December 7, 2012 (Friday)
Business and economy
- US Airways makes a formal merger proposal to the parent of American Airlines, one that values the combined entity at $8.5 billion. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.3 occurs off the coast of Japan near the city of Kamaishi, prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency to issue a tsunami warning. 10 people are taken to hospital with injuries, no fatalities reported. (Dow Jones via Wall Street Journal) (ENS) (BBC) (Reuters)
Law and crime
- The United States Supreme Court grants review of California's ban on same-sex marriage (Proposition 8, which has been challenged), and also agrees to finally determine the constitutionality of the federal DOMA law, which the Obama administration has said it will not continue defending. This is the Court's most significant foray into the issue yet, though an overruling of the DOMA act would only mean the federal government would have to recognize such marriages in areas where they are already legal. (NBC News)
- The grandmother of murdered teen Tia Sharp will not face charges in the UK. (Sky News)
- Brazilian police arrest Michael Misick, former Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, who is wanted to face corruption charges in relation to his administration of the British overseas territory in the United Kingdom. (BBC)
- Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti, a senior al-Qaida official and a potential successor to the group's present leader, Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, is killed in the morning in a Predator drone strike over Pakistan while eating breakfast (according to both U.S. officials and affiliated jihadists). (NBC News)
- Jacintha Saldanha, a nurse at a London hospital, who took a hoax call from 2Day FM prankers about the Duchess of Cambridge, is found dead in a suspected suicide. (BBC) (The Independent) (Daily Mail)
Media
- German business daily Financial Times Deutschland ceases publication after 12 years. (Reuters)
- Google launches its new platform Google+ communities. (VentureBeat)
- Irish state broadcaster RTÉ is to provide staff training on what subjects are appropriate for discussion on social media sites such as Twitter following several controversies involving tweets from its employees. (Evening Herald)
Politics and elections
- At the 25th anniversary celebrations of Hamas in Gaza, Hamas leader in exile Khaled Mashal, who arrived in Gaza for the first time ever, declared in a speech he held at a mass rally that the Palestinian people will never compromise with Israel's existence and that the organization intends to gradually conquer the entire region which now includes both the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories, and would establish one Islamic state in that region. (The Guardian) (Washington Post')
- Voters in Ghana go to the polls for a presidential and parliamentary election. (BBC) (The Washington Post)
- Russia announces a tit-for-tat visa bar on Americans guilty of human rights violations, over the US Magnitsky bill. (BBC)
Sport
- The promoters of Formula Two decide not to run the series in 2013 after completing just four years of their five-year contract with the FIA. (ESPN) (Motorsport)
- UEFA announces they will organise a new under-19 club competition, the UEFA Youth League, first for the 2013–14 season. The 32 clubs which qualify for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League group stage will also be given the opportunity to participate in the 2013–14 UEFA Youth League. (UEFA)