December 18, 2019 (Wednesday)
Armed conflict and attack
- Boko Haram insurgency
- Boko Haram militants open fire on civilians, killing 15 and wounding five others in a fishing village in Chad. 13 others were missing after the attack. (Al Jazeera)
- Gunmen kill two police officers escorting a polio vaccination team in Lower Dir District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (National Post)
Arts and culture
- Ilham Tohti, an Uyghur economist serving a life sentence for his criticisms of China’s policies in Xinjiang, is awarded this year’s Sakharov Prize. (Al Jazeera)
International relations
- Pakistan pulls out of an international summit of Muslim nations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, scheduled to start this Thursday. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said it was done after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates expressed concern that the summit was to establish a rival bloc to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- The Cabinet of Germany proposes to ban conversion therapy for both transgender and gay people. The proposal was expanded to include people between the ages of 16 and 18. (Deutsche Welle)
- Impeachment of Donald Trump
- The United States House of Representatives votes largely along party lines to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump becomes the third American president to be impeached by the House, after Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. His impeachment proceedings continue on to the Senate, which will give them a final verdict and decide whether or not he should be removed from office. (The New York Times)
Science and technology
- Cosmic Vision
- Arianespace successfully launches the European Space Agency's CHEOPS space telescope from Guiana Space Centre. The European observatory will search for new exoplanets and will be able to study an exoplanet's composition and internal structure. The launch also included OPS-SAT, an ESA CubeSat. (BBC News)
Sports
- 2019 Catalan protests
- Despite the boycott attempt by Democratic Tsunami, El Clásico is played in Camp Nou, Barcelona, with important security measures. (Ruptly)
- The first clashes between Mossos d'Esquadra, Boixos Nois and protestors occur outside the stadium, leaving 9 arrested and 70 injured. (El País) (Marca) (BBC News) (El Mundo)