Portal:Current events/2012 December 27

Current events of December 27, 2012 (2012-12-27) (Thursday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2012 Central African Republic rebellion
  • The president of the Central African Republic, Francois Bozize, asks for international assistance as rebels advance on the capital Bangui. (Al Jazeera)
  • The United States Embassy in Bangui suspends operations due to rising rebel attacks. (CNN)
• War in North-West Pakistan: In Pakistan, at least 21 paramilitary policemen are reported to have been kidnapped by militants. (BBC)

Business and economy

• Toyota Motor Corporation, moving to put years of legal problems behind it, has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle dozens of lawsuits relating to sudden acceleration. (AP via The Washington Post) (Los Angeles Times)
• A New York state appeals court dismissed a lawsuit brought by several hedge funds against Porsche Automobil Holding, in a controversy that dates to the volatility of the stock price of Volkswagen in October 2008. (ThomsonReuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Japan's Coast Guard sends a rescue team to the Russian fishing trawler "Alanet" with 24 fishermen on board which is in distress off Japanese Hokkaido Island. (The Voice of Russia) (ITAR-TASS)

Law and crime

• U.S. private investigator Paul Huebl claims Whitney Houston was killed by drug dealers in February 2012 after clocking up a $1.5 million debt. (The Sun) (RT) (Radar Online)

Politics and elections

• Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi, the only female minister in 30 years of Islamic Republic of Iran, is sacked after a dispute with President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (BBC) (Reuters)
• Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of Pakistan's murdered ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, promises to fight militancy and maintain democracy, in his first major political speech marking five years since his mother's death. (BBC)
• Catholic figurehead Seán Brady's intervention in Ireland's abortion debate draws harsh criticism from legislators and more calls for the Church to transfer the rest of the compensation it promised for those abused by priests, but has not yet paid. (Irish Independent)
• Harry Reid, the Democratic US Senate leader, says the U.S. appears to be heading over the fiscal cliff, with tax raises and spending cuts imminent. (BBC) (Reuters)

Science and technology

• Team members from the British Antarctic Survey temporarily abandon a project to drill through two miles of Antarctica's ice sheet to reach Lake Ellsworth due to problems linking boreholes in the ice. (BBC) (Nature) (ITV News)

Sport

• In the Football League Championship, Norwegian manager Henning Berg is sacked as coach of Blackburn Rovers after only 57 days in the job. Also, Sean O'Driscoll is sacked as Nottingham Forest manager after five months in charge. (ESPN) (BBC) (Daily Mail)
• Roland Duchâtelet, owner of Standard Liège, warns that club will breakaway from the Belgian Pro League and join France's Ligue 1 if a new Belgian–Dutch league is not created. (The International News)
• Colombian football player Radamel Falcao is awarded the 2012 Globe Soccer Awards. (Marca) (Futbol Red)
• Forward Christine Sinclair wins the 2012 Bobbie Rosenfeld Award given to Canada's female athlete of the year. (The Globe and Mail)