Portal:Current events/2016 December 6

Current events of December 6, 2016 (2016-12-06) (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Six Pakistani nationals fishing in the Red Sea, off the coast of Mocha in the Taizz Province of Yemen, are killed and another six are unaccounted for after a Saudi air raid on a boat carrying 12 Pakistani sailors. (The News), (The Nation, Pakistan)
• Battle of Mosul
  • The Iraqi Army bears down on a strategic bridge across the Tigris River in Mosul. Fighting is occurring in the Salam neighbourhood less than 1.5 kilometres from the Tigris. (Al-Jazeera)

Business and economy

• After a meeting with President-elect of the United States Donald Trump, Masayoshi Son of SoftBank Group pledges to invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 jobs. (The New York Times)
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
  • Airlines serving the regional hub cancel 87 flights into and out of Sea-Tac airport, due to ice on airport runways. Among the affected air carriers, Alaska Airlines has cancelled 35 flights. (KTUU-TV)
• Alaska Airlines
  • The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) issues final approval for Alaska Airlines to acquire Virgin America, in a US$2.6 billion dollar merger. In exchange for approval, the DOJ requires Alaska Airlines to reduce its partnership with American Airlines. (The Wall Street Journal)

Disasters and accidents

• Heavy flooding kills 14 people in Thailand and badly affects the islands of Samui and Pha Ngan in the Gulf of Thailand. It has also severed the rail link to southern Thailand and Malaysia. (Reuters)

• A meteorite lands near Sayanogorsk, the Republic of Khakassia, Russia at 18:37 UTC+3. No one was hurt. (Russia Today)

Law and crime

• Amnesty International criticizes a Saudi court decision to impose the death sentence on 15 people in a case involving 32 people including 30 Saudis, one Iranian and one Afghan national in an alleged Iranian spy cell. (The New York Times), (Amnesty)
• The U.S. Supreme Court upholds an appeals court decision in an insider trading case, Salman v. U.S., holding that there is no requirement that a tipper receive any pecuniary consideration for a breach of faith in order to predicate the prosecution of the tippee. (Scotusblog).

Politics and elections

• Bernard Cazeneuve is announced as the new Prime Minister of France replacing Manuel Valls who is contesting the 2017 French Presidential Election. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2015 FIFA corruption case
  • The Court of Arbitration for Sport upholds former FIFA president Sepp Blatter's six-year ban from FIFA affairs. (AP via MSN)