Portal:Current events/2012 September 24

September 24, 2012 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war:
- At least 24 people are killed in violence across Syria. (DPA via The Hindu)
Kenyan AMISOM troops, advancing towards the al-Shabaab stronghold of Kismayo, "deliberately" shoot dead seven Somali civilians, according to a Somali Army spokesman. The Hizbul Islam faction announces that it leaves the al-Shabaab. (BBC)

Business and economy

Multiple reports suggest that North Korea is to introduce reforms allowing farmers to keep more of their produce, rather than handing it to the state. (BBC)
Jordan is to host the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in May 2013. (Jordan Times)

Disasters and accidents

International relations

Senkaku Islands dispute:
- Dozens of Taiwanese fishing boats set sail for the disputed Senkaku Islands which are also claimed by China and Japan. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun) (Bangkok Post)
- An estimated 1,000 people protest in Taipei over Japan's nationalization of the Senkaku Islands. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)
- China cancels events commemorating the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations with Japan. (Mainichi Shimbun) (Jiji Press via Yomiuri Shimbun) (Kyodo News, AFP, and Jiji Press via The Japan Times)
- Three Chinese surveillance ships enter Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands. (Yomiuri Shimbun) (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)
- Bookstores in China suspend sales of books by Japanese authors or about Japan. (Jiji Press via Mainichi Shimbun)
- Japan sends its vice foreign minister, Chikao Kawai, to China in order to improve the status of relations between the two countries. (Yomiuri Shimbun) (Kyodo News via The Japan Times)
Jewish Democrats ask Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu to stop bringing "daylight" into Israel–United States relations. (JTA)

Law and crime

Wang Lijun, the former police chief and vice-mayor of Chongqing, China, is sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption-related charges and defection. (Global Times) (AP via Google News)
Manufacturer Foxconn closes a factory in Taiyuan in China's Shanxi province after a fight breaks out between thousands of workers. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Three bloggers in Vietnam are sentenced to four, ten and twelve years' imprisonment for "anti-state propaganda". (Al Jazeera)
Former Israeli minister of industry, trade and labor Ehud Olmert, who is also a former prime minister, is given a fine and a suspended 1-year jail sentence for cronyism while in office. A bribery case related to a housing project in Jerusalem is still being investigated. (Reuters)
The US military announces that two US Marines are charged with urinating on Taliban corpses in Afghanistan and failing to stop other misconduct by subordinates. (BBC)

Politics and elections

South Korean presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, daughter of former president Park Chung-hee, apologises for abuses committed under her father's regime. (Al Jazeera)
More than 100 people protest around a desert prison in Saudi Arabia against the detention of their relatives. (Reuters)
Karim Masimov resigns as the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan after serving for five years. (AP via The Washington Post)
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe says recent parliamentary elections in Belarus were neither free nor fair. VRT calls them "a farce". (Reuters) (VRT)
Jun Azumi, the Minister of Finance of Japan, says he is to step down and take on a senior function as the acting secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Japan. His announcement comes ahead of an expected cabinet reshuffle. (The Wall Street Journal)