December 28, 2015 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- At least 32 people are killed and 90 injured following a car bomb and suicide-bomb attack in the al-Zahra district of the Syrian city of Homs. (Reuters)
- Under a United Nations agreement, vehicles are set to ferry scores of insurgents from rebel-held Al-Zabadani to Turkey. Families from two besieged Shi'ite towns in the mainly rebel-held Idlib province are also headed to the border and will eventually fly on to Beirut. (Reuters) (Raidió Teilifís Éireann)
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- A car bomb near Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport, that was targeting a NATO convoy passing through the area, kills one civilian and injures 33 others. The Taliban claim responsibility. (AFP via Yahoo News) (Reuters via NBC News)
Business and economics
- 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) (CNN)
Disasters and accidents
- Queensland, Australia, authorities revise the estimated amount of sulphuric acid leaked from Sunday's 26-carriage Aurizon freight train derailment near Julia Creek to 31,500 liters. The train was carrying 819,000 liters, not 200,000 liters as originally thought. Flinders Highway remains closed in both directions. (Sky News) (ABC Australia)
- 2015 Shenzhen landslide
- A Chinese official who sanctioned a dump of construction debris that led to a deadly landslide in the southern city of Shenzhen that killed at least 7 people and has left over 70 missing, kills himself by jumping from a building in the city’s Nanshan district, according to the South China Morning Post. (TIME)
International relations
- Japan–South Korea relations
- Japan and South Korea agree to 'irreversibly' resolve a long-running dispute over Korean women the Japanese military used as sex slaves during World War II. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe will issue a formal apology to the so-called "comfort women." Tokyo will set up an aid fund of about 1 billion yen ($8.3 million). (USA Today) (Reuters)
- European migrant crisis
- Germany recruits 8,500 teachers to provide special German language lessons for 196,000 Syrian child refugees. (The Independent) (CNN)
- Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
- 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) (BBC) (Mehr)
Law and crime
- A police officer storms the police headquarters in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, and shoots dead three fellow officers, including a commanding officer. Authorities say Guarionex Candelario, 50, was arrested for the killings shortly afterwards and taken to hospital for minor injuries. (NY Daily News)
- A U.S. grand jury decides not to bring charges against a Cleveland policeman over the killing of 12 year old Tamir Rice. (BBC)
- Guatemalan Gustavo Alejos Cambara, once private secretary to former President Álvaro Colom, turns himself in to authorities on charges related to government medicine procurement corruption. (AP)
Politics and elections
- Polish constitutional crisis, 2015
- The leader of Poland's Democracy Defence Committee, Mateusz Kijowski, says the government has "broken the country" after Polish President, Andrzej Duda, enacted a measure curbing the powers of the country's highest legislative court, the Constitutional Tribunal, despite protests and warnings from the European Union. Kijowski further called for foreign intervention in the country from "Europe and the United States" to topple the Law and Justice (PiS) government, saying "they must help us, otherwise Poland will leave the community of democracies". After news broke that Duda had signed into law the constitutional tribunal bill, he made a speech on television defending his move. Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza quoted U.S. sources saying Barack Obama had objections and had let it be known he would delay meeting Duda. The newspaper also suggested Poland’s hosting of the next NATO summit, planned for July 2016, was in the balance. (The Guardian)
Sports
- In sailing, Comanche takes line honours to win the 2015 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. (SBS)