Portal:Current events/2013 December 16

• 2013 South Sudanese political crisis:
  • Heavy gunfire and explosions are reported in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. The government says it has quelled an attempted coup. (The Washington Post) (AFP via Zia News)
• Syrian Civil War:
  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that barrel bomb airstrikes by the Syrian government on the city of Aleppo kill at least 76 people. (Haaretz)
• The Israeli Army exchanges fire with the Lebanese Army after a suspected sniper attack occurs in the border killing an Israeli soldier. (The New York Times)

• The 'stars' of the reality show Sister Wives win a landmark ruling that struck out a portion of a polygamy law in Utah. (CNN)

• For an undisclosed price, Google acquires the robot-making company Boston Dynamics which had previously been contracted by the U.S. military. (CNN Money)

• A bus falls from an elevated highway in the Philippines capital Manila killing at least 21 people with 20 injured. (The Telegraph)

• Four buildings are evacuated on the Harvard University campus after unconfirmed claims that bombs were planted in them. (Fox News)
• American judge Richard J. Leon of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia rules that the National Security Agency collecting domestic phone records was unconstitutional in Klayman vs Obama. A stay has been placed on the ruling pending an appeal by the US Government. (CNN)

• An amnesty deal is being floated by the National Security Agency for the leaker Edward Snowden. (Time magazine)

• The center-left candidate Michelle Bachelet is elected as president of Chile for the second time. She is the first leader in Chile to be elected to serve two terms since military rule ended in 1990. (BBC)
• 27-year-old Sebastian Kurz becomes Austria's youngest foreign minister. (BBC)

• Arctic sea ice rebounds in extent and in volume after years of recession. (BBC News)