Portal:Current events/2013 December 11

• Syrian Civil War:
  • Salim Idris, top commander of the Free Syrian Army, flees Syria. Islamist fighters take over his headquarters and key warehouses. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Human rights in the Philippines:
  • Three journalists are killed and one wounded in the Philippines within the span of two weeks raising concerns regarding the security situation in the country. (Al Jazeera)

• Time magazine names Pope Francis its Person of the Year. (Sky News)

• General Motors announces that it will be closing its Australian Holden manufacturing subsidiary by the end of 2017. (News Limited)
• Sources indicate that Stanley Fischer, former head of the central bank of Israel, is the front runner to become the new Vice Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve as Janet Yellen ascends to the Chair. (Reuters)

• Bubonic plague kills 20 people in a Madagascar village. (The Independent)

• The U.S. National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable internet advertisers to track consumers, such tools are known as cookies; specifically, Google cookies are being tracked in order to determine targets for hacking. (The Washington Post)

• LGBT rights in India:
  • The Supreme Court of India upholds the primacy of Section 377 of the Indian penal code banning homosexual activities. (BBC)
• A revenge porn website is shutdown in San Diego after the owner, Kevin Christopher Bollaert, is accused of extorting money from one of its victims. (Los Angeles Times)

• President of Russia Vladimir Putin announces a policy mandate that increases military focus in the Arctic. (Reuters)
• Euromaidan:
  • Police in Kiev abandon their posts after a sweep of the protesters ended in violence. (The New York Times)