Portal:Current events/2019 December 22

December 22, 2019 (Sunday)

Armed conflict and attacks

Crisis in Venezuela
- Attackers raid a military facility in the southern state of Bolívar, killing one soldier and stealing weapons. Authorities say the weapons are recovered and opposition-linked suspects are arrested. (Reuters)
Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed at least 50 people on an island on Lake Chad, bordering Cameroon and Chad. (BBC News)

Business and economy

British retailer Tesco suspends operations at a factory in China after the Sunday Times newspaper reports that a six-year-old in London found a message from Shanghai prisoners calling for help and urging whoever finds the message to alert a human rights organisation, with a link to the author of the story, hidden inside a pack of charity Christmas cards. Tesco says that it has a policy against using prison labour. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

2019–20 Australian bushfire season
- Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters gain access to previously cut-off towns and settlements by bushfires in New South Wales, taking advantage of cooler weather. The small town of Balmoral is reported as being destroyed with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying there's "not much left" of the town. (Daily Telegraph) (Reuters)

Law and crime

A riot at a maximum security prison in El Porvenir, Atlántida, Honduras leaves at least 16 inmates dead, according to Honduran authorities. The riot comes just two days after another riot killed 18 inmates at a prison in the town of Tela. (AP)

Politics and elections

2019 Afghan presidential election
- Afghanistan's incumbent President Ashraf Ghani wins a slim majority of the votes in a September 28 election, delayed preliminary results showed after a poll that plunged the country into political crisis and was marred by allegations of fraud. (Reuters)
2019 Croatian presidential election
- Citizens of Croatia cast their votes in the latest presidential election. (DW)
2019 Hong Kong protests
- Over a thousand protestors march in the financial district of Hong Kong to show solidarity with Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. A dozen police officers clash with the crowd to disperse them. (Reuters)
2019–2020 Uzbek parliamentary election
- The first round of the first election in Uzbekistan after Islam Karimov's death takes place. (Radio Free Europe)

Science and technology

Boeing's unmanned CST-100 Starliner crew capsule successfully reenters the atmosphere and lands at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, United States, after a failed rendezvous with the International Space Station. (The Guardian)