from international competition. (Yahoo! News)

• Syrian Civil War
  • Palmyra offensive (December 2016)
    • The SOHR and Amaq announce that ISIL has captured an oil field north-west of Palmyra. (De Standaard) (VOA)
  • American-led intervention in Syria, Northern Raqqa offensive (November–December 2016)
    • The United States announces that it will deploy an additional 200 troops to help force the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant from Al-Raqqah. (Reuters), (BBC), (ABC News)
• Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • December 2016 Aden suicide bombing
    • A suicide bomber kills at least 50 soldiers and injures 70 more at a military barracks in Aden, Yemen. (BBC) (Reuters)
• December 2016 Istanbul bombings
  • Two bombs, one detonated by a suicide bomber, near the Vodafone Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, kill at least 29 people and injure more than 150 others. Ten people have been arrested in relation to the bombings. (BBC) (Reuters) (AP)
• Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present)
  • Turkish fighter jets kill 19 suspected Kurdish militants in strikes on the Gara region in northern Iraq. (Reuters via Daily Mail)

• 2016 Nobel Peace Prize
  • Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos receives his award in Oslo, Norway. (Al-Jazeera)

• 2016 Aceh earthquake
  • At least 43,000 have been displaced by Wednesday's earthquake in the Indonesian province of Aceh. (Daily Telegraph)
• Hitrino train derailment
  • At least seven people have been killed and 25 others are injured after an explosion caused by the derailment of a train carrying propane and butane in the Bulgarian village of Hitrino, near Shumen. (BBC News) (Independent Ireland) (Reuters) (The New York Times)
• Uyo church collapse
  • At least 60 are killed in a collapse of a church in Uyo, Nigeria. (FOX News) (BBC)

• China opposes any new sanctions against North Korea during a meeting in the United Nations Security Council. (The New York Times)

• Aftermath of the Gambian presidential election, 2016
  • Gambian security forces are deployed on the streets of the capital Banjul, following President Yahya Jammeh's rejection of last week's presidential election result. (The Guardian)
• Human Rights Day
  • In the Philippines, demonstrators call for President Rodrigo Duterte to address extrajudicial killings linked to the Philippine Drug War, ongoing military operations against communist rebels, and the controversial burial of Ferdinand Marcos in the Heroes' Cemetery. An effigy of Marcos was made as a centerpiece of the protest. (Rappler)
• United States Senate election in Louisiana, 2016
  • John N. Kennedy of the Republican Party defeats Foster Campbell of the Democratic Party to become the junior Senator for Louisiana. (Washington Post)

• 2016 Major League Soccer season
  • In association football, Toronto FC play Seattle Sounders FC in the MLS Cup final held at Toronto's BMO Field. The Sounders win 5–4 in a penalty shootout after the game ended scoreless after extra time. It is the Sounders' first MLS title. (CTV), (MLS)
• 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season (American football)
  • Lamar Jackson of the Louisville Cardinals wins the Heisman Trophy. At 19, Jackson is the youngest ever winner of the Trophy. (CNN) (New York Post)
  • In the Army–Navy Game in Baltimore, the Army Black Knights beat the Navy Midshipmen 21–17. This marks Army's first win in the rivalry since 2001, ending the longest winning streak for either side in the rivalry's 126-year history. (AP via ESPN)

• Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
  • Two car bombings kill at least eight people in Fallujah. (Reuters)
• Somali Civil War (2009–present)
  • December 2016 Mogadishu suicide bombing
    • A suicide bomber kills at least 29 people and injures 50 others in an attack on a police station near Mogadishu's port. (AP)
• December 2016 Istanbul bombings
  • The death toll from yesterday's bombings rises to 38 with 155 injured. Thirteen people have been arrested in connection with the bombings. (AP)
  • The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) claim responsibility for the bombings. (Deutsche Welle)

• Botroseya Church bombing
  • A bombing in Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo kills at least 25 people and injures at least 49 others. (AP via Daily Mail), (Reuters via ABC)
• Moro conflict
  • Three Filipino soldiers are killed and 17 others injured in fighting with Abu Sayyaf militants in the province of Sulu, Philippines. (FOX News)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Palmyra offensive (December 2016)
    • ISIL recaptures the Syrian city of Palmyra despite heavy Russian airstrikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Palmyra Coordination Committee (PCC). (The Independent)
• At least three people are killed in two suicide bombing attacks in Maiduguri, Nigeria. (Reuters)

• Patti Smith performs in place of Bob Dylan in the Nobel Prize for Literature ceremony. (The Guardian)
• Matt Terry wins The X Factor

• Non-Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agree to cut oil output which will help increase the price of petroleum products in the world market. (BBC)
• Iran Air finalises a deal with U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing to purchase 80 jetliners for $16.6 billion. (AP via ABC News America)

• 2016 Naivasha oil tanker explosion
  • An oil tanker explodes on a main highway near Naivasha, Kenya, killing at least 42 people, according to the Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Uyo church collapse
  • The death toll from yesterday's church collapse in Uyo, Nigeria, rises to 160 with the death toll expected to rise further. (AP/Reuters via ABC News Australia)

• 2016 United States presidential election
  • Republican campaign manager Kellyanne Conway dismisses allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, calling the claims "laughable and ridiculous". (The Washington Post)

• Cardell Hayes is found guilty of manslaughter by a Louisiana jury in the road rage shooting death of former New Orleans Saints star Will Smith. (CBS)
• In West Virginia police officers executing a bailpiece shot and killed a man who "operated a motor vehicle in an aggressive manner" towards officers at a Walmart parking lot. (ABC News)
• A man is killed and two wounded in a triple shooting in Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans (NOLA)
• A person is sought who left after he accidentally dropped a gun which fired and injured a store employee at a Home Depot restroom in Sunset Hills near St Louis Missouri. (St Louis Post Dispatch)
• In Miami Gardens Florida, one was killed and one wounded when a gunman approached and fired at two people in a parked car. Wounded they drove while still being shot at and crashed into two parked cars. (WSVN)
• In Brooklyn New York, 2 brothers were stabbed, 1 fatally in a dispute after a school soccer match. (New York Daily News)

• Kyrgyzstani constitutional referendum, 2016
  • Kyrgyzstani voters vote for a new constitution. (ABC News Go)
• Macedonian parliamentary election, 2016
  • Macedonian voters elect a new parliament. (Reuters)
• Romanian legislative election, 2016
  • Romanians head to the polls in the country's parliamentary elections. Exit polls show the Social Democratic Party winning by a wide margin. (The Washington Post), (Reuters via Daily Mail)
• Italian constitutional referendum, 2016
  • Paolo Gentiloni becomes the new Prime Minister of Italy. (BBC)
• Gambian presidential election, 2016
  • Defeated dictator Yahya Jammeh vows to contest the election results in The Gambian supreme court. (ITV News)

• Mexico's Coronado Islands become a national reserve. (Los Angeles Times)

• 2020 Summer Olympics
  • Tokyo breaks ground for the National Olympic Stadium on the site of the stadium used for the 1964 Olympic Games. (AP via ABC News America)

• December 2016 Istanbul bombings
  • The death toll from the bombings in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, rises to at least 44, according to Health Minister Recep Akdağ. (Anadolu Agency)
  • At least 118 HDP officials and supporters are arrested in anti-terrorism raids. HDP rejects any link with either the PKK or Kurdistan Freedom Falcons. (Reuters), (FOX News)
• Syrian Civil War
  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights declares that "the battle for Aleppo has reached its end" with a major victory for the Syrian government. (Euronews)
  • Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says he is hoping he is wrong stating that the United States "orchestrated, coordinated" the Islamic State's recent capture of Palmyra in order to "give a break to those bandits that are in eastern Aleppo." (Reuters)
  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that suspected Syrian government or Russian warplanes conduct a series of air raids on Oqayrabat and other nearby villages in the Hama Governorate at dawn, killing at least 34 civilians, including 11 children. (Hindustan Times) (Times of Israel)
  • Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, warns that "atrocities" have occurred in recent hours in the battle for Aleppo. (BBC), (BBC)
  • Russian airstrikes against ISIS in Palmyra kill 5 people. (Middle East Monitor)

• 74th Golden Globe Awards
  • La La Land leads nominations. (Entertainment Weekly )

• Venezuela swaps its bolivar notes with coins in order to curb hyperinflation. (BBC)
• National Amusements announces CBS Corporation and Viacom media companies will not be merging. CBS shares rose 1.8 percent closing in on a nearly 2-1/2 year high while Viacom fell 6.9 percent. (Reuters)

• 2016 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • Tropical Cyclone Vardah is expected to make landfall in southern India today bringing heavy rain to the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu as well as Andhra Pradesh. At least four people have been killed and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from low lying areas. (CNN), (Reuters via ABC News Australia)

• One-China policy, China–United States relations
  • President-elect Donald Trump says he sees no reason why the U.S. should continue to abide by the One China policy unless a bargain is reached with Beijing involving trade. (The Guardian)
  • A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman says these comments raise the possibility that U.S.-China relations could be adversely affected, and that the One-China policy is the political foundation of the ties between the two countries. (CBS News) (NPR)
• China–Mexico relations
  • Representatives from China and Mexico pledge to deepen ties between their countries as a reaction to Donald Trump's positions on trade. (Reuters)
• Cuba–European Union relations
  • Cuba and the European Union sign an accord in Brussels to normalize relations, formally ending the Common Position which was adopted by the Council of the European Union in 1996. (AFP via Yahoo!)
• Kenya threatens to leave the International Criminal Court. (Voice of America)
• Former Prime Minister of Portugal António Guterres is sworn in as the new United Nations Secretary General. (Reuters)

• Pakistan appoints Lt. Gen. Naveed Mukhtar as the new head of the Inter-Services Intelligence. (The Seattle Times)
• Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, goes on trial in France for alleged negligence as Finance Minister resulting in the loss of hundreds of millions of euros. (New York Times) (Al Jazeera)
• Aaron Schock, a former U.S. representative from Illinois's 18th congressional district, pleads not guilty on 24 charges including Mail fraud and tax evasion. (Reuters).

• 2016 United States presidential election recounts
  • Jill Stein's bid to force a recount of the presidential election results in the state of Pennsylvania is rejected by a federal judge. (USA Today)
  • The completed recount in Wisconsin verifies Donald Trump as the winner of the state's ten electors. (MSN)
• New Zealand National Party leadership election, 2016
  • Bill English is elected as the leader of the New Zealand National Party and is now the country's Prime Minister. Paula Bennett is elected as English's deputy. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Gambian presidential election, 2016
  • The president of Senegal urges The Gambia's fallen dictator Yahya Jammeh to respect the result of the polls. (Fox News)
• Romanian legislative election, 2016
  • Being forced into opposition a year earlier, by the resignation of Prime Minister Victor Ponta amid the Colectiv nightclub fire tragedy, the Social Democratic Party returns to government following a landslide victory in last Sunday's parliamentary elections. (The New York Times)
• António Guterres, a Portuguese Catholic politician will be the next Secretary-General of the United Nations beginning January 1, 2017. He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. (Catholic World Report)

• Botroseya Church bombing
  • The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the Egyptian Coptic Church bombing in Cairo that claimed 25 lives on 11 December. (IBT)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Battle of Aleppo, Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
    • The warring parties reach agreement on a ceasefire, now that the fighting has ended, to allow civilians and the remaining rebel fighters trapped in the besieged Syrian city to evacuate. Five buses will start moving to pick up passengers at 5:00 a.m. EET Wednesday (03:00 UTC). (NBC News) (Reuters)

• Google and Cuba forge a deal about better access to the Internet for the island. (The Guardian)

• Saudi Arabia–United States relations, Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • The United States is to limit military support to Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Yemen amid concerns over rising civilian casualties. (Reuters) (Huffington Post)

• November 2016 Jakarta protests
  • Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) pleads not guilty to charges of blaspheming Islam during a September 27 campaign speech. Ahok is an ethnic Chinese Christian. (Reuters) (Time)

• Muhammad V becomes the new monarch of Malaysia. (Malaysian Outlook)
• Presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • President-elect Donald Trump formally announces ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his choice for United States Secretary of State. (BBC)
  • President-elect Trump announces former Governor of Texas Rick Perry is his choice to be Secretary of Energy. (Chicago Tribune)
  • President-elect Trump announces Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana is his choice to be United States Secretary of the Interior. (Fox News)
• Aftermath of the Gambian presidential election, 2016
  • Gambian security forces take over the headquarters of the electoral commission as the current president, Yahya Jammeh, refuses to accept the recent election results. (BBC), (The New York Times)
  • The president of ECOWAS, Marcel de Souza, says the West African bloc could send troops into The Gambia if Yahya Jammeh refuses to step down from power. (BBC)

• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirms a 19-meter wave (62.4 feet) recorded on 4 February 2013 in the Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and the United Kingdom is the largest ever on record. (WMO) (The Guardian)

• Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
  • Shelling breaks the ceasefire in Aleppo causing disruption to the evacuation of rebels and civilians. (CNN) (The Star via Reuters) (BBC)
• Military intervention against ISIL
  • A U.S. airstrike in Al-Raqqah, Syria, kills four ISIL leaders, two of which were confirmed to have roles in the November 2015 Paris Attacks. (USA via MSN)

• Merger talks between Danish oil and gas corporations DONG Energy and Maersk have reached an impasse over valuation. (Reuters)
• The Federal Reserve System raises the benchmark interest rate in the United States to a level between 0.5 and 0.75%. This is the second time in a decade that the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates. (New York Times)

• Spratly Islands dispute
  • Satellite images show anti-aircraft guns and missile defence systems being built on artificial islands in the South China Sea; China had previously committed to not militarising its controversial developments in the region. (BBC News)

• Yahoo! data breaches
  • Yahoo! announces that ID information about more than 1 billion accounts may have been hacked in August 2013. This is separate from the company's earlier disclosure of a data breach of 500,000 accounts in 2014. (The New York Times) (Business Insider)
• The Committee to Protect Journalists reports a record 259 journalists, 81 in Turkey, are jailed worldwide as of December 1. (CNN) (The New York Times)

• Philippine Drug War
  • The Philippines cabinet of Rodrigo Duterte, through former journalist Martin Andanar, criticizes the Western media's coverage of the Philippine Drug War, particularly that of The New York Times, and urges them to cover the purge more effectively. (The New York Times)
  • President Rodrigo Duterte admits in a speech to a group of businessmen that he "personally" killed suspected criminals when he served as Davao City's mayor. (INQUIRER.net) (The Guardian) (NBC News)

• War in Donbass
  • The European Union extends its main Ukraine-related economic sanctions against Russia for six months until mid-2017. (Reuters)

• Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories
  • Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio holds a press conference showing findings from 2 different forensic experts of "9 points of forgery" alleging President Obama's long form birth certificate was forged and also claims to have found the birth certificate used to make the forgery. (USA Today) (Newsmax)

• Charleston church shooting
  • Dylann Roof is convicted of the racially motivated murder of nine black churchgoers in the U.S. city of Charleston, South Carolina. (New York Post)

• Romanian legislative election, 2016
  • Romania's centre-left Social Democratic Party won 45% of the seats in both houses of parliament in Sunday's election, and with the expected participation of the liberal centre-right Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Party in the coalition government, will hold an outright majority of 250 seats in the 465-seat assembly. (Reuters) (Romania-Insider.com)

• A Pegasus rocket successfully deploys the CYGNSS hurricane observation satellite constellation for NASA. (NASA) (SpaceFlight 101)

• Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
  • Evacuations following the failed ceasefire are once again disrupted by the Syrian forces for reasons withheld. An estimate of 8000 people, mostly civilians, successfully fled the remains of the city. (The New York Times)
• Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)
  • An attack on a border post near Burkina Faso's border with Mali, leaves at least 12 Burkinabe troops dead and two others missing. (BBC)

• Nine people die in Vancouver, British Columbia from overdoses of fentanyl. (The Globe and Mail), (BBC)
  • 13 total deaths were reported in the province in a single day. (CTV News) (The Globe and Mail)
• Scientists discover that the Totten Glacier is experiencing rapid basal melt, with deep warm water entering underneath the glacier at the rate of 220,000 cubic meters per second. (The Washington Post)

• China–United States relations, Spratly Islands dispute
  • China's People's Liberation Army Navy seizes an underwater drone deployed by USNS Bowditch in the South China Sea; the United States files a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return. (Reuters)
• Israel–United States relations
  • President-elect Donald Trump nominates his middle-eastern affairs advisor and former bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman as the next United States Ambassador to Israel. (CNN)

• A riot breaks out inside the G4S-run HM Prison Birmingham in Winson Green, Birmingham, United Kingdom. At least one inmate has been badly injured. The Ministry of Justice says riot police have regained control of the prison. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• Flint water crisis
  • A Federal appeals court upholds the November 10 lower court order that Michigan must deliver bottled water or provide in-home filtration to all qualified residents affected by lead contamination in the city of Flint. (Reuters) (Detroit Free Press)

• Protests, with looting, erupt in several Venezuelan states as citizens lack cash for gas, groceries, and Christmas gifts, since the highly used, but now worthless, 100-bolívar notes were removed from circulation, and the substitute 500-bolívar notes are not available because of delays in bank deliveries. (Reuters) (Webindia123.com)
• Crowds blocked all Polish parliament exits protesting the Polish ruling Law and Justice Party's allegedly illegal 2017 budget that was approved in a vote outside of the assembly's main chamber. Earlier, the opposition Civic Platform Party stopped parliamentary proceedings on the budget because of new rules on media access. Police have beaten several protesters. According to opposition Civic Platform MP Agnieszka Pomaska, ruling party Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński snatched her phone. (Reuters) (Reuters²) (RT) (Interia)

• 2016 Kayseri bombing
  • At least 13 people are killed and 56 others are wounded in a car bomb attack on a bus carrying off-duty soldiers in Kayseri Province, central Turkey. (BBC) (The Guardian)

• The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro suspends plans to eliminate the 100 bolívar note from circulation, in a country where much of the population lives on cash, without bank accounts. (Reuters)

• Tsunami warnings are issued for the Pacific region, including Indonesia and the Solomon Islands, following a 7.9 magnitude earthquake east of Papua New Guinea. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later reports the threat has largely passed. (Reuters) (Television New Zealand)
• 2016–17 North American winter
  • Two people are killed and at least 15 are hospitalized following a 55-vehicle accident, involving a gas tanker explosion, on Interstate 95 in Baltimore, Maryland, as cold air causes rain and wet roads to freeze across the Eastern U.S. Three other deaths are reported from other accidents in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area. At least six people have been killed in total on icy roads. (AP) (The Baltimore Sun) (The Washington Post), (AAP via SBS)

• China–United States relations
  • The Chinese Defense Ministry says it is in talks with the United States about returning an underwater drone taken Thursday from the South China Sea. The Pentagon says the drone, used for gathering weather and temperature data, is not armed. (Reuters) (USA Today)

• Ethiopia officially opens the Omo River Gibe III hydroelectric dam, one of the biggest in Africa, that is predicted to double the country’s electricity output. Critics are concerned about this dam's impact on locals, on the environment, including Kenya's Lake Turkana, and on neighboring countries. (AP) (The Indian Express)

• Syrian Civil War, Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
  • Rebels attack and burn several buses en route to evacuate ill and injured people from the besieged Syrian villages of Al-Fu'ah and Kafriya. (The Guardian)
• Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • December 2016 Aden suicide bombings
    • An explosion outside a military camp in southern Yemen kills at least 49 people and injures many more. The explosion is believed to have been caused by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest. (AP) (BBC)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • A rock throwing 19-year old Palestinian is killed by IDF troops amid clashes in the West Bank village of Beit Rima. (Daily Sabah) (Haaretz)
• 2016 Al-Karak attack
  • Unknown militants stage a number of attacks across the city of Al-Karak in Jordan, killing five people and injuring at least 10 others. (Al Jazeera)

• Fifth Harmony announces Camila Cabello's departure from the group. (Billboard)
• Stephanie Del Valle of Puerto Rico is named as Miss World 2016. (The Telegraph)

• At least 49 people die in Irkutsk, Russia after consuming hawthorn-scented bath essence as if it were alcohol. The product has been found to contain methanol. (The New York Times) (BBC News)
• 2016 Indonesian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crash
  • An Indonesian military Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport plane crashes in Papua province killing all 13 people on board. (AP via Star Tribune)

• Gambian presidential election, 2016
  • Leaders from the West African bloc ECOWAS and from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation plead with Gambian long-time President Yahya Jammeh who lost in the recently held elections to step aside or face consequences. (Al-Jazeera) (Quartz)

• Ivorian parliamentary election, 2016
  • Côte d'Ivoire votes. (The Voice of America)

• Assassination of Andrei Karlov
  • The Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is killed in a gun attack at an art gallery in Ankara. Russia calls the assassin, 22-year old police officer, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, a "terrorist". Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu goes to Moscow for a planned trilateral meeting on Syria, saying "the incident will not impact relations between Turkey and Russia". (Reuters) (Daily Mirror UK) (New York Times) (Sputnik)
• 2016 Berlin truck attack
  • Twelve are killed and more than 50 others are injured as a truck rams into a packed Christmas market in Breitscheidplatz, Berlin, Germany. A suspect has been arrested in connection with the attack. (Aljazeera) (Reuters)

• Regulators in the European Union initiate a "public consultation" on Big Data looking at whether more regulation or supervision of the collection of high volumes of information on individuals is appropriate. (Reuters)

• Companies shut down production in Beijing and cars are taken off the road after a red alert for smog is issued in northern China. Dozens of cities have closed schools due to the smog. (AP)

• Polish protesters block the parliament in order to prevent the possibility of legalizing restrictions on press freedom. (The Washington Post)
• A court in Paris finds International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde guilty of negligence in a 404 million euro "misuse of public funds" case. The court ruled that Lagarde won't be fined, won't serve any jail time, or receive a criminal record. The IMF Executive Board "looks forward to continuing to work with" her. (The New York Times) (CNN) (Fortune) (The Daily Telegraph)
• 2016 Zürich attack
  • Three people are shot by a gunman at an Islamic centre near the Zürich Hauptbahnhof train station. A manhunt was conducted for the assailant, a 24-year-old Swiss citizen of Ghanaian descent, whose body was found close to the Islamic centre. (GlobalNews)

• 2016 United States presidential election
  • Amidst a concerted effort to persuade electors to choose another candidate, Donald Trump earns the required Electoral College votes to be selected as the next President of the United States. (New York Times)
  • A record number of electors break ranks and do not vote for their assigned candidate. Two electors from Texas vote for John Kasich and Ron Paul. Some of the electors from Washington cast three votes for Colin Powell and one vote for Faith Spotted Eagle. One elector from Hawaii votes for Bernie Sanders. (Politico)

• ALPHA, a CERN experiment, has observed for the first time the spectrum of antihydrogen. (CERN)

• Assassination of Andrei Karlov
  • Six people are arrested in Ankara for alleged involvement in the murder of Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
• Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
  • The International Committee of the Red Cross claims that 25,000 residents of the rebel-held territories have been evacuated from Aleppo as Hezbollah warns remaining residents in the former rebel enclave to leave "as quickly as possible". (AP)
• 2016 Berlin truck attack
  • The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility via Amaq News Agency for the truck attack in Berlin, Germany, which left at least 12 people dead and 49 injured. (BBC)
• Philippine Drug War
  • A news publisher is allegedly killed in the Philippine province of Catanduanes after publishing a story about the controversial drug purge campaign. (Committee to Protect Journalists)
• Four police officers and one suspect have been killed following a raid on an apartment near Al-Karak in Jordan. Two more suspects have been arrested under suspicions of connections with Sunday's attack in the city by the Islamic State. (Al Jazeera)
• December 2016 Congolese protests
  • Clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters demanding the resignation of President Joseph Kabila reportedly leave more than 20 people dead in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (BBC)

• Tupac Shakur, Joan Baez, and most of the members of Pearl Jam are to receive honors in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (The New York Times)

• 2016 San Pablito Market fireworks explosion
  • An explosion at a fireworks market in the city of Tultepec near Mexico City, kills at least 29 people and injures at least 70 others. Pyrotechnics is a major industry in Tultepec. (CBS Local) (CNN) (AP and NBC News)
• 2016–17 UK and Ireland windstorm season
  • The Met Office issues warnings for parts of Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland as Storm Barbara prepares to make landfall. (The Telegraph)
• An Aerosucre Boeing 727-200 Flight 4544, used as a cargo plane, crashes shortly after takeoff in Puerto Carreno's Germán Olano Airport en route to the Colombian capital Bogota killing five people and injuring one. (ABC Australia)

• China–United States relations
  • The People's Republic of China returns a United States unmanned underwater drone that it seized in the South China Sea last week. (CNN)

• Indonesia arrests hundreds of protesters in Indonesian Papua. (teleSur)

• U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau jointly ban offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean and parts of the Atlantic coast. (Washington Examiner) (Toronto Star)

• Terrorism in Indonesia
  • Indonesian police kill three people in a gunfight south of Jakarta after a bomb is found. Fourteen people are arrested in connection to alleged involvement in plans for suicide bomb attacks. (Reuters) (Reuters² via Free Malaysia Today)
• 2016 Berlin truck attack
  • German officials offer a reward of up to 100,000 euros ($104,000) for 24-year-old Tunisian asylum-seeker Anis Amri, whose identifying information was found in the truck used in the attack. (Reuters)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • Five people are killed in a Taliban attack on Afghan Member of Parliament Mir Wali's home in Helmand Province. At least three security guards and two civilians were killed in the assault; Wali and others were injured. The gunmen are holding a number of occupants hostage. (PressTV) (Reuters)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Northern Raqqa offensive
    • U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces advance to eight kilometers (five miles) from the largest prison held by ISIL near the Tabqa Dam. (Straits Times)

• Musician James Taylor cancels a concert in Manila to protest the ongoing drug war. (Billboard)

• The U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fines several companies, including Wells Fargo, RBC Capital Markets, and LPL Financial, a combined $14.4 million for record-keeping problems that could have allowed company and customer documents to be altered. (Reuters)
• Uber suspends tests of its self-driving cars in San Francisco, California, after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registration of the vehicles in the state in response to two red-light violations. (BBC)

• 2016 San Pablito Market fireworks explosion
  • Authorities say the death toll is now 31, and that 47 of the 60 people injured remain hospitalized. (Los Angeles Times)

• Sindh Government officials declare a health emergency in Malir, Karachi, as thousands of patients have been affected by the mysterious Chikungunya virus. The government states the aedes aegypti mosquito is responsible for spreading the Chikungunya virus in Pakistan's largest city. (Geo tv) (Daily Pakistan) (Dunya News tv)

• China–Mongolia relations
  • Mongolia bans the 14th Dalai Lama from leisure in the country after China cancels a Mongolian loan. (The New York Times) (AP via ABC News)
• International recognition of Taiwan, One-China policy
  • São Tomé and Príncipe breaks relations with the island country of Taiwan. (BBC)
• Russia–United States relations, 2016 United States election interference by Russia
  • The Kremlin says almost all communications channels with the United States are frozen. The U.S. State Department says the dialogue with Russia continues despite their differences. (Reuters) (The New York Times)

• A bill protecting the rights of LGBT in the Philippines is finally up for debate 17 years after being first introduced in the upper legislature with the 2014 killing of a transwoman as the reason for its urgency. (Rappler)
• Operation Car Wash
  • Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht and affiliated petrochemical company Braskem plead guilty of violating American foreign bribery laws in connection with the Petrobras deal. (Reuters)
• A federal jury orders DuPont to pay $2 million to a man with testicular cancer after finding the company liable for diseases linked to C8, a Teflon-making chemical. (Reuters) (CNBC)

• Two activists are arrested in Indonesia for advocating West Papuan independence. (Radio New Zealand)
• 2016 Turkish purges
  • Turkey suspends another 1,980 teachers and school employees for alleged connections to the coup attempt. (Reuters)
• Gambian presidential election, 2016
  • Gambia's Chief Justice sets January 10, 2017, for the hearing by the Supreme Court, made up of judges from Nigeria and Sierra Leone, of President Yahya Jammeh's ruling party's legal challenge of the December 1 election results. (Reuters)
• Presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • President-elect Donald Trump names Carl Icahn as the Special Advisor to the President on Regulatory Reform. (The Hill)

• Snow falls in the Sahara desert for the first time in 37 years. (CNN)

• Syrian Civil War, Battle of Aleppo (2012–16)
  • The Syrian Army says it is now in full control of the city of Aleppo following the evacuation of the last group of rebels to the Idlib Governorate. (BBC)
• Yemeni Civil War
  • Seven Pakistani crew members on Iranian cargo ship MV Joya, sailing from Egypt to Dubai, UAE, are killed in a rocket attack off Yemen's coast. (The News) (ARY News tv)

• Residents of the economically struggling town of Pinos Puente in Granada, Spain, win the El Gordo lottery. (BBC)

• A vaccine for the ebola virus is discovered to be 99.78%–99.87% effective. (NPR)

• U.S. president-elect Donald Trump calls President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, who then agrees to postpone a United Nations resolution regarding Israel. (al-Jazeera)

• As many as 80 inmates take over a section of HM Prison Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. (BBC)
• Philippine Drug War
  • The Commission on Human Rights launches an investigation into alleged murders committed by current Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte. (BBC)
• Claremont murders
  • A man is charged in Australia for allegedly committing the 20-year old crimes. (The Australian)
• U.S. president Barack Obama scraps the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), a registration system for Muslim immigrants. (The Washington Post)

• Presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • President-elect Donald Trump names his former presidential campaign manager Kellyanne Conway as his Counselor to the President. (The Guardian)
  • President-elect Donald Trump names RNC Communications director Sean Spicer as White House Press Secretary, and Jason Miller as the White House Communications Director. (CNN)
• South Korean presidential election, 2017
  • United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and liberal candidate Moon Jae-in plan to contest the position vacated by Park Geun-hye. (Reuters) (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

• It is discovered that the Limusaurus dinosaur shed its teeth as it matured. (The Guardian)

• Syrian Civil War
  • The bodies of over 100 Syrian Army POWs are reportedly found in what was the last rebel held territory of East Aleppo. Syrian Army officers claim they were executed by rebel forces. (Al-Masdar News)
• 2016 Berlin truck attack
  • The 24-year-old Tunisian who is suspected of driving the truck that smashed through a Berlin market is killed in a shootout in Milan. (Reuters)
• Afriqiyah Airways Flight 209
  • An Afriqiyah Airways flight originating from Sabha, Libya, is hijacked and forced to make an emergency landing in Malta. Hijackers threaten to blow up the aircraft with grenades, but the standoff ends peacefully with all hostages released and both hijackers surrendering. (Chicago Tribune)

• Carrie Fisher, the actress best known for the role of Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise, suffers a massive heart attack while on a flight and is rushed to a hospital near Los Angeles International Airport in critical condition. (Mirror)

• As new Libyan production comes on line, the world price of crude oil falls below $55 a barrel. (Reuters)
• Bonanza Creek Energy says it plans to file for bankruptcy on or by January 5, 2017 and hopes to exit the process quickly, within the first quarter. (Reuters)

• Former Philippines president and current mayor of Manila Joseph Estrada is hospitalized for pneumonia. (Rappler)

• United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334
  • The United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power abstains from voting in a 14–0 Security Council decision condemning Israeli settlement of the Palestinian territories. (The Washington Post)

• Terrorism in Australia
  • Australian police raid several Melbourne properties and arrest seven Arab Australian men, who were believed to be plotting a terrorist attack on several sites in Melbourne for Christmas Day. (ABC News)

• Boko Haram insurgency
  • President Muhammadu Buhari announces that the Nigerian Armed Forces have successfully driven out Boko Haram militants from their last stronghold in the Sambisa Forest in northeastern Nigeria. (BBC News) (Business Insider)

• A passenger bus carrying 46 people, mostly school groups from Tonga, crashes in the Gisborne Region of New Zealand, approximately 30 kilometers south of the city of Gisborne. Two people died while several were injured, with some still hospitalized. (New Zealand Herald)

• Pope Francis pleads for peace in a Christmas Mass in the Vatican. (Voice of America)

• Bezeq, an Israeli telecoms company, says that it has received word from the country's telecoms regulator that it will be allowed to end the "structural separation" of its business operations by product (i.e. mobile phone, internet, land lines). (Reuters)

• 2016 Chiloé earthquake
  • A magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Chile spurs tsunami warnings. (BBC)
• 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash
  • A Russian Tu-154 military passenger airplane carrying 92 people including the Alexandrov Ensemble crashes into the Black Sea shortly after takeoff from Sochi. The airplane was headed towards Khmeimim, Syria. The Russian Armed Forces are actively involved in the Syrian Civil War. (The Telegraph) (Al Jazeera) (FOX News)
• 2016 Pacific typhoon season
  • Typhoon Nock-ten (Nina) strikes the Philippines. (BBC)
• The German city of Augsburg is evacuated after a World War II-era explosive is discovered in the town. Explosive experts later defused the bomb. (The New York Times)

• Medical research reveals shrinkage in women’s brains as a result of pregnancy. Loss of gray matter in certain regions of the brain may make the brain more efficient and specialized for child-rearing. There is also evidence of links to long-term changes in brain. (ScienceNews) (Nature)

• Afghanistan's first female Air Force pilot Niloofar Rahmani files for asylum in the United States. (Reuters)
• Pakistan releases Indian fishermen caught in its territory as a gesture of goodwill. (Deutsche Welle)

• 2016 Turkish purges
  • Turkey probes around 10,000 social media users for allegedly insulting government officials or supporting "terror-related activity." (BBC)
• A producer of Al Jazeera is arrested in Egypt. (Reuters)

• American Actor George S. Irving, best known for being one of the last members of the original production of Oklahoma! and voicing Heat Miser from The Year Without a Santa Claus, dies at age 94. (The Hollywood Reporter)

• 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash
  • Eleven bodies have so far been recovered from the Black Sea from yesterday's military aircraft crash. All 92 people on board died. (CNN)

• China resumes diplomatic ties with São Tomé and Príncipe two weeks after the African island nation broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan. (AP via New York Times)

• CHP MP Öztürk Yılmaz says Turkey has expressed its readiness to work with president Assad of Syria. (Sputnik)

• Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory find a way to make thinner electrical wires that measure just three atoms wide. (Phys.org) (SLAC)

• Yemeni Civil War
  • Government forces push to capture a Houthi enclave in Bayhan District, on the border between Shabwa and Marib provinces, resulting at least 28 Houthi militants and 12 Yemeni soldiers killed. (Dunya News)

• Carrie Fisher, the actress and writer best known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise, dies following complications from a heart attack. (E! News)

• The U.S. Federal Trade Commission gives the antitrust go ahead to Abbott Laboratories in its acquisition of St. Jude Medical. (Reuters)

• 2016 Pacific typhoon season, Typhoon Nock-ten (2016)
  • The Philippine Coast Guard looks for 18 missing sailors from a ship sunk by Typhoon Nock-ten (Nina). At least seven people are confirmed to have died in the storm. (AP via Daily Mail)
• At least 27 people are killed after drinking toxic alcohol in Pakistan. (The New York Times), (UPI)

• Israel's Foreign Ministry announces that it is "reducing" ties with some of the UN Security Council countries that voted to pass United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334. (Business Insider), (NBC News)
• Japan–United States relations
  • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe makes a landmark visit to Naval Station Pearl Harbor in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, offering "sincere and everlasting condolences" to the victims of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese empire on December 7, 1941. (BBC)

• Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the Christian Governor of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, will face prosecution for blasphemy. (ABC)
• Former President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is indicted on corruption charges. (The Telegraph)
• Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power approves a law banning commemorative statues of late President Fidel Castro, and the naming of public places after him, in accordance with the wishes of Castro, who died last month. (Reuters)

• The journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences publishes research from the Zoological Society of London that the cheetah population approaches extinction with only 7,100 individuals left alive in the wild as a result of a sudden crash in population. (BBC), (The Proceeding of the National Academy of Science)

• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • An explosion in Kabul leads to several casualties. Afghan police report that the attack was aimed at a member of the National Assembly, Fakori Behishti. (Reuters)
• Colombian conflict
  • As part of an ongoing peace process, the Congress of Colombia approves an amnesty law for thousands of demobilizing FARC rebels. The amnesty does not apply to FARC rebels who have committed war crimes or human rights violations. (Reuters)

• American actress Debbie Reynolds has a stroke and dies one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher's death. (BBC)
• Pan Pan, the oldest male panda on Earth, dies at the age of 31. (BBC)

• The Ajmer–Sealdah Express operated by Indian Railways derails in northern India killing at least two people and injuring dozens. Twenty four people have been hospitalised. (Daily Express) (The Telegraph)
• 2016 Djebel Jelloud train accident
  • A train and a bus collide in Tunis, Tunisia, killing 5 and injuring around 52. (Nessma)

• The Korea Fair Trade Commission fines U.S. company Qualcomm $852.9 million for alleged antitrust violations for restricting access of its competitors to its patents. (Bloomberg)
• The Attorney General of Israel Avichai Mandelblit orders a criminal investigation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged corruption in two different cases. (The Guardian)

• Pan-STARRS project releases its first astronomical catalog, consists of 2 petabytes of data collected over four years. An astronomer from collaborating institution also discloses that his group has studied new types of supernova explosions and the disruptions of stars by supermassive black holes from data of this Massive Digital Sky. (SciTech Daily) (The Indian Express)

• Former world number 1 tennis player Ana Ivanovic announces her retirement at the age of 29. (The Guardian)

• Syrian Civil War
  • Russian president Vladimir Putin says a ceasefire has been brokered between the Syrian government and rebel forces. The ceasefire is said to be guaranteed by Russia and Turkey and would exclude UN-denominated terror organizations such as ISIL and al-Nusra. The FSA says it would abide by the truce, while Ahrar al-Sham expresses "reservations". (ITV) (Reuters)

• Czartoryski Museum
  • The Polish government buys the internationally-known Czartoryski collection of art. Based in the city of Kraków and consisting of around 86,000 pieces, this features works by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. (BBC)
• The academic Phil Scraton refuses an OBE granted to him by Elizabeth II in her 2017 New Year Honours list for his work on the Hillsborough disaster. Professor Scraton wrote Hillsborough: The Truth, first published in 1990 and seen as the definitive account of the disaster. (BBC) (The Guardian)

• The Bank of Italy says in a statement that the country's treasury will have to put up around 6.6 billion euros to rescue Monte dei Paschi given the European Central Bank's estimate of Monte dei Paschi's capital shortfall. (Reuters)

• At least 50 people drown and thousands are left homeless due to flooding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (France 24)

• The United States expels 35 Russian diplomats over the alleged Russian interference during the U.S.'s 2016 presidential election. (BBC)
• The Egyptian government approves a deal granting two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)

• The Ambassador of Greece to Brazil, Kyriakos Amiridis, is reported missing while on vacation in Rio de Janeiro. A homicide team is investigating his disappearance. (BNO News) (O Globo)
• Turkish journalist Ahmet Şık is arrested in Istanbul, allegedly over a social media posting. (Washington Post)
• 2016 Berlin truck attack
  • Naveed Baloch, the man from Pakistan who was wrongly arrested in the aftermath of the recent attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, gives an interview outlining the conditions in which he was held and reveals he is now in hiding amid fears for his life. (The Guardian)

• U.S. President Barack Obama declares the Bears Ears in Utah and Gold Butte area of Nevada as National Monuments. Both are known for the presence of Native American populations and archaeological sites. (BBC News)

• Former boxing world champion Ricky Hatton speaks on British radio about depression and gives an account of past suicide attempts. (BBC Sport) (The Daily Telegraph)

• Punggol Point LRT station opened along the West Loop of the Punggol LRT line.

• 2016 Berlin truck attack
  • The funeral of Łukasz Urban, the driver killed in the course of last week's attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, takes place in his village of Banie near the German border. President of Poland Andrzej Duda and a German diplomat attend. (BBC) (Deutsche Welle)

• Six people die in a fire in a bakery in the Indian city of Pune. (Firstpost)
• At least seven people are killed and 30 trapped after a pile of waste collapses in a Coal India mine in Jharkhand. (Reuters) (CNN)
• A Cessna 525 carrying six passengers goes missing shortly after takeoff from Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport in the United States. (USA Today)

• Russia–United States relations
  • After 35 Russian diplomats are expelled from the United States, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov recommends expelling 35 American diplomats. Russian President Vladimir Putin rejects Lavrov's recommendation and expresses a desire to restore relations between the two countries. (The New York Times) (Newshub)
  • The U.S. Burlington Electric Department says that a code associated with a broad Russian hacking campaign dubbed "Grizzly Steppe" by the U.S. Government has been detected on a laptop associated with a Vermont electric utility but not connected to the grid. (The Boston Globe)
• Mali returns two people France deported on the same planes they arrived on. (BBC)

• A body found in a burnt-out vehicle north of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro is confirmed to be that of missing Greek Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis. A military police officer who had an affair with the ambassador's wife confesses to the murder. The wife and a second man are also detained. (BBC)
• Sahaj International opens in Kochi in the South Indian state of Kerala. The country's first school for transgender pupils, it caters for adults who left school early. (BBC)

• Romanian President Klaus Iohannis designates social-democrat Sorin Grindeanu as the country's new prime minister, after the victory of the centre-left PSD earlier this month. (AFP by The Indian Express)
• China's State Council announces details of its intention to ban all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017. (BBC)

• A volcanic eruption continues on Bogoslof Island near Unalaska, in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. The eruption has impacted air transportation routes. (Alaska Public Radio Network) (Tech Times) (CDA News)

• Mo Farah and world tennis number one Andy Murray are among those knighted by Elizabeth II in her 2017 New Year Honours list. (The Guardian)
• In mixed martial arts, Amanda Nunes defeats Ronda Rousey to retain the Women's Bantamweight title at UFC 207. (The New York Times)

• Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
  • December 2016 Baghdad bombings
    • A pair of bomb blasts targeting a market in central Baghdad kills at least 27 people and injures over 50. (AP), (The Telegraph)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
  • Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan
    • United States troops withdraw from Afghanistan after 15 years.

• China, with their largest television network China Central Television, announces a new launch of a global media platform extending globally and renaming the network China Global Television Network. (News Asia)

• In Helsinki, Finland, authorities detain an unidentified driver after driving at high speed, and veering for unknown reasons, into a crowd, injuring 7 people. Authorities quickly conclude no evidence points to a deliberate attack. (RT)

• Authorities add a leap second on December 31 to bring UTC more inline with mean solar time. (Physics Org), (BBC)