Portal:Current events/2019 December 9
December 9, 2019
(
2019-12-09
)
(Monday)
edit
history
watch
Armed conflicts and attacks
Syrian Civil War
The
Russian Ministry of Defence
says the
Russian Armed Forces
have entered
Raqqa
.
(
Asharq Al-Awsat
)
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
The Washington Post
publishes raw interviews and notes taken for the
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction
's "
lessons learned
" initiative. The difference with the previously published reports reveals that senior U.S. administration officials misled the public by painting "a rosier picture of the state of the war than they knew to be true".
(
The Hill
)
2019 Venezuelan uprising attempt
Sixteen
Venezuelan National Guardsmen
who took part in a failed attempt to overthrow
President
Nicolás Maduro
on 30 April 2019 successfully flee
Venezuela
in a clandestine "military operation". The guards, accused of
treason
, were granted asylum in the
Panamanian
embassy in
Caracas
following the failed uprising.
(AP)
Disasters and accidents
2019 Whakaari/White Island eruption
New Zealand
's
Whakaari / White Island
stratovolcano
erupts with reports of at least five fatalities and a number of people injured or missing. Around 50 people, mostly tourists, were believed to be on the island at the time of eruption, according to
Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern
.
(CNN)
2019 Chilean Air Force C-130 disappearance
A
Chilean Air Force
C-130 Hercules
with 38 passengers and crew onboard is reported missing while en route to
Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva
in
Antarctica
.
(BBC News)
International relations
War in Donbass
,
Normandy Format
,
Russia–Ukraine relations
Volodymyr Zelensky
,
Vladimir Putin
,
Emmanuel Macron
and
Angela Merkel
meet in
Paris
for
Ukraine
peace talks. It is the first time Putin and Zelensky meet and the first such four-way leaders' meeting since 2016.
(Reuters)
Following a breakthrough in talks,
Russia
and
Ukraine
agree to implement a
ceasefire
in the
Donbass
by the end of 2019.
(BBC News)
Law and crime
British
serial rapist
Joseph McCann
receives 33
life sentences
, having been convicted on Friday at
London
's
Old Bailey
of 37 charges of
rape
,
sexual assault
,
kidnapping
and
false imprisonment
, his victims ranging from 11 to 71 years old.
(Sky)
Crossfire Hurricane
U.S. Inspector General
Michael E. Horowitz
releases a redacted version of his investigation into the origins of the
FBI
's investigation of members of
Donald Trump
's
2016 presidential campaign
believed to be
linked to Russian operations
.
(Reuters)
Science and technology
The
European Space Agency
awards the first contract to clean up
space debris
, in a plan to remove a single piece of debris from orbit in 2025.
(
The Guardian
)
Sports
The 2019
Lou Marsh Award
for best
Canadian
athlete is granted by unanimous vote to tennis player
Bianca Andreescu
.
(
The Star
)
Doping in Russia
The
World Anti-Doping Agency
bans
Russia
from competing in all major international sporting events, such as the
2020 Summer Olympics
,
2022 Winter Olympics
, the
2022 FIFA World Cup
and possibly the
2024 Summer Olympics
, for the next four years. Russian athletes that want to compete can only do so as part of a "neutral team". Russia has three weeks to
appeal
the decision at the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
.
(CNN)
(United News India)
Month
December 2019
Previous day
December 8
Next day
December 10