Portal:Current events/2015 December 15

• Syrian Civil War, Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  • The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that increased airstrikes by Russia have forced humanitarian assistance organizations to curtail their relief efforts, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in northern Syria. (The Washington Post)
• Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
  • United States Pacific Fleet commander Scott H. Swift warns of a possible South China Sea arms race. (Reuters via MSN)
• Islamist insurgency in Nigeria
  • At least 30 people are killed after Boko Haram militants attack three villages in Nigeria's northeast Borno state. (AFP via Yahoo)
• Military intervention against ISIL
  • France's Air Force carries out its first cruise-missile strikes targeting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant installations in Iraq, including “a training center and logistical depot,” according to the French defence ministry. (AFP via Defense News)

• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Typhoon Melor (Nona) causes widespread flooding and blackouts in the Philippines. More than 700,000 people had been evacuated ahead of the storm which hit late on Monday night. (New York Times)

• The United States Food and Drug Administration approves the Merck & Co. drug, Bridion, that reverses the effects of muscle relaxants used during surgery. (Reuters) (FDA)

• Saudi Arabia announces the formation of a 34-member Islamic Military Alliance against terrorism including Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan with a joint operations centre based in Riyadh. (SBS) (BNO News)
• Nuclear program of Iran
  • The United Nations finds Iran's firing of a medium-range ballistic missile in October violated a June 2010 resolution banning the Islamic Republic from launches capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The test was not technically a violation of the July nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. It's not known if the Security Council will take any action. (AP via The Christian Science Monitor) (Reuters)
  • The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors decides, by consensus unopposed, to close its investigation into whether Iran once had a secret nuclear weapons program. The IAEA will continue to police Tehran's activities. (The News Telegraph) (Reuters)

• A Baltimore, Maryland deadlocked jury was told by the trial judge to resume deliberations after closing arguments in the first trial of police officer William Porter, charged in the death of Freddie Gray. With demonstrations and unrest following the death, the city has cancelled leave for police officers and the mayor has called for calm when a verdict is announced. (CNN) (The Gazette)
• Schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District close after receiving an unspecified "electronic" threat. Later, authorities conclude the threat was a hoax, and announce schools will reopen Wednesday. New York City schools' initial response to a similar threatening email was to treat it as a hoax. The emails were largely identical and had been routed through a server in Frankfurt, apparently by the same person. (BBC News) (ITV) (LA School Report) (CNN) (The New York Times)
• American entertainer Bill Cosby, in response to dozens of accusations of sexual assault and misconduct spanning decades, has filed in U.S. federal court in Massachusetts a defamation suit against seven accusers. (The New York Times)
• United Kingdom police arrest a 21-year-old man in Berkshire in the hacking of Hong Kong-based electronic toy maker VTech. Details of more than six million people from servers used to support VTech's learning products app store were compromised. (BBC) (Digital Trends)

• New Zealand flag referendums, 2015–16
  • New Zealand announces the flag design chosen by the public that will challenge the current flag in a March 2016 vote. Voters will choose between the current flag, which features the British Union Jack with a dark blue background, and the challenger, a silver fern and four red stars on a black and blue background. (CTV) (Stuff)

• The Soyuz TMA-19M, consisting of Expedition 46 crew members Yuri Malenchenko (RSA), Timothy Kopra (NASA) and Tim Peake (ESA), launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the International Space Station (ISS) with Peake becoming the first Briton to represent the European Space Agency at the ISS. (Bay News 9) (The Daily Telegraph)