Portal:Current events/2011 December 15
December 15, 2011 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Russia circulates a draft resolution condemning the violence in Syria. (Al Jazeera)
- The United States flag is lowered in Baghdad marking the end of U.S. military operations in Iraq after eight years of the Iraq War. (BBC)
Business and economy
- The 2010 United States Census shows 1 in 2 people are classified as low-income or poor. (Associated Press) (NPR) (CBS News)
Disasters and accidents
- A truck drives into a restaurant in Ningxia, China, killing seven people. (China Daily)
Law and crime
- Police in Bahrain detain prominent blogger Zainab Alkhawaja during a protest near the capital Manama. (BBC)
- The United Nations calls for the protection of LGBT rights worldwide, in its first report on the issue. (Reuters)
- Former President of France Jacques Chirac is found guilty of embezzlement and violating trust due to his hiring members of his party to fill non-existent jobs while Mayor of Paris. (France 24)
- Former editor of The Sun and the News of the World Piers Morgan is called to give evidence before the Leveson Inquiry, and will appear next week. (The Guardian)
- A French court convicts Venezuela-born terrorist Carlos the Jackal of organising four deadly attacks in the 1980s. (AP via Google)
Politics
- A by-election is held in the UK constituency of Feltham and Heston following the death of Labour's Alan Keen. (BBC)
- Negotiators from the United States Senate and House of Representatives reach a budget agreement. (Washington Post)
Science
- The US National Institutes of Health places a temporary moratorium on new studies using chimpanzees in response to a report that claims nearly all medical research on the animals is scientifically unjustified. (Washington Post)