Portal:Current events/2018 December 19
December 19, 2018 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- American intervention in Syria, Syrian Civil War
- The Pentagon reports it has begun withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, with a spokesperson saying that the coalition has liberated ISIL-held territory but also that the campaign is not over. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- 2018 Kivu Ebola outbreak
- Over 300 people have died of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the World Health Organization is concerned the outbreak is not being contained. (CNN)
Law and crime
- Nisour Square massacre
- In a third trial, former Blackwater private military contractor Nicholas Slatten is convicted on one count of first-degree murder over the 2007 mass shooting. (NBC News)
Politics and elections
- 2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Carles Puigdemont calls on Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Turull to end the hunger strike they started on 1 December. (eldiario.es)
Science and technology
- EnviroBuild, a sustainable building materials company, pays $US 25,000 to name a newly discovered limbless amphibian Dermophis donaldtrumpi, after U.S President Donald Trump, in disagreement with his environmental policy. (HuffPost) (Business Insider)