Portal:Current events/2012 December 27

December 27, 2012 (Thursday)

2012 Central African Republic rebellion:
- The president of the Central African Republic, François Bozizé, asks for international assistance as rebels advance on the capital Bangui. (Al Jazeera)
- The United States Embassy in Bangui suspends operations due to rising rebel attacks. (CNN) (Reuters)
War in North-West Pakistan:
- In Pakistan, at least 22 paramilitary policemen are reported to have been kidnapped by militants. (BBC)

Toyota Motor Corporation, moving to put years of legal problems behind it, has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle dozens of lawsuits relating to sudden acceleration. (AP via The Washington Post) (Los Angeles Times)
A New York state appeals court dismissed a lawsuit brought by several hedge funds against Porsche Automobil Holding, in a controversy that dates to the volatility of the stock price of Volkswagen in October 2008. (ThomsonReuters)

Private investigator Paul Huebl claims Whitney Houston was killed by drug dealers in February 2012 after clocking up a $1.5 million debt. (The Sun) (RT) (Radar Online)

Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi, the only female minister ever appointed in the Islamic Republic of Iran, is sacked after a dispute with President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (BBC) (Reuters)
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of Pakistan's murdered ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, promises to fight militancy and maintain democracy, in his first major political speech marking five years since his mother's death. (BBC)
Catholic figurehead Seán Brady's intervention in Ireland's abortion debate draws harsh criticism from legislators and more calls for the Church to transfer the rest of the compensation it promised for those abused by priests, but has not yet paid. (Irish Independent)
Harry Reid, the Democratic US Senate leader, says the U.S. appears to be heading over the fiscal cliff, with tax raises and spending cuts imminent. (BBC) (Reuters)
Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., commander of the combined coalition forces during the Gulf War, dies from pneumonia complications at age 78. (AP) (The New York Times)

NASA scientists are planning to capture a 500 ton near-Earth asteroid, relocate it and turn it into a space station for astronauts on their route to Mars after 2025. (Daily Mail) (The Times of India) (Caltech Report)
Team members from the British Antarctic Survey temporarily abandon a project to drill through two miles of Antarctica's ice sheet to reach Lake Ellsworth due to problems linking boreholes in the ice. (BBC) (Nature) (ITV News)

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