Portal:Current events/2012 September 16

• Syrian Civil War: Violence between government forces and rebels continues in several Syrian provinces. (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican Drug War
  • Jaime Serrano Cedillo, a deputy of the State of Mexico, is assassinated; he is the second politician of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to be killed in just two days. Eduardo Castro Luque was killed by unknown assailants on Friday night. (The Washington Post)
  • The dismembered remains of 17 men are found at a farm near the border between Jalisco and Michoacán states. (The Washington Post)
• Militants attack an Egyptian security headquarters in the Sinai Peninsula, injuring several officers. Operation Sinai is extended "until its goals are achieved". (Al Jazeera)
• 2012 diplomatic missions attacks fallout
  • President of Libya Mohamed el-Magariaf announces Libya has made at least 50 arrests in conjunction with the U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi. (Jerusalem Post)
  • The United States has ordered all non-essential staff to evacuate its embassies in Sudan and Tunisia and urges its citizens to avoid travelling to those countries. (Associated Press via The Guardian)
• War in Afghanistan:
  • Eight female civilians are killed in a NATO airstrike in the eastern Afghan province of Laghman; NATO said the airstrike was attempting to target insurgents. (BBC) (AFP)
  • An Afghan policeman kills four US troops in southern Afghanistan. (Vancouver Sun)
• A roadside bombing carried out by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in the southern Turkish province of Bingöl kills at least eight police officers. (BBC)
• A roadside bomb detonates near Jandol, Lower Dir District, Pakistan, killing 14 and seriously wounding 7. (BBC)

• Super Typhoon Sanba reaches the Ryukyu Islands on its way to Korea. (Huffington Post) (NPR) (Times Online)
  • Four people are injured and 85,000 households lose power as Sanba moves across Okinawa and Kagoshima Prefectures. (Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)

• Senkaku Islands dispute:
  • Anti-Japan protesters in China ransack Japanese businesses; set fire to a Panasonic plant in Qingdao. (Bloomberg) (Reuters) (Kyodo News via The Japan Times) (Los Angeles Times)
  • Japanese prime minister Yoshihiko Noda condemns the anti-Japan protests in China. (Wall Street Journal)
• Japan's ambassador designate to China, Shinichi Nishimiya, dies after suddenly collapsing outside his home in Tokyo on Thursday. (Kyodo News via The Japan Times) (Times of India) (Reuters)
• US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta urges China and its neighbours not to engage in "provocative behaviour" over maritime border disputes. (Los Angeles Times)

• The Egyptian Army now names Operation Eagle as Operation Sinai. (The Daily News Egypt)
• The Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel seeks a court order to resolve a week-long teachers strike. (AP via Yahoo News)

• Mei Xiang, the Washington, D.C. National Zoo's adult female giant panda, gives birth to a cub, her second there, via artificial insemination. (NBC News)

• The National Hockey League locks out its players after the expiry of the collective bargaining agreement. (ESPN)