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Debbie Reynolds

American actress, screenwriter, and author Carrie Fisher dies at the age of 60, and her mother, actress and singer Debbie Reynolds (pictured), dies one day later at the age of 84.
English singer, songwriter, and record producer George Michael dies at the age of 53.
A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes near Sochi, Russia, killing all 92 people on board, including 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble.
The United Nations Security Council adopts a resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

December 30, 2016 (Friday)

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Disasters and accidents

Six people die in a fire in a bakery in the Indian city of Pune. (First Post)
At least seven people are killed and 30 trapped after a pile of waste collapses in a Coal India mine in Jharkand. (Reuters), (CNN)
A Cessna 525 carrying 6 passengers goes missing shortly after takeoff from Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport. (USA Today)

International relations

Russia–United States relations
- In response to 35 Russian diplomats being expelled from the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin announces Russia will not expel any American diplomats, in hopes that the Russian decision not to retaliate will carry favor with the incoming Trump administration. Putin also mocked the Obama administration for its decision to expel the Russian group. (Daily Mail)

Law and crime

A body found in a burnt-out vehicle north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is confirmed to be that of missing Greek ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis. Mr Amiridis' wife is being questioned by police for suspected murder. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis designates social-democrat Sorin Grindeanu as the country's new prime minister, after the landslide victory of the centre-left PSD earlier this month. (AFP by The Indian Express)

Science and technology

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

December 29, 2016 (Thursday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

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)

Arts and culture

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 News)
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 News) (The Guardian)

Business and economy

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).

Disasters and accidents

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

International relations

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

Law and crime

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)
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)

Science and technology

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)

Sports

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)

December 28, 2016 (Wednesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- 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)

Arts and culture

American actress Debbie Reynolds has a stroke and dies one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher's death. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

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)

Law and crime

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)

Science and technology

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)

Sports

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

December 27, 2016 (Tuesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

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)

Arts and culture

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)

Business and economy

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

Disasters and accidents

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)

International relations

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)

Law and crime

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)

Science and technology

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)

December 26, 2016 (Monday)

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Arts and Culture

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)

Disasters and accidents

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)

International relations

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)

Science and technology

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

December 25, 2016 (Sunday)

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Arts and culture

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

Business and economy

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)

Disasters and accidents

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)

Health

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)

International relations

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)

Law and crime

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)

December 24, 2016 (Saturday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

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)

Disasters and accidents

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)

More December 2016 events...

Ongoing events
Business Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena bankruptcy Indian currency demonetisation Disasters Flint water crisis UK and Ireland windstorm season Law Black Lives Matter protests Philippine Drug War Timor Gap PCA hearings Political Brexit aftermath European migrant crisis (timeline) Haitian presidential election, November 2016 Presidential transition of Donald Trump South China Sea disputes More details on ongoing conflicts below Sport 2016–17 NBA season 2016–17 NHL season 2016 NFL season 2016–17 Bundesliga 2016–17 La Liga 2016–17 Premier League 2016–17 Serie A edit sidebar

Recent deaths
December 28: Gregorio Conrado Álvarez 28: Anthony Cronin 28: Michel Déon 28: Debbie Reynolds 27: Carrie Fisher 27: Ratnasiri Wickremanayake 26: George S. Irving 26: Seth J. McKee 26: Barbara Tarbuck 25: George Michael 25: Vera Rubin 24: Richard Adams 24: Rick Parfitt 24: Liz Smith 22: Franca Sozzani 20: Michèle Morgan 19: Lionel Blue 19: Dick Latessa 18: Zsa Zsa Gabor 18: China Machado 17: Lawrence Colburn 17: Henry Heimlich 15: Craig Sager 13: Thomas Schelling 13: Alan Thicke 12: E. R. Braithwaite 12: Anne Deveson 12: Shirley Hazzard 12: Javier Echevarría Rodríguez 12: Walter Swinburn 10: Ken Hechler 10: Bill Dineen 10: A. A. Gill 8: John Glenn 8: Joseph Mascolo 8: Peter van Straaten 7: Warren Allmand 7: Cho Ramaswamy 7: Paul Elvstrøm 7: Junaid Jamshed 7: Greg Lake 6: Rashaan Salaam 6: Peter Vaughan 5: Jayalalithaa 3: Rémy Pflimlin 2: Sammy Lee 1: Don Calfa 1: Joe McKnight edit sidebar

Ongoing conflicts
Africa Algeria and Tunisia Maghreb insurgency ISIL insurgency in Tunisia Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria Boko Haram insurgency Central African Republic Civil war Democratic Republic of the Congo Kivu conflict ADF insurgency Ituri conflict Lord's Resistance Army insurgency Libya Civil war Mali Northern Mali conflict Somalia Civil war South Sudan Ethnic violence (South Sudanese Civil War) Sudan War in Darfur South Kordofan conflict Sudanese nomadic conflicts Americas Mexico Mexican War on Drugs Peru Internal conflict in Peru Asia Afghanistan Afghanistan War China Xinjiang conflict India Naxalite–Maoist insurgency Insurgency in Northeast India India and Pakistan Kashmir conflict Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines Moro conflict Cross border attacks in Sabah Indonesia and Papua New Guinea Papua conflict Myanmar Internal conflict in Myanmar Pakistan War in North-West Pakistan Balochistan conflict Philippines CPP-NPA-NDF rebellion Thailand South Thailand insurgency Europe Armenia and Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Georgia Abkhaz–Georgian conflict Georgian–Ossetian conflict Russia Chechen–Russian conflict North Caucasus insurgency Ukraine War in Donbass Russian military intervention in Ukraine Middle East Egypt Sinai insurgency Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria Arab–Israeli conflict Iran Iran–PJAK conflict Iraq American-led intervention in Iraq Iranian intervention in Iraq Iraq and Syria (map) Military intervention against ISIL Israel and Lebanon Israeli–Lebanese conflict Israel and Palestine Gaza–Israel conflict Israeli–Palestinian conflict Syria American-led intervention in Syria Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War Turkish military intervention in Syria Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon Turkey Turkey–PKK conflict Turkey–ISIL conflict Yemen Yemeni Civil War Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Al-Qaeda insurgency edit sidebar

Elections and Referendums
Recent December 1: Gambia, President 4: Austria, President (2nd round) 4: Italy, Constitutional referendum 4: Uzbekistan, President 7: Ghana, President, Parliament 11: Kyrgyzstan, Referendum 11: Macedonia, Assembly of the Republic 11: Romania, Chamber of Deputies, Senate 15: Turks and Caicos, House of Assembly 18: Côte d'Ivoire, National Assembly edit sidebar

Trials
Recently concluded Australia: Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara Cambodia: Sam Rainsy China: Wan Qingliang, Ling Jihua, Zhoi Bin, Guo Boxiong Iran: Babak Zanjani Netherlands: Geert Wilders Philippines: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Nur Misuari, Joel Villanueva Romania: Liviu Dragnea, Gheorghe Ștefan, Gabriel Sandu, Dorin Cocoş, Dumitru Nicolae Spain: Lionel Messi United Kingdom: Chris Denning, Adam Johnson, Ched Evans United States: Bob McDonnell, Paul Anthony Ciancia International ICTY: Radovan Karadžić Ongoing China: Bai Enpei, Pan Yiyang, Yang Weize Germany: Beate Zschäpe Indonesia: Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Mary Jane Veloso Pakistan: Waseem Azeem, Mufti Abdul Qawi Philippines: Andal Ampatuan, Jr., Leila de Lima, Rodrigo Duterte, Jovito Palparan Romania: Darius Vâlcov, Dan Șova, Elena Udrea, Radu Mazăre, Gheorghe Nichita, Marian Vanghelie, Cătălin Voicu Russia: Alexei Navalny South Korea: Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil Spain: Gürtel case, Spanish Royal House, Bárcenas affair United States: Etan Patz United Kingdom: Rolf Harris International ICC: Laurent Gbagbo ICTY: Ratko Mladić Upcoming China: Wu Changshun Egypt: Mohamed Morsi Estonia: Edgar Savisaar Libya: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi United States: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz, Rick Perry, Bill Cosby edit sidebar