Portal:Current events/2012 December 13

December 13, 2012 (Thursday)

Syrian civil war:
- Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov confirms his country is working on mobilization plans to evacuate its citizens from Syria. In the statement, the Foreign Ministry acknowledges for the first time that the rebels might win as the Syrian government is losing control of more and more territory. (Reuters)
- At least 16 people are killed and 25 others injured after a car bomb strikes the city of Qatana, 25 kms southwest of the capital Damascus. The attack follows a similar blast in front of the Interior Ministry building a day earlier that killed at least five. (Reuters)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
- Five people are injured in the West Bank ahead of the funeral of a deaf teenager shot dead by Israeli forces. (Al Jazeera)
Senkaku Islands dispute:
- Japan scrambles fighter jets in response to a Chinese plane seen near the disputed Senkaku Islands, marking the first time aircraft are involved in the dispute. (CNN) (Al Jazeera)

The Tallow Candle, an early work by Hans Christian Andersen, is found at the bottom of a box in Denmark. (BBC)
Wlodzimierz Umaniec, who daubed a Mark Rothko painting with black paint in the name of yellowism, is jailed for two years in the UK. (The Guardian)

Finance Ministers from the European Union agree to giving the European Central Bank new powers to supervise euro zone banks. (Reuters)
Ireland's Labour Party chairman Colm Keaveney votes against the Social Welfare Bill, part of Ireland's latest austerity budget. As a result he is expelled from the parliamentary party, which is part of the governing coalition. (RTÉ) (Irish Independent)
Prosecutors ask a judge of the Manhattan federal district court to sentence Peter Madoff, brother and co-conspirator of infamous scammer Bernard Madoff, to a sentence of ten years. (Reuters)

Tropical Cyclone Evan makes landfall near the Samoan capital Apia causing at least two deaths and the declaration of a state of disaster. (ABC Australia via Yahoo!), (AAP via SBS)
The death toll in the Philippines from Typhoon Bopha rises over 900 with hundreds still unaccounted for. (AAP via News Limited)
U.S. space agency NASA admits it posted online a photograph taken from the International Space Station of an Indian mountain, claiming it as Mount Everest. With Nepalese netizens left puzzled by this, it took a Nepalese expert to point out the agency's inaccuracy. (BBC)

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice withdraws her name from consideration to be nominated Secretary of State, following increasing opposition to her nomination by Republican members of the Senate. (MSNBC) (Al Jazeera)

The European Court of Human Rights rules that a German citizen was an innocent victim of extraordinary rendition by the Central Intelligence Agency and orders Macedonia to pay him $78,000 after it arrested him and sent him to the CIA. CIA agents then transferred him to a detention facility in Afghanistan. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)
Millions of assets belonging to the former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak are located, including Marbella beach properties and luxury cars. (Al Jazeera)
2012 royal hoax call incident:
- An inquest into the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha hears that she died as a result of self-inflicted hanging. (The Independent)
- The media regulatory body Australian Communications and Media Authority launches an investigation into the prank call made by 2Day FM. (The Australian)
A worker at the chief clerk's office (making reference to a will) at the Hugo Black U.S. Federal Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama shoots himself in the head. (CNN)
Israel's Justice Ministry announces that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, while he will not face more serious money laundering and witness tampering corruption charges, will be charged with breach of trust and fraud in connection with illegally obtaining funds from shell companies which occurred prior to his Ministry service. (Al Jazeera)
Former Bosnian intelligence chief Zdravko Tolimir, believed to be a top aide to Ratko Mladic, is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the Srebrenica massacre. (CNN)

Thousands of Palestinians demonstrate in the West Bank city of Nablus. (BBC)
The Bangladeshi Opposition calls a general strike over restoration of a caretaker administration with reports of explosions and clashes between police and protesters in the capital Dhaka. (AP via Washington Post)
Britain's Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards launches an investigation into expenses claimed by British Culture Secretary Maria Miller. (BBC) (The Guardian)
The British government pays £2.23 million to the family of Sami al-Saadi, who with his wife and young children, was abducted with the help of MI6, forced onto a plane and secretly flown to Tripoli, where he was tortured for years by the security police of the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)

North Korea's first satellite successfully put into orbit, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2, appears to be spinning out of control, according to US officials. South Korean sources later deny the report, saying the satellite appears to be orbiting Earth normally. (NBC news)