Portal:Current events/2019 December 19

December 19, 2019 (Thursday)

International Relations

Pakistan–United States relations
- The U.S. State Department reinstates Pakistan into International Military Education and Training program. It was suspended in August 2018 as part of the Trump administration's pressure to have it crack down on Islamist militants. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Maguindanao massacre
- A court in the Philippines finds 28 people, including former Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and his brother, former Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, guilty of murder for their roles in the Maguindanao massacre, and sentences them to life imprisonment (40 years). (Rappler)
- Mayor Sajid Ampatuan, also a brother of Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., and 55 others are acquitted. (Rappler)
2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis, April 2019 Spanish general election
- President of Catalonia Quim Torra is sentenced by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia to a year and a half of disqualification (inhabilitación) from exercising the powers of elected office, in addition to a fine of 30,000€ for disobeying the Central Electoral Board by not withdrawing partisan symbols in the Palau de la Generalitat and not guaranteeing the institution's neutrality during the April election campaign. Torra can appeal the ruling. (El País)
Trial of Catalonia independence leaders, 2019 European Parliament election
- The European Court of Justice determines that jailed former Vice President of Catalonia Oriol Junqueras had immunity as an elected MEP, despite being unable to take up his seat, as the Spanish Supreme Court had ruled due to his then-provisional prison situation. (The Guardian)
Moscow FSB headquarters shooting
- Two people are killed and four injured in a mass shooting outside Russia's Federal Security Service headquarters on Moscow's Lubyanka Square. The shooter is also killed. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Citizenship Amendment Act protests
- Thousands of demonstrators take to the streets in various parts of India to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. Some are arrested, and internet service is shut down in many parts of the country. (ndtv)
- Three people are killed in violent clashes between protesters and police in Mangalore and Lucknow. (BBC News)
The Venezuelan Supreme Court overturns a rule pertaining to the opposition-led National Assembly, which allowed members of the Assembly to vote in absentia due to large numbers of exiled opposition politicians. (Yahoo!)
The Parliament of Lebanon nominates former Education Minister Hassan Diab as Prime Minister. President Michel Aoun tasks him with forming a new government. (Al Jazeera)
2020 Labour Party leadership election
- Shadow Treasury Minister Clive Lewis announces his candidacy to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party. He is the second person to make this announcement, after Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry. (BBC News)
2019 Algerian presidential election
- Abdelmadjid Tebboune is sworn in as President of Algeria, the first after 20 years of Abdelaziz Bouteflika regime. (Al Jazeera)

Science and technology

Scientists discover a 386 million-year-old fossil forest at a sandstone quarry in Cairo, New York, making it the oldest known fossil forest in the world. (The Guardian)