December 19, 2016 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Assassination of Andrei Karlov
- The Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is killed in a gun attack at an art gallery in Ankara. Russia calls the assassin, 22-year old police officer, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, a "terrorist". Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu goes to Moscow for a planned trilateral meeting on Syria, saying "the incident will not impact relations between Turkey and Russia". (Reuters) (Daily Mirror UK) (New York Times) (Sputnik)
- 2016 Berlin truck attack
- Twelve are killed and more than 50 others are injured as a truck rams into a packed Christmas market in Breitscheidplatz, Berlin, Germany. A suspect has been arrested in connection with the attack. (Aljazeera) (Reuters)
Business and economy
- Regulators in the European Union initiate a "public consultation" on Big Data looking at whether more regulation or supervision of the collection of high volumes of information on individuals is appropriate. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
- Companies shut down production in Beijing and cars are taken off the road after a red alert for smog is issued in northern China. Dozens of cities have closed schools due to the smog. (AP)
Law and crime
- Polish protesters block the parliament in order to prevent the possibility of legalizing restrictions on press freedom. (The Washington Post)
- A court in Paris finds International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde guilty of negligence in a 404 million euro "misuse of public funds" case. The court ruled that Lagarde won't be fined, won't serve any jail time, or receive a criminal record. The IMF Executive Board "looks forward to continuing to work with" her. (The New York Times) (CNN) (Fortune) (The Daily Telegraph)
- 2016 Zürich attack
- Three people are shot by a gunman at an Islamic centre near the Zürich Hauptbahnhof train station. A manhunt was conducted for the assailant, a 24-year-old Swiss citizen of Ghanaian descent, whose body was found close to the Islamic centre. (GlobalNews)
Politics and elections
- 2016 United States presidential election
- Amidst a concerted effort to persuade electors to choose another candidate, Donald Trump earns the required Electoral College votes to be selected as the next President of the United States. (New York Times)
- A record number of electors break ranks and do not vote for their assigned candidate. Two electors from Texas vote for John Kasich and Ron Paul. Some of the electors from Washington cast three votes for Colin Powell and one vote for Faith Spotted Eagle. One elector from Hawaii votes for Bernie Sanders. (Politico)
Science and technology
- ALPHA, a CERN experiment, has observed for the first time the spectrum of antihydrogen. (CERN)