Portal:Current events/2020 December 16

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan
  • Gunmen attack a security checkpoint in Puli Khumri, Baghlan Province, killing 13 police officers. An armoured personnel carrier and several police vehicles are also destroyed during the attack, which Afghan officials blame on the Taliban. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. (Al Jazeera)
• 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war
  • Dozens of Artsakh Defence Army troops are reportedly captured during an Azerbaijani "anti-terror" raid on several villages in Nagorno-Karabakh. The villages had previously been returned to Azerbaijan as part of the 2020 ceasefire agreement. Artsakh's Defence Ministry says that it "lost contact" with a number of military posts overnight, with as many as 60 to 160 personnel missing. Videos uploaded to social media appear to show captured soldiers. (BBC News)

Business and economy

• Libyan peace process
  • The Central Bank of Libya agrees to a devalued exchange rate of 4.48 Libyan dinars to 1 U.S. dollar beginning January 3, in its first board meeting since 2014. (Reuters)
• History of bitcoin
  • The cryptocurrency bitcoin hits an all-time high of US$20,440 after jumping more than 4.5% amid high demand from large investors. (BBC News)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Wales
        • First Minister Mark Drakeford announces that all non-essential retail, leisure and fitness centres, as well as all hospitality premises will be closed as of December 25. The country will also move to the highest "Level 4" restrictions beginning December 28, which means that people will be ordered to limit their Christmas gatherings to only two households. (Sky News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark
      • Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announces that the country will impose a full nationwide lockdown from December 25 to January 3 that will close malls, shops, and other non-essential activities during the holiday season. This comes after a record of nearly 3,700 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours. (France 24)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
      • Germany reports a record 952 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 23,427, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute. (DW)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands
      • The Netherlands reports a record 11,214 new cases in the past 24 hours. (NL Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
      • Turkey reports a record 240 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 17,121. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland
      • Former President Flavio Cotti dies from COVID-19 at the age of 81. (France24)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia
      • President Joko Widodo announces that the COVID-19 vaccine would be free of charge for all Indonesians, amending the government's earlier decision to limit the free vaccination programme only for healthcare frontline workers and the poor. (Jakarta Globe)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
      • Tokyo reports a new single-day record of 678 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the prefecture to 48,668. (The Japan Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea
      • The number of confirmed cases in South Korea reaches a record 1,078 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 45,442 cases. (Al Jazeera)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Alaska
      • Two health care workers at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau have a severe allergic reaction after being administered Tozinameran, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19. Both healthcare workers are expected to recover. (KTUU-TV)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in California
      • California reports a record 53,711 new cases and 293 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total of confirmed cases to 1,671,081 cases and death toll to 21,481. (KABC-TV)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee
      • Tennessee reports 11,410 cases, a new single-day record. (WMC-TV)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C.
      • The White House announces that Vice President Mike Pence, his wife Karen, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams will receive the vaccine on Friday. President-elect Joe Biden also announces that he will receive the vaccine next week. (MarketWatch)
      • Rep. Joe Wilson tests positive for COVID-19 and is expected to self-isolate throughout the holidays. (CNN)
      • Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt tests positive for COVID-19, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo enters quarantine after a possible exposure to the virus. (The Washington Post) (CNN)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan
      • Michigan surpasses 11,000 deaths from COVID-19, eight days after surpassing 10,000. (WDIV-TV)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
    • New South Wales reports the first locally-transmitted case in two weeks, after a 45-year-old Sydney man who drives international flight crews to and from the Sydney Airport tested positive for COVID-19. (ABC Australia)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
    • Brazil surpasses seven million total cases of COVID-19, becoming the third country to do so after India and the United States. (The Jerusalem Post)
• 2020 H5N8 outbreak
  • About 32,000 birds will be slaughtered and buried in Sukumo in Kochi Prefecture after a highly pathogenic avian influenza was discovered at an poultry farm. (The Japan Times)

International relations

• Belarus–European Union relations
  • Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya calls for the European Union to support protesters in her country as she is awarded the Sakharov Prize. (ABC News)
• Switzerland–United States relations, United States–Vietnam relations
  • The United States Department of the Treasury formally labels Switzerland and Vietnam as currency manipulators, accusing them of intervening to limit the rise of their currencies against the U.S. dollar. Switzerland rejects the label. (BBC News)

Law and crime

• Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot
  • Six men are indicted by a federal grand jury in the failed plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. (Detroit Free Press)
• A source claims that the United States Department of Justice will unseal new charges in connection with the 1988 bombing of the Pan Am Flight 103. (AP)
• A man arrested in the Philippines in July 2019 is indicted by federal prosecutors in New York for plotting to carry out a 9/11-style attack in the U.S. The suspect was allegedly directed by the terrorist organization al-Shabaab to attend a flight school in the Philippines and research how to hijack a commercial airliner. (NBC News)

Science and technology

• Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Twitter says that it will ban false and misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccines on its platform. (Reuters)
• Chinese space program
  • China National Space Administration (CNSA) spacecraft Chang'e 5 returns to Earth carrying samples of lunar rocks and soil from the surface of the Moon. The capsule will be airlifted to Beijing for formal opening and the samples will be made available to scientists in other countries, according to the CNSA. (The Guardian)