Portal:Current events/2012 December 15

December 15, 2012 (Saturday)

Disasters and accidents

Cyclone Evan is expected to hit northern parts of Tonga before turning south towards Fiji. (Sky News Australia)
At least 18 asylum seekers drown in the Aegean Sea while trying to reach Greece from Turkey. (The New York Times)
Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, the Governor of Nigeria's Kaduna state dies in a helicopter crash in Bayelsa state, together with former national security adviser General Owoye Andrew Azazi and other senior officials. (BBC)

Law and crime

Two incidents of shootings happened in the U.S. state of Alabama. A 38-year-old man opens fire at a hospital in Birmingham, wounding a police officer and two employees before he is fatally shot by police. In another unrelated incident, a man suspected of the fatal shooting of three people in a mobile home in Cleburne County, is shot to death near Birmingham by police after brandishing an AK-47. (CBC)
A man stood in the parking lot of the Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach, California, and fired 50 gunshots in the air, inducing a mass of panic from the shoppers and employees. No one was hit by the bullets, but one person was injured while trying to flee. A 42-year-old man was arrested for the shooting, and additional ammunition was found in his car. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Egyptian constitutional referendum, 2012:
- Voters in Egypt go to the polls for a highly charged referendum on a new constitution with violent clashes reported in Alexandria the evening before. (BBC) (Sky News)
- The polls close four hours later than planned due to heavy turnout. (RIA Novosti)
A census of population and housing begins today in Turkmenistan. (Trend)^{[permanent dead link‍]}
Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, successfully undergoes surgery to remove gallstones from his gallbladder. (BBC) (The Telegraph)
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sustained a concussion after fainting from dehydration at her home. (CNN) (The Washington Post)
Russian police arrest prominent opposition leaders at a rally against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. (BBC)

Science and technology

Sport