Portal:Current events/2010 December 27

Current events of December 27, 2010 (2010-12-27) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks At least 3 people are killed and others are injured when a car bomb explodes near Kabul Bank in Kandahar. (Al Jazeera) Riot police are deployed to the streets of Jos in central Nigeria following clashes between ethnic groups and a bombing on Christmas Eve. (The Daily Telegraph) Business and economics During demonstrations in Tunis, approximately 1000 people call for jobs, in solidarity with protesters elsewhere in Tunisia. Police use batons and at least a dozen protesters are injured and others faint. (Al Jazeera) Bus drivers announce a strike action in response to the 83 per cent increase in the price of gasoline and the 73 per cent increase in the price of diesel fuel announced by Bolivian Vice-President Álvaro García Linera on Sunday. (Al Jazeera) Disasters and accidents At least seven people are killed and fifteen injured in a 100-vehicle pile up in southwest China. (CNN) (NDTV) (People's Daily) A Seoul-based radio station targeting North Koreans reports that a train carrying birthday gifts for North Korean future leader Kim Jong-un derailed, in what it describes as a possible act of revolt by opponents. South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) states that it is checking the report. (AFP via Google News) (Joongang Daily) International relations Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rules out apologising to Turkey for killing nine of its citizens during May's Gaza flotilla raid,saying, however, that Israel would "express its regret"; the interview came after Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Turkey should apologize to Israel for supporting terrorists. (Al Jazeera) (JTA) The Lebanese army claims that Israeli Air Force planes violated Lebanon's airspace several times, in violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution, which ended the Israeli-Lebanese war of 2006 between Lebanese-based Islamic militant group Hezbollah and Israel. (Haaretz) Law and crime Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is found guilty of embezzlement in a second trial, which he described as politically motivated. (RIA Novosti) (The Hindu) (RTHK) Allen Stanford's lawyers seek a two-year postponement of his trial and for his release from prison in the meanwhile. He is charged with running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. (Reuters) A Tel Aviv court sentences Israeli graphic designer Jonathan Pollak to three months imprisonment after convicting him of taking part in a "critical mass bicycle ride" demonstration highlighting the blockade of Gaza in January 2008. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel describes it as "an unusually harsh measurement" for a charge that normally does not see the perpetrator imprisoned. (The Guardian) (The New York Times) Politics and elections The commission overseeing the independence referendum in Southern Sudan rejects a lawsuit to halt the referendum on the basis that the commission violated the law. (Bloomberg) Alassane Ouattara, the internationally-recognised winner of the presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire, calls for a general strike to force Laurent Gbagbo, who is refusing to cede power, to step down. (BBC) Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper invites Aung San Suu Kyi to visit Canada. (The Globe and Mail)