Portal:Current events/2016 December 16

December 16, 2016 (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
- Evacuations following the failed ceasefire are once again disrupted by the Syrian forces for reasons withheld. An estimate of 8000 people, mostly civilians, successfully fled the remains of the city. (The New York Times)
Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)
- An attack on a border post near Burkina Faso's border with Mali, leaves at least 12 Burkinabe troops dead and two others missing. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Nine people die in Vancouver, British Columbia from overdoses of fentanyl. (The Globe and Mail), (BBC)
- 13 total deaths were reported in the province in a single day. (CTV News) (The Globe and Mail)
Scientists discover that the Totten Glacier is experiencing rapid basal melt, with deep warm water entering underneath the glacier at the rate of 220,000 cubic meters per second. (The Washington Post)

International relations

China–United States relations, Spratly Islands dispute
- China's People's Liberation Army Navy seizes an underwater drone deployed by USNS Bowditch in the South China Sea; the United States files a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return. (Reuters)
Israel–United States relations
- President-elect Donald Trump nominates his middle-eastern affairs advisor and former bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman as the next United States Ambassador to Israel. (CNN)

Law and crime

A riot breaks out inside the G4S-run HM Prison Birmingham in Winson Green, Birmingham, United Kingdom. At least one inmate has been badly injured. The Ministry of Justice says riot police have regained control of the prison. (BBC) (The Guardian)
Flint water crisis
- A Federal appeals court upholds the November 10 lower court order that Michigan must deliver bottled water or provide in-home filtration to all qualified residents affected by lead contamination in the city of Flint. (Reuters) (Detroit Free Press)

Politics and elections

Protests, with looting, erupt in several Venezuelan states as citizens lack cash for gas, groceries, and Christmas gifts, since the highly used, but now worthless, 100-bolívar notes were removed from circulation, and the substitute 500-bolívar notes are not available because of delays in bank deliveries. (Reuters) (Webindia123.com)
Crowds blocked all Polish parliament exits protesting the Polish ruling Law and Justice Party's allegedly illegal 2017 budget that was approved in a vote outside of the assembly's main chamber. Earlier, the opposition Civic Platform Party stopped parliamentary proceedings on the budget because of new rules on media access. Police have beaten several protesters. According to opposition Civic Platform MP Agnieszka Pomaska, ruling party Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński snatched her phone. (Reuters) (Reuters²) (RT) (Interia)