Portal:Current events/2021 December 17
December 17, 2021 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Donbas
- A Ukrainian soldier is killed and another is injured after pro-Russian separatist forces targeted Ukrainian positions near Mariupol with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. (The Guardian)
Disasters and accidents
- Typhoon Rai
- Twelve people are killed as Typhoon Rai barrels across Philippines, also causing severe damage. (Al Jazeera)
- Eight people are dead and many more are injured during severe floods in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. (Al Jazeera)
Health and environment
- COVID-19 pandemic
- COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
- Australia reports a record 3,837 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, including a record 2,213 cases in New South Wales. (Anadolu Agency)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia
- Cambodia surpasses 3,000 deaths from COVID-19. (The Star)
- COVID-19 pandemic in France, COVID-19 vaccination in France
- The French National Consultation Ethical Commitee approves the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged between 5 to 11 years. (Reuters)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Mongolia
- Mongolia reports zero COVID-19 deaths in the single-day for the first time since April 4, bringing the nationwide death toll unchanged at 1,968. (Manila Bulletin)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar
- Qatar reports its first four cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in three fully vaccinated person and a unvaccinated person who travelled abroad. (The Peninsula)
- COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
- The United Kingdom reports a record for the third consecutive day of 93,045 new cases of COVID-19. (Sky News)
- COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
Law and crime
- 2021 Osaka building fire
- At least 27 people are feared dead and another person is injured after a fire breaks out in a building in downtown Osaka, Japan. Arson is suspected. (BBC News)
- Facebook exposes a group of spy firms that could affect the private security of over 50,000 people. (The Times of India)
Politics and elections
- Elections in the United Kingdom: 2021 North Shropshire by-election
- Helen Morgan of the Liberal Democrats wins North Shropshire, a seat in the British House of Commons which the Conservative Party has held since the constituency's creation. (BBC News)
- Brazil, Denmark, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States issue a joint condemnation of the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the world. (The Washington Times)