Portal:Current events/2015 August 12

• Syrian Civil War
  • Artillery strikes in Damascus during a visit by the Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif kill at least 40 people and wound more than 180. (The News Hub)

• New Zealand flag debate
  • A government appointed panel chooses 40 finalist flag designs out of more than 10,000 submitted. (Miami Herald) (The New York Post)

• Pearson PLC agrees to sell its share in the Economist Group to Exor controlled by the Agnelli family for £469m. (BBC)
• 2015 Chinese stock market crash
  • The People's Republic of China devalues the yuan (Renminbi) by 1.62 percent after devaluing by 1.92 percent yesterday. This comes in the wake of a 30% drop of Chinese stocks last month. (BBC), (USA Today), (The Australian)

• 2015 Tianjin explosions
  • A massive explosion in the Chinese city of Tianjin results in at least 17 deaths, 11 people seriously injured, and hundreds of people being hospitalised. (BBC), (NBC News), (CCTV)
• A U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashes while landing on a U.S. Navy cargo vessel near the Japanese island of Okinawa, with seven people injured. (AP via MSN)
• The death toll from a heat wave in Egypt this week rises to 60. (AP)

• Kasur child sexual abuse scandal
  • In a two year period, 280 to 300 children have been sexually abused and filmed doing forced sex acts in Pakistan by a gang consisting of 20 to 25 culprits. (CNN), (Anadolu Agency), (BBC)

• Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, aged 90, announces that recent liver surgery revealed that he is suffering from an as-yet unspecified form of cancer which has spread to other parts of his body. (Reuters via MSN)
• North Korea's vice premier Choe Yong-gon is believed to have been executed by firing squad this year for voicing frustration at the policies of leader Kim Jong-Un. (Reuters), (AFP)
• A South Korean man is seriously injured after self-immolation during a protest against Japan's use of South Korean women as sex slaves during World War II. (The New York Times)
• Dési Bouterse is sworn in for a second term as President of Suriname. (AP via The Star Tribune)