Portal:Current events/2012 December 3

Current events of December 3, 2012 (2012-12-03) (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks Syrian civil war: The United Nations suspends operations in Syria and withdraws non-essential staff as the Syrian civil war worsens. (AAP via News Limited) The Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi is reportedly fired or defects. (Al Jazeera) 2012 East D.R. Congo conflict: The Congolese government re-establishes control over Goma from M23 rebels. (Reuters) Arts and culture The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announce they are expecting their first child. The baby could be third in line to the throne, after Prince Charles and Prince William. The Duchess is admitted to hospital with severe morning sickness. (BBC) (NBC News) Elizabeth Price is awarded the 2012 Turner Prize for her 2012 twenty-minute video installation The Woolworths Choir of 1979. (BBC) (The Independent) Business and economy The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing former employees of General Motors to pursue a lawsuit against a unit of State Street Corp. over the alleged mismanagement of their retirement savings. (Reuters) Disasters and accidents The Government of Japan orders an inspection of road tunnels across the country following the Sasago Tunnel collapse on Saturday, December 1. (BBC) An EgyptAir pilot makes an emergency landing at Hurghada airport after a snake bites a Jordanian passenger. (eTN) International relations South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that North Korea has installed an Unha rocket at its Dongchang-ri launch site. Japan is threatening to shoot down the rocket if it manages to stay airborne and threaten Japanese territory. (Yonhap) (ABC News) Vietnam accuses China of cutting seismic survey cables from one of its ships in the South China Sea. (Maritime Executive) Law and crime Singapore charges five Chinese bus drivers and deports 29 others for holding the country's first strike in 26 years. (BBC) Dutch linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen dies in hospital after he was kicked and punched by three teenage players of a club from Nieuw Sloten, Amsterdam, while officiating at a match on Sunday. (BBC) (The Telegraph) Politics and elections Mykola Azarov, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, and his government resign en masse following controversial elections. (Big Pond News) Science and technology NASA's Curiosity rover has detected several simple carbon-based organic compounds on Mars, but it remains unclear whether they were formed via Earthly contamination or whether they contain only elements indigenous to the planet. (Space.com) (CBS News) (NASA) The Sea Launch consortium successfully launches its Zenit-3SL carrier rocket with the Eutelsat 70B satellite from the Odyssey Launch Platform in the Pacific Ocean. (RIA Novosti) NASA announces that the Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977, has nearly reached the edge of the solar system and is imminently to past through the heliosphere into interstellar space. (Reuters) (NASA) Sport Ernesto Valverde is appointed Valencia CF coach until the end of the season, replacing Mauricio Pellegrino, who was sacked two days ago. (ESPN) Bundesliga football club Hoffenheim fires head coach Markus Babbel after the 1–4 loss to Werder Bremen in the 2012–13 season game. (Goal.com) Argentine player Juan Ignacio Chela says he is retiring from professional tennis, leaving with six ATP singles titles and three in doubles. (Fox News) The Scottish Premier League announces its expansion to 24 teams, split into two divisions of 12. (BBC) (The Telegraph) (RTE) Jorge Sampaoli is appointed Chile national football team coach to replace Claudio Borghi, who was fired last month due to problems in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. (Fox News) Spanish racing driver Maria de Villota is released from hospital following her latest operation at the end of November. She has had further surgery to rebuild her face after she lost an eye in a high-speed crash. (Autosport.com)