December 15, 2017 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israeli–Palestinian conflict, United States recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital
- Palestinians and the Israeli army scuffle in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and at the Qalandia border crossing over the status of Jerusalem. Clashes are also reported in Gaza, Ramallah, Hebron and Qalqilya. In conflicts where Israeli law enforcement used live ammunition and Palestinians threw rocks, two Palestinians died in Gaza while 150 were wounded and two more were killed in the West Bank while a further 10 were wounded. (Reuters)
Business and economy
- Beate Uhse AG, supplier of the Pabo erotica catalog, files for bankruptcy in Germany. Only the holding company restructures in order to secure refinancing with the creditors. Beate Uhse-Rotermund opened the first sex shop in 1962, in Flensburg, under the name "Institut für Ehehygiene" ("Institute for marriage hygiene"). (Washington Post)
- In an effort to avert strikes, the Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair reverses its long-standing policy of refusing to recognize pilots' labour unions. (New York Daily News)
Disasters and accidents
- 2017 Java earthquake
- A magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes the island of Java causing massive damage along with two confirmed deaths. (ABC News)
Health and medicine
- Child sexual abuse in Australia
- A 17-volume report detailing children's experiences of sexual abuse in Australian institutions is published. It concludes that the issue is systemic and "not a case of a few rotten apples". It contains 189 new recommendations, for a total of 406. This report finalizes a five-year Royal Commission inquiry. (Ten News)
- The most recent U.S. government statistics show a marked increase in the yearly number of deaths by drug overdose. The number for end May 2017 is 66,324, up 17% when compared to the previous 12-month period. (U.S. News & World Report)
Law and crime
- Corruption in Russia
- Former economy minister Alexey Ulyukaev is found guilty of soliciting a $2 million bribe from Rosneft's Igor Sechin. He is sentenced to 8 years in prison. Ulyukayev is the most senior serving official to be arrested in decades. He previously denied the charges, saying he’d been "set up". (Reuters)
- Obamacare replacement proposals
- A Federal District Judge for Eastern Pennsylvania temporarily enjoins the Trump administration from implementing new rules that change the Obamacare contraceptive mandate. California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Washington have also sued the federal government over the rules. (AP via ABC News)
- Censorship in France
- France's Constitutional Court rejects a bill to make visiting terrorist websites a criminal offence, citing "inviolability of freedom of communication and expression" as a reason. (Sputnik News) (Le Parisien)
Politics and elections
- Brexit
- European Union leaders agree to allow the next phase of Brexit. (U.S. News & World Report)
Science and technology
- AOL discontinues its instant messaging app AIM after more than 20 years. (PC Gamer)
Sports
- Association football
- According to the Spanish newspaper El País, FIFA warned the Royal Spanish Football Federation, threatening to exclude Spain from participation in the 2018 World Cup. FIFA reportedly argues that the Spanish attempt to remove Ángel María Villar (who is accused of corruption) from the national federation's presidency is an illicit government intervention in the Spanish football federation's activities. (The Independent)