December 1, 2015, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announces the plan to donate 99 percent of the company stock he and his wife Priscilla Chan own over their lifetimes, shares today worth about $45 billion, to "advance human potential and promote equality for all children." (The Washington Post)
December 1, 2015, Indonesia releases a report into the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501 by the National Transportation Safety Committee. The report finds that crew error was responsible for the crash that claimed 162 lives. (Channel News Asia)
December 1, 2015, A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on gender identity reports brains do not really fit into "male" or "female" categories. Tel Aviv University's Daphna Joel's research team, in analyzing the MRI scans of some 1,400 individuals, found only a very small number of the brains studied had features that were entirely male, female, or intermediate between the two. The vast majority had a mosaic. (The Washington Post)
December 2, 2015, Two people open fire in San Bernardino, California (U.S.) at a center for people with developmental disabilities, killing at least 14 people and injuring 14 others in what the city’s police chief described as an act of domestic terrorism. (Reuters)
December 2, 2015, The Institute of Contemporary History in Munich announces a publication of a two-volume set of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. The new edition, which contains 3,500 scholarly annotations, is intended, The New York Times reports, “To set the work in historical context, to show how Hitler wove truth with half-truth and outright lie, and thus to defang any propagandistic effect while revealing Nazism.” This is the first printing in Germany since the end of World War II. (The New York Times)
December 3, 2015,
December 3, 2015, A court convicts South African athlete Oscar Pistorius of the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on appeal and faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. (NBC News)
December 3, 2015, Harvard Law School officials are reviewing the use of the school’s seal that includes three bushels of wheat, which also appears on Isaac Royall's family coat of arms. Royall, a slaveholder whose father was known to be a cruel owner, left part of his estate to help found the law school. (MSNBC)
December 3, 2015, Samsung concedes to surrender $548 million to Apple Inc. over previously court-held ruling in patent dispute over copying the look of the iPhone. (Reuters)
December 3, 2015, A court convicts Donald Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy Company, of violating safety standards that led to the deaths of 29 Upper Big Branch mine workers in Montcoal, West Virginia in 2010. He is acquitted of making false statements and deceiving regulators. Blankenship, who faces up to one year in prison and a fine of $250,000, is the most prominent American coal executive ever to be convicted of a charge connected to the deaths of miners. (The New Yorker)
December 3, 2015, The Obama Administration through Defense Secretary Ash Carter announces that all combat roles in the U.S. military will be opened to women. (CNN)
December 4, 2015, Release of Krampus
December 5, 2015, Tashfeen Malik, the female suspect in the San Bernardino, California shootings pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant online. (BBC)
December 5, 2015, America's largest seven-day newspaper, The New York Times, breaking with the tradition that front pages belong to the news department, publishes Saturday morning's edition with the first front page editorial since 1920. The editorial calls for tighter gun control laws after the shootings in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and San Bernardino, California, over the past eight days. (The New York Times)
December 6, 2015, President Barack Obama called the San Bernardino shootings "an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people". (LA Times)
December 6, 2015, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announces the discovery of the Spanish galleon San José which sunk off that country’s coast over 300 years ago. The discovery was a joint venture between Colombia and U.S. firm Sea Search Armada, which filed a lawsuit when Colombia claimed the wreck as a heritage site. The wreck’s cargo is placed somewhere in the $4 to $17 billion
range. (NPR)
December 6, 2015,
December 6, 2015,
December 6, 2015, Following the previous explosion of Orbital Sciences' Cygnus CRS Orb-3 on October 28, 2014, an unmanned Atlas V 401 rocket carrying Orbital ATK's Cygnus CRS Orb-4 resupply mission to NASA's International Space Station launches from Cape Canaveral in the U.S. state of Florida. The mission includes 7,380 pounds of cargo. (Spaceflight Now)
December 6, 2015, Germany's vice-chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, accuses Saudi Arabia of financing Islamic extremism in the West and warns that it must stop. He tells German media, “We have to make clear to the Saudis that the time of looking away is over, Wahhabi mosques all over the world are financed by Saudi Arabia. Many Islamists who are a threat to public safety come from these communities in Germany". His comments come days after Germany's Federal Intelligence Service released a report saying Saudi Arabia was "destabilizing" the Arab world. (The Telegraph)
December 6, 2015, Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that his latest medical tests show he is cancer-free. Carter, 91, announced in August that a melanoma for which he had been treated had returned. (The Atlantic Journal-Constitution)
December 6, 2015, Finland's government
plans to give all its citizens, rich or poor, a monthly payment of
€800, with no strings attached. The Finnish government says it wants to
launch a “universal basic income experiment” in 2017 to test the
feasibility of this program, which would replace the country’s current
benefits system. (The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo)
December 7, 2015,
December 7, 2015,
December 7, 2015, A powerful, magnitude 7.2 earthquake has shaken Tajikistan. It was felt as far away as India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. No damage or casualties have been reported as the epicenter lies within the vast Badakhshan national park. The US Geological Survey describes the area as one of the “most seismically hazardous regions on Earth” because of tectonic activity along shifting fault lines. (AP)
December 7, 2015, Storm Desmond shatters U.K. rainfall records as an incredible 13.44 inches of rain fell in 24 hours at Honister Pass in the Lake District in North West England. The 15.94 inches of rain at Thirlmere — also in the Lake District — set a new record for the 48-hour period. (The Washington Post)
December 7, 2015, The United States Supreme Court declines (Friedman v. Highland Park) to review the ability of cities and states to prohibit semiautomatic, high-capacity assault weapons that have been used in some of the nation’s most deadly recent mass shootings. The nationwide assault weapons ban law expired in 2004. Since the District of Columbia v. Heller decision in 2008 found the Second Amendment provides the right for an individual to keep a weapon in the home, the court has avoided all cases that might clarify if that right is more expansive. (The Washington Post)
December 7, 2015, United States Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says the Obama administration will announce a new terror alert system "in the coming days," that will better inform the public about threats to the United States. This will be the third terror alert system put in place since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (AP via MLive.com)
December 8, 2015, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump
early Tuesday rejected criticism of his call to "shut the door" on
Muslims entering the U.S. during a heated round of interviews in which
he said he was not worried about being compared to Hitler. (The Hill)
December 8, 2015,
December 8, 2015,
December 8, 2015, New research by a team of British archaeologists, published in the current issue of the journal Antiquity, revives an older theory of Herbert Henry Thomas that Stonehenge may have stood in Wales hundreds of years before it was dismantled and transported to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire in South West England. (Discovery)
December 8, 2015, South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is granted bail while he appeals his murder conviction. (The Telegraph)
December 8, 2015, Cross
Border Xpress, a privately owned and operated airport terminal located
in the Otay Mesa suburb of San Diego, California, United States, will
open tomorrow with a connecting walkway to Tijuana International Airport
in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. This facility, the final step of a
project first proposed in the early 1990s, will be just the second
cross-border airport in the world. U.S. Customs will operate a
checkpoint on the bridge for those entering the country. (AP via USA Today)December 8, 2015, U.S. airplane manufacturer Boeing unveils the first Boeing 737 MAX airplane at its factory in Renton, Washington. (The Seattle Times)
December 8, 2015, 2015 San Bernardino attack investigation: A $28,500 deposit was made to Syed Farook’s bank account two weeks before he and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the San Bernardino massacre, a source close to the investigation says. Investigators are exploring whether the transaction was a personal loan or something else. (SBS)
-According to the FBI, the couple that perpetrated the attack had long been radicalized, and had been practicing at a target range days before their murder spree. (New York Times)
-FBI agents found an empty GoPro package, shooting targets, and tools inside a car belonging to the mother of San Bernardino mass-shooter Syed Farook. (Daily Mail)
December 9, 2015, Angela Merkel is named as Time's Person of the Year. (CNN International)
December 9, 2015, The JAXA probe Akatsuki successfully enters orbit around Venus five years after the first attempt. This mission is Japan's first successful mission to another planet. The orbital injection was achieved using the probe's attitude control thrusters, a feat which has never been done before. (Gizmag)
December 9, 2015,
December 9, 2015, The United States expands sanctions against North Korea over its alleged weapons breaches. (BBC)
December 9, 2015, Government officials from Cuba and the U.S. met in Havana, beginning settlement discussions surrounding $1.9 billion worth of U.S. assets seized by Fidel Castro’s regime in the early 1960s. By law, the United States embargo against Cuba cannot cease until settlements are made. (Washington Post)
December 9, 2015, The Australian Federal Police raid the Sydney home of Craig Steven Wright – whom media today claimed was suspected to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin – in relation to possible tax offences. (ABC News Australia)
December 9, 2015, The JAXA probe Akatsuki successfully enters orbit around Venus five years after the first attempt. This mission is Japan's first successful mission to another planet. The orbital injection was achieved using the probe's attitude control thrusters, a feat which has never been done before. (Gizmag)
December 9, 2015,
December 9, 2015, The United States expands sanctions against North Korea over its alleged weapons breaches. (BBC)
December 9, 2015, Government officials from Cuba and the U.S. met in Havana, beginning settlement discussions surrounding $1.9 billion worth of U.S. assets seized by Fidel Castro’s regime in the early 1960s. By law, the United States embargo against Cuba cannot cease until settlements are made. (Washington Post)
December 9, 2015, The Australian Federal Police raid the Sydney home of Craig Steven Wright – whom media today claimed was suspected to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin – in relation to possible tax offences. (ABC News Australia)
December 10, 2015, Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, announces that the country is now in possession of a hydrogen bomb, according to North Korean state media. Experts from South Korea however are skeptical about this claim. (RT)
December 10, 2015, Volkswagen executives admit the diesel emissions cheating was the result of a collection of failures within the company, rather than just the actions of rogue engineers. In 2005, VW began working on software after they were unable to find an affordable technical solution to U.S. nitrogen oxide emissions standards. (The Guardian)
December 10, 2015, The Vatican releases a 10,000-word document that, among other things, says Jews don't need to be converted to find salvation, and that Catholics should work with Jews to fight antisemitism. (NPR)
December 10, 2015, The Pew Research Center announces a new study that shows the American middle class, long seen as the economic backbone of the country, is shrinking and no longer constitutes a majority (49.89%). Also, the "nation's aggregate household income has substantially shifted from middle-income to upper-income households." (Headlines & Global News)
December 10, 2015, A United States Treasury official says ISIL has made over $500 million selling oil to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, and has also sold oil to Turkey. (International Business Times)
December 11, 2015, Release of The Big Short
December 11, 2015, Release of In The Heart of the Sea
December 10, 2015, Volkswagen executives admit the diesel emissions cheating was the result of a collection of failures within the company, rather than just the actions of rogue engineers. In 2005, VW began working on software after they were unable to find an affordable technical solution to U.S. nitrogen oxide emissions standards. (The Guardian)
December 10, 2015, The Vatican releases a 10,000-word document that, among other things, says Jews don't need to be converted to find salvation, and that Catholics should work with Jews to fight antisemitism. (NPR)
December 10, 2015, The Pew Research Center announces a new study that shows the American middle class, long seen as the economic backbone of the country, is shrinking and no longer constitutes a majority (49.89%). Also, the "nation's aggregate household income has substantially shifted from middle-income to upper-income households." (Headlines & Global News)
December 10, 2015, A United States Treasury official says ISIL has made over $500 million selling oil to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, and has also sold oil to Turkey. (International Business Times)
December 11, 2015, Release of The Big Short
December 11, 2015, Release of In The Heart of the Sea
December 11, 2015,
December 12, 2015, In Paris, delegates from 195 countries approve an agreement that seeks to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.(BBC)
December 13, 2015, In American football, running back Derrick Henry of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team wins the Heisman Trophy for best college football player. (CNN)
December 13, 2015, Louisa Johnson wins The X Factor after beating Ghanaian duo Reggie N Bollie, becoming the show's youngest ever winner at the age of 17. her cover of Bob Dylan's 1974 track "Forever Young" released after she won. She has been the favourite since her audition aired on the series premiere on August 29 (Daily Mail)
December 14, 2015, Release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
December 14, 2015, Series Premiere of Childhood's End
December 14, 2015, Series Premiere of The Expanse
December 14, 2015,
December 14, 2015,
December 14, 2015,
December 14, 2015,
December 14, 2015, Oil price reached its lowest since December 2008. Other indicators in broader markets caused investor jitters ahead of the expected interest rate hike by the U.S. central bank on Wednesday. (Reuters)
December 14, 2015, The U.S. mayor of Flint, Michigan, declares a state of emergency because of lead levels in children’s blood caused by problems with the city's water system. (CBS News)
December 14, 2015, The Geminids meteor shower is visible tonight. (Lifehacker)
December 15, 2015, 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)
December 15, 2015, 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)
December 15, 2015, 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)
December 16, 2015, In a widely expected move, the United States Federal Reserve Board raised the federal funds interest rate, the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans, from the 0-.25% range to the .25-.50% range. U.S. stock markets rallied on the news. (CNNMoney)
December 17, 2015,
December 17, 2015, A 6.4-magnitude earthquake hits the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. The epicenter was 11 kilometers (7 miles) from the town of Tres Picos, not far from the Pacific coast. There are no immediate reports of major damage or injuries. (Reuters)
December 17, 2015, The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution aimed at disrupting revenue the Islamic State gets from oil sales, ransom payments, and other criminal activities. (Reuters)
December 17, 2015, The World Trade Organization approves Afghanistan's membership at its 10th ministerial conference in Nairobi, Kenya. Afghanistan becomes the 164th WTO member and is the 36th least developed country (LDC) in the global trade body. (Xinhua News Agency via Global Post)
December 17, 2015, United States federal prosecutors in New York City arrest Martin Shkreli on securities fraud charges for allegedly plundering for personal gain Retrophin, a biopharmaceutical company he ran as CEO from 2012 to 2014. (Chicago Tribune)
December 17, 2015, The New York Times reports the U.S. Navy covered up a Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) report on Afghan detainee abuses. The NCIS investigation found that Navy SEAL Team 2's abuse resulted in the death of a 24-year old married Afghan detainee with a new baby, and that the SEALs failed to restrain the Afghan Local Police's detainee abuses. This drove some previously cooperative Afghans to leave for Taliban-controlled areas, the Times reports. Their commander in Afghanistan recommended these men be forced out of the elite SEAL teams. Two of the SEALs and their lieutenant have since been promoted. Rachel E. VanLandingham, former United States Central Command’s chief legal adviser on detainee and interrogation issues from 2006 to 2010, and other military lawyers, have called for the case to be reopened. (Headline & Global News)
December 17, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin calls U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, "a very colorful person. Talented, without any doubt" as well as an "absolute leader" in the race for the presidency. (ABC News)
December 18, 2015, Release of Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip
December 18, 2015, Release of Sisters
December 18, 2015, The Vatican announces Mother Teresa's eligibility for canonization after a Vatican spokesman confirmed Pope Francis' recognition of a second miracle attributed to her involving the healing of a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors. The Vatican has yet to confirm a canonization date for Teresa. (Agence France-Presse via The Guardian)
December 18, 2015, In the United States, JPMorgan Chase agrees to pay $307 million to settle federal cases where the bank failed to disclose certain conflicts of interest to some of its wealth management clients. (Reuters)
December 18, 2015, Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. announces it will change its name to Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. on December 22. Its stock exchange ticker symbol will be IONS. (Reuters)
December 18, 2015, NATO allies agree to send aircraft and ships to strengthen Turkey's Syrian border air defenses and avoid incidents similar to November's downing of a Russian jet. (Reuters)
December 18, 2015, In the United States, a group of hospitals, 32 in 15 states, agree to pay a total of $28 million to settle charges they submitted false claims to Medicare for a type of spinal fracture treatment. This is the latest settlement stemming from a decade-old whistleblower lawsuit about alleged inappropriate billing for kyphoplasty. More than 130 hospitals have paid about $105 million to settle billing claims from this spinal procedure. (Reuters)
December 20, 2015, A motorist runs over pedestrians at the Las Vegas Strip between Planet Hollywood and Paris Las Vegas, killing one person and injuring at least 26 more. (ABC)
December 20, 2015, Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, is crowned Miss Universe 2015 in Las Vegas, moments after host Steve Harvey incorrectly announced 1st runner-up Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutiérrez, as the winner. (Reuters)
December 21, 2015,
December 21, 2015, Pope Francis, in his annual pre-Christmas speech, urged the Roman Curia (cardinals and bishops who direct Holy See actions), to follow his "catalogue of virtues," e.g., to show more maturity, honesty, humility, and sobriety in their tasks. He listed "Curial antibiotics" to treat the "15 ailments of the Curia" he outlined last year and which still plague the Vatican. (AP via Berlin Record)
December 21, 2015, The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifts the 32-year-old, lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. Men can donate if they haven't had sex with another man in the previous year. The FDA stance is in line with other countries, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K., and is consistent with rules on recent blood transfusion or accidental exposure to another individual's blood. (The Guardian)
December 21, 2015, FIFA's ethics committee issues an eight-year ban on President Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini from any football-related activity for a CHF 2,000,000 (£1.3m/US$2.02m) payment to Platini that Blatter approved. Ethics judges decided the pair, who were also fined, broke rules on conflict of interest, breach of loyalty, and offering or receiving gifts. Both men deny wrongdoing and intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). (BBC Sport)
December 22, 2015, Falcon 9 Flight 20: American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company SpaceX makes history by sending the first orbital rocket into space and landing the first stage back on the ground at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (NBC News)
December 22, 2015, Turing Pharmaceuticals says that it is looking for a new CEO in the aftermath of the indictment of its old boss, Martin Shkreli, on securities fraud charges. Turing and Shkreli became infamous together in September 2015, when they hiked the price of an AIDS drug by 5000%. (Reuters)
December 22, 2015, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signs a decree fully legalizing medical marijuana. Growers must apply to the National Narcotics Council for a license. Earlier, Colombia decriminalized personal possession of up to 20 grams. (BBC)
December 23, 2015, Hacktivist collective Anonymous declares a cyber-war on Turkey, and claims responsibility for the major week-long cyber-attack between 14 and 21 December on Turkey, which it accuses of supporting the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and threatened additional attacks in case the alleged support continues. “We will continue attacking your internet, your root DNS, your banks and take your government sites down,” it said. “After the root DNS, we will start to hit your airports, military assets and private state connections. We will destroy your critical banking infrastructure,” the group added. (Hurriyet Daily News)
December 23, 2015, At least six people die and dozens injured as major storms, packed with tornadoes, move through the American South and Midwest. Three people died when a tornado hit northern Mississippi, one was killed in Arkansas and two more in Tennessee. Officials continue searching into the night for the missing. (CNN)
December 23, 2015, The public interest non-profit Cause for Action files a Freedom of Information Act request for United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s personal emails following his disclosure of using that account for official government emails, this in the wake of the former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton email controversy and the Office of Personnel Management data breach. The U.S. Federal Records Act restricts use of personal email for official business. (Federal Times)
December 23, 2015, The United States National Center for Health Statistics reports the rate of twin births has hit an historic high. Researchers say the increase in twin births may be affected by changes in reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilization, and by more women giving birth later in life--a time when the occurrence of twins is higher. (Science World Report)
December 24, 2015, The same day the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announces it is easing restrictions on medical research involving cannabidiol (CBD), a key component in marijuana, NYU Langone Medical Center researchers report a clinical trial suggests a pill containing CBD may reduce seizures for children and young adults with epilepsy. (CBS News)
December 24, 2015, One person is shot and killed by a policeman at the Northlake Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina. (TWC News)
December 24, 2015, The 53 Americans taken hostage in Tehran, Iran, in 1979, or their families, will receive compensation of $4.4 million each from the United States government as a result of a provision in the spending deal signed into law last week. (ABC News)
December 25, 2015, Release of Concussion
December 25, 2015, Release of The Revenant
December 25, 2015, Release of The Hateful 8
December 25, 2015, Release of Daddys Home
December 25, 2015, Release of Point Break
December 25, 2015, Release of Joy
December 25, 2015,
December 25, 2015, At least 17 people are injured in Peshawar, Pakistan, and five people are hurt in Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit near the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border. The epicenter is in Afghanistan's quake-prone Ishkashim district, a mountainous area where mainly impoverished farmers live in homes made with mud, according to Peshawar District Officer Muhmand Asim Khan. Other details about damage or casualties are not presently available. (NBC News)
December 26, 2015,
December 26, 2015, Officials report at least four people died and more than 100 were injured, most in Pakistan, after Friday night's 6.3 magnitude earthquake in northeast Afghanistan. Casualty numbers may change since rescue teams have not reached all affected areas. (Latin American Herald Tribune)
December 27, 2015, Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps will coach the sport at Arizona State University upon his presumed retirement following the 2016 Olympics. (NPR)
December 28, 2015,
December 28, 2015, Whole Foods agrees to pay $500,000 to resolve a New York City Department of Consumer Affairs investigation that the supermarket chain charged too much for some prepackaged foods at its New York City stores. (NBC News)
December 28, 2015, Eleven tons of enriched uranium are on a ship heading from Iran to Russia, per the July 14th international agreement. Iran delivers 200 tons of Russian yellowcake in return. The International Atomic Energy Agency will decide when Tehran has complied with its obligations which would make dismantling of economic sanctions possible. (AP)
December 28, 2015, A U.S. grand jury decides not to bring charges against a Cleveland policeman over the killing of 12 year old Tamir Rice. (BBC)
December 29, 2015, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon warns residents that the state faces historic flooding that likely will rival Great Flood of 1993 levels. Swollen rivers are still rising and won't crest for days. The Mississippi River is expected to reach nearly 15 feet above flood stage on Thursday. Nixon pleaded with drivers to stay off inundated roadways. Twelve of the 13 people killed from these recent storms died after their vehicles were swept from flooded roadways. (NBC News)
December 29, 2015, Ethan Couch, the so-called “affluenza” teen who violated probation for killing four people when driving while intoxicated when he disappeared from Tarrant County, Texas, is taken into custody in Mexico. Mexican officials will remand Couch and his mother, with whom he fled, to the U.S. Marshals Service. (Reuters)
December 30, 2015, American entertainer Bill Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The county's District Attorney-elect said his office is also examining evidence related to other cases. The current charges relate to one particular 2004 incident. (New York Times)
December 30, 2015,
December 20, 2015, Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, is crowned Miss Universe 2015 in Las Vegas, moments after host Steve Harvey incorrectly announced 1st runner-up Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutiérrez, as the winner. (Reuters)
December 21, 2015,
December 21, 2015, Pope Francis, in his annual pre-Christmas speech, urged the Roman Curia (cardinals and bishops who direct Holy See actions), to follow his "catalogue of virtues," e.g., to show more maturity, honesty, humility, and sobriety in their tasks. He listed "Curial antibiotics" to treat the "15 ailments of the Curia" he outlined last year and which still plague the Vatican. (AP via Berlin Record)
December 21, 2015, The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifts the 32-year-old, lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. Men can donate if they haven't had sex with another man in the previous year. The FDA stance is in line with other countries, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K., and is consistent with rules on recent blood transfusion or accidental exposure to another individual's blood. (The Guardian)
December 21, 2015, FIFA's ethics committee issues an eight-year ban on President Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini from any football-related activity for a CHF 2,000,000 (£1.3m/US$2.02m) payment to Platini that Blatter approved. Ethics judges decided the pair, who were also fined, broke rules on conflict of interest, breach of loyalty, and offering or receiving gifts. Both men deny wrongdoing and intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). (BBC Sport)
December 22, 2015, Falcon 9 Flight 20: American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company SpaceX makes history by sending the first orbital rocket into space and landing the first stage back on the ground at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (NBC News)
December 22, 2015, Turing Pharmaceuticals says that it is looking for a new CEO in the aftermath of the indictment of its old boss, Martin Shkreli, on securities fraud charges. Turing and Shkreli became infamous together in September 2015, when they hiked the price of an AIDS drug by 5000%. (Reuters)
December 22, 2015, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signs a decree fully legalizing medical marijuana. Growers must apply to the National Narcotics Council for a license. Earlier, Colombia decriminalized personal possession of up to 20 grams. (BBC)
December 23, 2015, Hacktivist collective Anonymous declares a cyber-war on Turkey, and claims responsibility for the major week-long cyber-attack between 14 and 21 December on Turkey, which it accuses of supporting the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and threatened additional attacks in case the alleged support continues. “We will continue attacking your internet, your root DNS, your banks and take your government sites down,” it said. “After the root DNS, we will start to hit your airports, military assets and private state connections. We will destroy your critical banking infrastructure,” the group added. (Hurriyet Daily News)
December 23, 2015, At least six people die and dozens injured as major storms, packed with tornadoes, move through the American South and Midwest. Three people died when a tornado hit northern Mississippi, one was killed in Arkansas and two more in Tennessee. Officials continue searching into the night for the missing. (CNN)
December 23, 2015, The public interest non-profit Cause for Action files a Freedom of Information Act request for United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s personal emails following his disclosure of using that account for official government emails, this in the wake of the former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton email controversy and the Office of Personnel Management data breach. The U.S. Federal Records Act restricts use of personal email for official business. (Federal Times)
December 23, 2015, The United States National Center for Health Statistics reports the rate of twin births has hit an historic high. Researchers say the increase in twin births may be affected by changes in reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilization, and by more women giving birth later in life--a time when the occurrence of twins is higher. (Science World Report)
December 24, 2015, The same day the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announces it is easing restrictions on medical research involving cannabidiol (CBD), a key component in marijuana, NYU Langone Medical Center researchers report a clinical trial suggests a pill containing CBD may reduce seizures for children and young adults with epilepsy. (CBS News)
December 24, 2015, One person is shot and killed by a policeman at the Northlake Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina. (TWC News)
December 24, 2015, The 53 Americans taken hostage in Tehran, Iran, in 1979, or their families, will receive compensation of $4.4 million each from the United States government as a result of a provision in the spending deal signed into law last week. (ABC News)
December 25, 2015, Release of Concussion
December 25, 2015, Release of The Revenant
December 25, 2015, Release of The Hateful 8
December 25, 2015, Release of Daddys Home
December 25, 2015, Release of Point Break
December 25, 2015, Release of Joy
December 25, 2015,
December 25, 2015, At least 17 people are injured in Peshawar, Pakistan, and five people are hurt in Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit near the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border. The epicenter is in Afghanistan's quake-prone Ishkashim district, a mountainous area where mainly impoverished farmers live in homes made with mud, according to Peshawar District Officer Muhmand Asim Khan. Other details about damage or casualties are not presently available. (NBC News)
December 26, 2015,
December 26, 2015, Officials report at least four people died and more than 100 were injured, most in Pakistan, after Friday night's 6.3 magnitude earthquake in northeast Afghanistan. Casualty numbers may change since rescue teams have not reached all affected areas. (Latin American Herald Tribune)
December 27, 2015, Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps will coach the sport at Arizona State University upon his presumed retirement following the 2016 Olympics. (NPR)
December 28, 2015,
December 28, 2015, Whole Foods agrees to pay $500,000 to resolve a New York City Department of Consumer Affairs investigation that the supermarket chain charged too much for some prepackaged foods at its New York City stores. (NBC News)
December 28, 2015, Eleven tons of enriched uranium are on a ship heading from Iran to Russia, per the July 14th international agreement. Iran delivers 200 tons of Russian yellowcake in return. The International Atomic Energy Agency will decide when Tehran has complied with its obligations which would make dismantling of economic sanctions possible. (AP)
December 28, 2015, A U.S. grand jury decides not to bring charges against a Cleveland policeman over the killing of 12 year old Tamir Rice. (BBC)
December 29, 2015, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon warns residents that the state faces historic flooding that likely will rival Great Flood of 1993 levels. Swollen rivers are still rising and won't crest for days. The Mississippi River is expected to reach nearly 15 feet above flood stage on Thursday. Nixon pleaded with drivers to stay off inundated roadways. Twelve of the 13 people killed from these recent storms died after their vehicles were swept from flooded roadways. (NBC News)
December 29, 2015, Ethan Couch, the so-called “affluenza” teen who violated probation for killing four people when driving while intoxicated when he disappeared from Tarrant County, Texas, is taken into custody in Mexico. Mexican officials will remand Couch and his mother, with whom he fled, to the U.S. Marshals Service. (Reuters)
December 30, 2015, American entertainer Bill Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The county's District Attorney-elect said his office is also examining evidence related to other cases. The current charges relate to one particular 2004 incident. (New York Times)
December 30, 2015,
December 31, 2015, A fire breaks out at The Address Downtown Dubai hotel. Fourteen people are reported as injured, with one indirect casualty. (CNN)
December 31, 2015, Record flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries that has closed major highways, forced evacuations, and overflowed levees, continues to threaten the Midwestern United States where at least 24 have died. The Mississippi is expected to crest in the next few days in Thebes, Illinois, at 47.5 feet, breaking the 1995 record by more than a foot and a half (46 cm). And now periods of below-freezing air will cause some flooded areas to turn icy. (Reuters)
December 31, 2015, Record flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries that has closed major highways, forced evacuations, and overflowed levees, continues to threaten the Midwestern United States where at least 24 have died. The Mississippi is expected to crest in the next few days in Thebes, Illinois, at 47.5 feet, breaking the 1995 record by more than a foot and a half (46 cm). And now periods of below-freezing air will cause some flooded areas to turn icy. (Reuters)
No comments:
Post a Comment