Portal:Current events/2023 December 15

December 15, 2023 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israel–Hamas war
- Israel–Hamas war hostage crisis, Killing of Alon Shamriz, Yotam Haim, and Samer Talalka
  - The Israel Defense Forces says that it mistakenly shot dead three hostages in friendly fire incidents in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City. (The Times of Israel)
Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Militants attack a regional police headquarters and two military posts in northwest Pakistan, triggering shootouts that killed five security personnel and five insurgents. (AP)
Yemeni Crisis
- Red Sea crisis
  - Two Liberian-flagged vessels in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait are attacked with drones and ballistic missiles launched by Houthi militants in Yemen, causing a fire on one of the ships. No injuries are reported. (Reuters)
  - Shipping firms Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk announce a suspension of all container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice amid Houthi attacks on commercial vessels. (AFP via France 24)

Arts and culture

Albania returns 20 icons to North Macedonia that were trafficked a decade ago, according to Albania's Culture Ministry. A handover ceremony is held at the National History Museum in the Albanian capital, Tirana. (AP)

Business and economy

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador inaugurates the first part of the tourist Maya Train, that runs in a rough loop around the Yucatán Peninsula. The $20 billion, 950-mile line will connect beach resorts and archaeological sites. (AP)
The International Energy Agency forecasts that global coal consumption is expected to reach a record high this year, as demand in emerging and developing economies remains strong. The demand for coal is predicted to increase by 1.4 percent this year, surpassing 8.5 billion tonnes for the first time. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

English Channel migrant crossings
- One person is killed and another is hospitalized after a boat carrying more than 60 migrants experienced difficulties as it attempted to cross the English Channel from France to the United Kingdom. (AP)

International relations

2023 Gaza humanitarian crisis, 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
- Israel authorizes the temporary use of its Kerem Shalom border crossing to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. (AFP via NST)

Law and crime

2023 Nigerien crisis
- An ECOWAS court orders former President Mohamed Bazoum to be freed from arrest and reinstated as president. (AP via ABC News)
Indigenous peoples in Guatemala
- A ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights finds Guatemala to have violated indigenous rights by allowing a large nickel mine to operate on tribal land. (AP)
News of the World royal phone hacking scandal
- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex wins a phone hacking lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mirror in the first of several lawsuits against British tabloids to go to trial. The High Court found that phone hacking was widespread at the Mirror Group and that private investigators gathered information unlawfully. (AP)
Post-election lawsuits related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election
- A United States federal jury orders Rudy Giuliani, former lawyer for former President Donald Trump, to pay $148 million in damages for defaming two Georgian election officials with false electoral fraud claims. (AFP via France 24)
Fourteen workers at the Tenerife South Airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, are arrested on suspicion of stealing items from checked-in luggage. Police seize allegedly stolen items worth almost €2 million. (AP)
Keretsky grenade incident
- A councillor detonates three grenades at a meeting of the village council of Keretsky, Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine, injuring 27 people, including himself. (AFP via Barron's)
State prosecutors in Thailand indict a member of the country’s Senate, Upakit Pachariyangkun, on six charges involving narcotics trafficking, money laundering and association with a transnational criminal organization. (AP)
Chile's police arrest at least 55 people in one of the country's largest fiscal fraud cases, amounting to about $275 million and implicating small- and mid-sized companies in different parts of the country. The suspects will stand trial for tax crimes, criminal association, money laundering, customs fraud and making false declarations. (AP)

Politics and elections

Corruption in Belgium, Chinese intelligence activity abroad
- A joint investigation by the Financial Times, Der Spiegel, and Le Monde reveals that Belgian Vlaams Belang politician Frank Creyelman accepted bribes from the Chinese Ministry of State Security for three years in order to influence discussions within the European Union. Creyelman was subsequently expelled from the party. (Financial Times)