A Recap On World Events Occuring On Sunday, The 23rd Of December 2012

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war:
  • Up to 200 civilians are killed by Syrian government warplanes in the town of Helfaya, Hama province. (Reuters) (BBC) (Al Arabiya)
• Piracy in Somalia:
  • Troops in Somalia's region of Puntland free 22 hostages seized by pirates nearly three years ago. (BBC)
• 2012 Northern Mali conflict:
  • Islamists in Mali are reported to have resumed a campaign to destroy mausoleums that they consider idolatrous in the historic city ofTimbuktu. (BBC)
• 2012 Central African Republic rebellion:
  • The Seleka rebel coalition takes over Bambari, the country's third largest town, after a string of similar successes in recent weeks. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• The governments of Chile and Argentina issue volcanic activity alerts in areas close to the Copahue volcano after it started spewing ash.(BBC) (AFP via Google) (Al Jazeera)
• A plane en route from Winnipeg to Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, crashes with nine people aboard, killing a six-month-old child. (CBC News) (The Globe and Mail)
• Emergency services are dealing with major flooding in the Aberdeenshire town of Stonehaven in Scotland. (BBC)
• A train derails in the Swiss Alps after ramming into mounds of snow from an avalanche blocking the tracks with no injuries. (The New Age)
• At least 600 shops are destroyed as a fire sweeps through a market and money exchange in Kabul, Afghanistan. (BBC)

International relations

• The South Korean defence ministry says the launch of a satellite into space by North Korea was a disguised test of a 10,000 km range missile.(BBC) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe says his force will launch "a ruthless search for the truth" in the Andrew Mitchell"plebgate" controversy. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• Egyptian constitutional referendum, 2012:
  • A Draft constitution by the Constitutuent Assembly is approved by a majority of Egyptians in a referendum on 15 and 22 December. (BBC)(Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
  • Egypt's main opposition demands an investigation into the referendum on the Draft constitution, citing "fraud and violations" in the voting.(BBC) (AP)