Portal:Current events/2010 December 25

December 25, 2010 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

At least 45 people are killed and at least 50 others are injured in Khar, Bajaur, Pakistan when a woman throws two hand grenades and detonates her vest at a World Food Programme (WFP) distribution centre in the early morning. (BBC) (Voice of America) (The Jerusalem Post)
The Sudanese army says it has killed at least 40 rebels and wounded many more in a new offensive in the Darfur region, when army forces attacked joint positions of the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement. (AFP via Google News) (The Washington Post)
At least 6 people are wounded as a bomb detonates in a church during Christmas Mass in the southern Philippines island of Jolo. (Al Jazeera)
UN: Approximately 14,000 people have fled Côte d'Ivoire and headed to Liberia due to the recent presidential election dispute. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Mohammed Deif, the commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip, says that the Palestinians will not give up until Israel “ceases to exist”. (Ynet)

Arts and culture

Aurela Gaçe wins Albania's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the entry "Kënga ime". (Eurovision.TV)
Leading writers criticise the British government for what they describe as its "repugnant, foolish and pointlessly destructive" decision to axe all funding for a free children's book scheme. (The Guardian)

Business and economy

Vietnam’s credit rating is downgraded by credit rating agencies amid rising inflation, and a shrinking currency and widening trade deficit crisis; state owned shipbuilder Vinashin defaults on a loan to a group of international lenders. (Radio Free Asia)

Disasters

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes Vanuatu. A tsunami warning is issued for the region and later cancelled after a minor tsunami was recorded. (CNN) (Xinhua) (Agence France-Presse via Google News)
An overcrowded bus plunges into ravine near El Carmen, Ecuador, killing 41. (The Australian)

International relations

International filmmakers condemn the sentencing of Iranian director Jafar Panahi and a colleague to six-year sentences in jail and their being barred from writing-directing and producing films for 20-year, for opposition to the government. (CBC) (MSN)
Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoğlu reiterates his request for an apology from Israel for killing 9 Turks during May's Gaza flotilla raid (Ynet) (The Jerusalem Post) (CNN)
Three fishermen from the People's Republic of China are released from South Korean custody after their vessel collided with a Coast Guard vessel last week. (CNN.com)
Ecuador recognises Palestine as an independent state within its 1967 borders. (The Washington Post)
Mossad announces an intention to apologize to Britain for using fake British passports during the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in January 2010. (The Jerusalem Post) (UPI)

Law and crime

The director of an aid group working in Darfur is sentenced to one year in prison and fined on embezzlement charges after having been acquitted on the same charges earlier, in what as seen as an effort by the Sudanese government to silence Darfur human rights defenders and activists. (The Washington Post)
Dutch police arrest 12 Somalis on suspicion of plotting an imminent terrorist attack in the Netherlands. (CNN) (Reuters)
A dead female body is found near a golf course in North Somerset during a police search in Bristol for missing UK woman Joanna Yeates. (Sky News)

Politics and elections

Science and technology

The GSAT-5P satellite fails to reach orbit after the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle carrying it explodes shortly after launch. (The Times of India)
Atlanta in the U.S. state of Georgia gets its first white Christmas in 128 years affecting 500 flights. (AFP via Google News)