Portal:Current events/2019 December 30

December 30, 2019 (Monday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

December 2019 Mogadishu bombing
- Al-Shabaab, an ally of Al-Qaeda, claims responsibility for the suicide bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, that killed nearly 90 people. (Reuters)
Allied Democratic Forces insurgency
- ADF militants kill 22 people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. They were all hacked with machetes and many also went missing in the attack. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

2019–20 Australian bushfire season
- Thousands of people are reported stranded on a local beach awaiting evacuation near Mallacoota, Victoria, Australia, as bushfires enter the coastal town. Four people are reported missing. Elsewhere, a volunteer Fire and Rescue NSW firefighter died battling a bushfire near the town of Jingellic. (The Guardian)

International relations

Bolivia–Spain relations, Bolivia–Mexico relations
- In a tit-for-tat move, Spain expels three Bolivian diplomatic staff from Madrid after interim Bolivian President Jeanine Áñez forced two Spanish diplomats and the Mexican ambassador to leave. Their expulsions are related to the Mexican embassy in La Paz's decision to shelter at least nine officials connected to the government of deposed President Evo Morales. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

Lulu and Nana controversy
- Chinese state news agency Xinhua reports that He Jiankui, who last year announced the birth of babies with modified DNA, was sentenced to three years imprisonment and a fine of 3 million yuan, for "illegal medical practice". Two other defendants are given lesser sentences. (CNN)
- The court in Shenzhen confirms his claim that a second woman was impregnated, and reveals that three gene-edited babies were born instead of the previously believed two. (New Scientist)
A Sudanese court sentences 29 people to be hanged for the killing of a teacher in detention in February during protests that led to the overthrow of former president Omar al-Bashir. (BBC News)
A Yemeni man, suspected to be an Al-Qaeda militant, is sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for a November 11 terror attack against a group of Spanish theatre actors in Riyadh, wounding three of them. An accomplice is sentenced to 12 years of jail. (BBC News)
Former CEO of the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance Carlos Ghosn escapes house arrest in Tokyo and flees to Lebanon. He was under arrest for money laundering and underreporting his income, though he denies the charges. (Reuters)