Portal:Current events/2011 December 23

Current events of December 23, 2011 (2011-12-23) (Friday)

Armed conflicts and attacks 2011 Syrian uprising: Syrian state media report the deaths of at least 40 people in two car bombings in the capital Damascus. (BBC) 2011 Egyptian revolution: Activists gather in the Egyptian capital Cairo, calling for the end of the post-Hosni Mubarak military regime. (Al Jazeera) Three Somali aid workers are killed in central Somalia. (AP via Google) Business and economy China Three Gorges Corp. wins a bid for its 21% stake in EDP-Energias de Portugal SA with an offer of €2.69 billion ($3.51 billion), in the first of a series of sales of state-owned assets under Portugal's austerity program. This is the first time a mainland Chinese firm has acquired a significant stake in a southern European company. (Wall Street Journal) Disasters A series of large aftershocks from the 22 February earthquake – the largest registering magnitude 6.0 – strike the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. (New Zealand Herald) International relations North Korea says it will accept all South Korean delegations wishing to pay respects to the late leader Kim Jong-il. (BBC) World leaders attend the funeral of former Czech President and dissident Václav Havel. (CNN) Law and crime A Chinese court sentences dissident Chen Wei to nine years imprisonment for "inciting subversion of state power", after he published essays online calling for multiparty democracy. (Times of India) (Radio Television Hong Kong) Police fire teargas in the southern Chinese town of Haimen, and state media air confessions from two detained activists amid a protest against a proposed new power plant. (Reuters) Politics and elections Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi registers her National League for Democracy party, and visits Burma's parliament for the first time. (Hindustan Times) Police in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ban the swearing-in ceremony for opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi. (IOL) Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is treated in hospital for a blocked coronary artery. (BBC) (CNN)