Ugandan general election, 2016 Uganda arrests opposition leader Kizza Besigye as he addressed a crowd of supporters in the capital Kampala, and shuts down access to social media within the country prior to President Yoweri Museveni's inauguration tomorrow.
Recognition of same-sex unions in Italy The Italian Parliament gives final approval to legislation recognizing civil unions of same-sex couples.
Impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff The Federal Senate of Brazil debates whether to suspend and impeach President Dilma Rousseff for allegedly breaching budget rules. The President's allies are not optimistic about the Senate vote.
Germany German Justice Minister Heiko Maas says he will propose legislation to annul homosexuality convictions, and create a “right to compensation.” A 19th-century law outlawed sexual relations between men. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969, but the law itself was not rescinded until 1994.
West Fertilizer Company explosion The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finds that a 2013 fire at a fertilizer plant in the American town of West, Texas, that killed 15 people was arson and begins the search for suspects.
Amnesty International Amnesty International reports that this year at least 149 have died, including children, in a military detention center, Giwa barracks, in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Bangladesh The head of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Motiur Rahman Nizami, is executed for his alleged role in acts of genocide and war crimes 45 years ago during the independence war against Pakistan in 1971. Nizami is the fifth senior opposition leader to be executed in connection with the war; a total of 17 people have received the death penalty. Authorities prepare for possibly violent protests.
2015–2016 wave of violence in Israeli–Palestinian conflict Israel seals off the West Bank and Gaza Strip for two days while Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israel's remembrance day and independence day) is celebrated.
Ground-edge A fragment of the world's oldest ground-edge axe dated at between 45,000 and 49,000 years old is found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Dissident republican MI5 raises the threat level for dissident Northern Ireland militants from "moderate" to "substantial", meaning there is a strong possibility of an attack on the British mainland.
Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017) ISIS bury alive 45 of their own fighters in Qayyarah for fleeing a battle.
At least 64 people are killed and 87 injured in a bomb attack on a market in Sadr City, Baghdad. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) claims responsibility.