Portal:Current events/December 2025

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Dnipro strikes
    • Four people are killed and at least 40 others are injured in a Russian Iskander missile strike on Dnipro, Ukraine. (Reuters)
  • Pokrovsk offensive
    • Russia says its forces have captured Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, after months of heavy fighting. (DW)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Siege of Babanusa
    • The Rapid Support Forces say that they have captured Babanusa, the last stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces in West Kordofan, Sudan. (Sudan Tribune)
• Haitian conflict
  • Haitian gangs launch a large-scale attack on the Ouest and Artibonite departments, causing hundreds of people to flee. Police say the gangs now control 50% of Artibonite, including the town of Pont-Sondé. (AP)
• Tajikistan reinforces its border with Afghanistan, as the Tajik government says that the drone strikes which killed two Tajik and three Chinese citizens over the past week originated from its neighbour. (Anewz)

Arts and culture

• Ragebait is named word of the year by the Oxford University Press. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • Cyclone Senyar
    • The toll from the floods in Indonesia increases to 604 people killed and 464 more missing. (Al Jazeera)
  • Cyclone Ditwah
    • The toll from the floods and landslides caused by heavy rains in Sri Lanka increases to 366 people killed and about 400 more missing. (Al Jazeera)
• A landslide strikes two boats docked at a river port in Ucayali, Peru, killing at least twelve people and leaving around 50 others missing. (BBC News)

Health and environment

• 2025 Kasaï Province Ebola outbreak
  • The Democratic Republic of the Congo declares that the Ebola outbreak in the country since August, which resulted in 53 confirmed cases, 43 deaths, and 11 probable cases, has ended. (AP)
• Cuba reports 33 deaths from dengue and chikungunya amid a widespread mosquito-borne disease outbreak, with health officials reporting thousands of new cases. (Reuters)
• Spain deploys 400 Mossos d'Esquadra and 117 Military Emergencies Unit members to contain the spread of the African swine fever virus in Catalonia after two dead wild boars tested positive for the virus. (Reuters)

International relations

• 2025 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état, Foreign relations of Nigeria
  • Nigeria grants asylum to Guinea-Bissau opposition leader and presidential candidate Fernando Dias da Costa at its embassy in Bissau to protect Dias from detention by the military junta. (AFP via Barron's)
• Canada–European Union relations
  • Canada agrees to join the European Union's Security Action for Europe initiative, which will allow Canadian defense firms greater access to EU markets and encourage European defense investment in Canada. (Reuters)
• China–Spain relations
  • China permits Spain to resume pork exports from regions unaffected by African swine fever following a trade prohibition imposed on November 28. (Reuters)
• Dominican Republic–United States relations, 2025 United States naval deployment in the Caribbean
  • The Dominican Republic announces that its temporary agreement permitting United States military personnel to use restricted areas at Las Américas International Airport and the San Isidro Air Base for logistical counter-narcotics operations remains in effect until April 2026. (Reuters)
• Honduras–United States relations
  • Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández is released from a prison in Preston County, West Virginia, after U.S. president Donald Trump pardoned Hernández from his conviction of aiding large-scale cocaine trafficking. (AFP via France 24)
• Thailand–Vietnam relations
  • Thailand extradites Vietnamese citizen Y Quynh Bđăp, who founded a human rights organization for ethnic minorities, amid concerns from human rights groups. (AP)

Law and crime

• 2025 Cameroonian presidential election, 2025 Cameroonian protests
  • Anicet Ekane, a 74-year-old opposition politician and leader of the MANIDEM party, dies in custody after being arrested a month ago during a crackdown in Cameroon. (AP)
• International Criminal Court investigation in Libya
  • A senior official of the RADA Special Deterrence Forces is transferred from Germany to The Hague, Netherlands, and placed in International Criminal Court custody for alleged war crimes while serving a senior role at a Libyan prison. (Reuters)
• Trial of Sheikh Hasina
  • A Bangladeshi court sentences former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and British MP Tulip Siddiq to five years and two years in prison, respectively, for corruption involving a government land project. (AP)
• Wang Fuk Court fire
  • Hong Kong police arrest thirteen people on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the fire, while officials report that some scaffolding netting at the site failed to meet required fire-resistance standards. (AFP via New Strait Times)

Politics and elections

• 2024–2025 Georgian protests, 2024–2025 Georgian political crisis
  • Use of camite during the 2024–2025 Georgian protests
    • BBC World Service says that the Georgian police used water cannons laced with the chemical agent camite against protesters in Tbilisi in 2024. The ruling Georgian Dream party denies the accusation, threatening to sue the BBC in an international court. (BBC News)
• 2025 Honduran general election
  • The Honduran National Electoral Council reports that presidential candidates Nasry Asfura and Salvador Nasralla remain separated by about 500 votes in the preliminary count, which it describes as a technical tie, and announces that a manual count will begin. (AFP via South China Morning Post)
• 2025 Saint Lucian general election
  • The incumbent Saint Lucia Labour Party government, led by Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, is projected to maintain a supermajority in the House of Assembly. (Associates Times)
• Kidnapping in Nigeria, Religious violence in Nigeria
  • Nigerian defence minister Mohammed Badaru Abubakar resigns amid President Bola Tinubu's declaration of a nationwide security emergency. (AFP via RFI)
• Tens of thousands of people gather across Bulgaria to protest against government corruption and the proposed 2026 budget and calls for members of prime minister Rosen Zhelyazkov's cabinet to resign. (DW)

Science and technology

• Mass surveillance in India
  • India's Ministry of Communications orders smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Sanchar Saathi, a government-run cybersecurity app on all new devices within 90 days and to push the app onto older models through a software update. The ministry says the app is essential in "curbing misuse of telecom resources for cyber frauds and ensuring telecom cyber security". (AP)
• Nuclear power in Malaysia
  • Malaysia enacts amendments to its nuclear law that require permits for all atomic-energy activities, including the import, export, transshipment, and transit of radioactive and nuclear materials. The updated framework introduces stricter oversight and penalties, including the possibility of the death penalty. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Gaza hostage crisis
    • Hamas returns the remains of an unidentified person, possibly a hostage, to Israeli authorities to be examined by forensics experts. (PBS)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • 2025 Bannu ambush
    • A government administrator, two of his guards and a passerby are killed in an ambush against a vehicle in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP)

Arts and culture

• The Winter Egg, one of the few Fabergé eggs remaining in private hands, sells at Christie's in London, England, United Kingdom, for £22.9 million (US$30.2 million), setting a new auction record for a work by the House of Fabergé. (CNN)

Disasters and accidents

• Seven people are killed in a road accident in Almaty region, Kazakhstan. (Xinhua)

International relations

• Indonesia–Netherlands relations
  • Indonesia and the Netherlands agree to repatriate two elderly Dutch nationals convicted of drug trafficking, including one on death row, on humanitarian grounds, following a request from Dutch king Willem-Alexander. (Reuters)
• United States–Venezuela relations, Deportation in the second Trump administration
  • Venezuela approves the United States's request to resume deportation flights, reversing a brief suspension imposed following U.S. president Donald Trump's declaration that Venezuelan airspace was "closed". (AFP via Al Arabiya)

Law and crime

• 2025 Samaritan's Purse Cessna 208 hijacking
  • A Cessna 208 Caravan operated by Samaritan's Purse to distribute humanitarian aid to Maiwut County is hijacked in Juba by a gunman who tried to divert the plane to Chad, but is apprehended after landing to refuel in Wau, South Sudan. (AP)
• Colombian authorities detain 17 children and nine adults belonging to the fundamentalist Jewish cult Lev Tahor, citing concerns about the safety of the children in the group. Five of the children had American and Guatemalan passports, and all 26 members were flown to New York to await investigations into their welfare. (AP)
• Former European Union foreign and security policy chief Federica Mogherini and two others are arrested in Belgium amid a fraud investigation. (The Guardian)
• Tunisian police arrest former human rights minister Ayachi Hammami to enforce a five-year prison sentence for a state-security conspiracy conviction issued amid recent appellate court rulings that imposed long jail terms on opposition figures. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état, 2025 Guinea-Bissau general election
  • The Bissau-Guinean electoral commission announces that it is unable to release election results after armed men destroyed nearly all election tally sheets during the coup. (AFP via France 24)
• 2025 Saint Lucian general election
  • Incumbent Saint Lucian prime minister Philip J. Pierre wins a second term in office while his party, the Saint Lucia Labour Party, wins 14 of the 15 seats in Parliament against the opposition United Workers Party. (AP)
• 2026 Haitian general election
  • The Transitional Presidential Council of Haiti announces that presidential and legislative elections will be held in August 2026. (AFP via France 24)
• The Bulgarian parliament withdraws its draft 2026 budget, originally prepared for the adoption of the euro, following nationwide protests against proposed tax increases. (Reuters)
• Nigerian president Bola Tinubu appoints retired army general Christopher Gwabin Musa as defence minister, following Mohammed Badaru Abubakar's resignation amid a nationwide security emergency. (AFP via The Africa Report)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Yemeni crisis
  • Red Sea crisis
    • Attacks on the Eternity C
      • The Houthis release eleven seamen from the Eternity C carrier. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
  • Yemeni civil war
    • 2025 Hadhramaut offensive
      • The Southern Transitional Council seizes swathes of territory from the government of Yemen in Hadhramaut Governorate, including Seiyun. (The New York Times)
• Gaza war
  • Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
    • Israel says it will reopen the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, allowing Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip. (BBC News) (PBS)
  • Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip
    • Five Palestinians, including two children, are killed by Israeli drone strikes near Khan Younis. (Al Jazeera)
  • The Israeli army says four of its soldiers were wounded in a Hamas attack in Rafah. (The Times of Israel)

Disasters and accidents

• Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
  • Malaysia announces that the search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will resume on December 30, with Ocean Infinity conducting a 55-day underwater search in a targeted area of the southern Indian Ocean under its existing "no-find, no-fee" agreement with the government. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Gaza war
  • Gaza peace plan
    • The Israeli Knesset votes 39–0 to endorse the 20-point Gaza peace plan, in a vote boycotted by the member parties of the Netanyahu government. (CNN)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • 2025 Rafah ambush
    • Yasser Abu Shabab, leader of the Israeli-backed and anti-Hamas Popular Forces, is fatally shot in Rafah, Gaza, by unidentified gunmen. (Middle East Eye)
• Yemeni civil war
  • 2025 Hadhramaut offensive
    • The Southern Transitional Council announces the capture of the al-Mahrah Governorate from the Yemeni government forces. (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)
• War on drugs
  • 2025 United States military strikes on alleged drug traffickers
    • The United States Navy strikes a boat in the Pacific Ocean alleged to have been carrying illegal narcotics, killing four people onboard the vessel, according to the United States Southern Command. (The Guardian)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict
  • Presidents Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda formally sign a peace agreement in Washington, D.C., hosted by U.S. president Donald Trump. (Newsweek)

Arts and culture

• Eurovision Song Contest 2026
  • Ireland, Slovenia, Spain, and the Netherlands announce they will boycott next year's Eurovision Song Contest after the European Broadcasting Union confirmed Israel's participation. (BBC News)
• Pantone names "Cloud Dancer", a shade of white, as its Color of the Year. (CNN)

International relations

• Russia–United Kingdom relations
  • Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
    • The United Kingdom imposes sanctions against Russia's GRU and several military intelligence officers after a public inquiry concludes that Russian operatives carried out the 2018 Novichok attack in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, under orders from President Vladimir Putin. The UK also summons Russian ambassador Andrey Kelin. (Reuters)
• Kenya–United States relations
  • The United States signs a five-year agreement to provide over $1.6 billion to Kenya's health system under its new global health strategy, with Kenya committing to increase domestic health spending by US$850 million. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Human trafficking in Spain
  • Spanish police arrest eleven people linked to a criminal network that smuggled over 300 workers into the country on tourist visas, mostly from Nepal, and placed them on farms. (AP)
• Planning of the January 6 United States Capitol attack
  • A 30-year-old man is arrested and charged with transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials after planting pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic parties' headquarters in Washington, D.C., United States, a day before the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol in 2021. (NBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Texas redistricting
  • The U.S. Supreme Court permits Texas to use its redrawn congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, staying a lower court ruling that found the plan relied on racial considerations. (AFP via France 24)
• Abortion in Denmark
  • The Faroe Islands Løgting votes 17–16 to legalize abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. (AFP via NAMPA)
• Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif confirms Asim Munir to a five-year term as the country's first Chief of the Armed Forces. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Afghanistan–Pakistan clashes
  • Afghanistan–Pakistan border skirmishes
    • The Afghan military and Pakistani military exchange fire along their border, with Pakistani artillery targeting several Taliban outposts in the Helmand, Kandahar, and Zabul provinces. Both sides accuse the other of instigating the clashes. (Reuters) (WTOP News)
• Sudanese civil war
  • War crimes during the Sudanese civil war
    • Fifty people are killed, including 33 children, after the Rapid Support Forces strike a kindergarten in South Kordofan, Sudan. (AP)
• Colombian conflict
  • Colombia and the Clan del Golfo agree in Doha, Qatar, that the group's combatants will begin assembling in three designated zones in Chocó and Córdoba starting March 1, with arrest and extradition orders suspended during the process. Colombia also designates additional municipalities for pilot peace programs as part of broader negotiations aimed at reducing violence. (Reuters)
• Myanmar civil war
  • The Tatmadaw conducts an airstrike on a tea shop in Sagaing, Myanmar, killing 18 civilians and wounding 20 more. (AP)

Business and economy

• Proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. by Netflix
  • Netflix, Inc. agrees to buy Warner Bros. Discovery for US$72 billion in one of the largest takeovers in entertainment industry history. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• A car strikes pedestrians during Christmas festivity preparations in Sainte-Anne, Guadeloupe, France, injuring 19 people, including seven children. (Le Monde)

International relations

• Canada–Syria relations, Terrorism in Canada
  • Canada removes Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham from its list of terrorist entities following a review of the Syrian transitional government. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Epstein files
  • United States federal judge Rodney Smith orders the release of grand jury records from the 2006–2007 investigations into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, ruling that the recently enacted Epstein Files Transparency Act supersedes federal grand jury secrecy rules. (The Guardian)
• Flood control projects scandal in the Philippines
  • Philippine president Bongbong Marcos orders the interior department and the national police to pursue contractor Sarah Discaya and others accused of involvement in a ghost project in Davao Occidental. (Rappler)
• The European Union fines social media platform X (formerly Twitter) €120 million (US$140 million) for breaching the Digital Services Act. (DW)

Politics and elections

• Conscription in Germany
  • The German Bundestag approves a government plan to expand military recruitment through mandatory questionnaires and medical screenings for young men while keeping conscription suspended. (Reuters)
• Pensions in Germany
  • The Bundestag approves a pensions bill that maintains pension levels until 2031 and introduces higher tax-free earnings for retirees. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2025 Afghanistan–Pakistan conflict
  • Five civilians are killed and eight more are injured in a shootout between Pakistani soldiers and Afghan soldiers at the border. (AP)
• Terrorism in Mexico
  • At least five people are killed and 12 others are injured in a suspected car bombing terrorist attack when a vehicle explodes outside of a police station in Coahuayana, Michoacán, Mexico. (BNO News)
• Colombian conflict
  • At least thirteen people are injured in a motorcycle bombing at a café near a police station in Balboa, Cauca Department, Colombia. (Blu Radio in Spanish) (Infobae in Spanish)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Two Palestinians are killed and a soldier is injured when Israel Defense Forces soldiers open fire on a car speeding toward troops in Hebron, West Bank. (The Times of Israel)

Business and economy

• 2025 IndiGo disruption
  • The Indian civil aviation ministry caps domestic airfares following widespread IndiGo cancellations caused by pilot shortages and operational failures, setting a maximum one-way price of ₹7,500 (US$83.38) for routes up to 500 km (310 mi). (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Arpora nightclub fire
  • Twenty-five people are killed, including 21 workers and four tourists, and approximately 50 others are injured in an explosion and fire at a nightclub in Arpora, Goa, India. (NDTV) (DW)
• At least 18 people are killed and two others are critically injured when a dinghy carrying migrants sinks off Crete, Greece. (Greek Reporter)

International relations

• International sanctions against Afghanistan
  • Australia imposes economic sanctions and travel bans on four Afghan government officials over their involvement in human rights violations, particularly the Taliban's treatment of women. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2025 Saulsville shooting
  • Twelve people are killed, including three children, and 13 others are injured in a mass shooting at an unlicensed bar in Saulsville, Gauteng, South Africa. (AP)
• Four protesters from Take Back Power are arrested after they threw custard on a display case containing the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London in England. (DW)

Sports

• MLS Cup 2025
  • In soccer, Inter Miami defeats the Vancouver Whitecaps 3–1 to win its first MLS Cup title. (USA Today)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2025 Beninese coup attempt
  • Elements of the Benin Armed Forces, led by Pascal Tigri, announce a coup d'état against president Patrice Talon and the creation of a military junta, the Military Committee for Refoundation, after seizing state television. The coup attempt is ultimately unsuccessful. (Al Jazeera)
  • The Nigerian Air Force launches precision airstrikes against pro-coup forces in Cotonou in support of the Beninese government, killing several putschists. (Sahara Reporters) (Zagazola)
  • ECOWAS announces the deployment of ground troops to Benin from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. (Sahara Reporters)
  • France provides military intelligence, surveillance aircraft, and logistical assistance to Benin and shares intelligence with Nigeria to help thwart the coup attempt. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • Cyclone Ditwah
    • The death toll from the floods and landslides caused by heavy rains in Sri Lanka increases to 618. (Al Jazeera)
  • Cyclone Senyar
    • The death toll from the floods in Indonesia increases to 908, while 410 people remain missing. In Thailand, at least 216 people are also confirmed killed. (Al Jazeera)
• A Fire and Rescue NSW firefighter is killed and dozens of homes are destroyed as bushfires spread across parts of New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Papiri kidnapping
  • Nigerian authorities secure the release of 100 of the 315 students and staff abducted from a school in Niger State, while more than 160 others remain unaccounted for. (AFP via The Guardian)
• Ecuadorian security crisis
  • Thirteen suspected Los Lobos gang members are killed in a prison riot following two explosions in Machala, El Oro Province, Ecuador. (BNO News) (AP)
• Brazilian police report that two armed individuals stole eight Henri Matisse engravings and five works by Candido Portinari from the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo after threatening a security guard and visitors. (AFP via France 24)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Hong Kong legislative election
  • Hong Kong citizens vote for the members of the Legislative Council. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2025 FIFA Futsal Women's World Cup
  • In futsal, Brazil wins the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women's World Cup after defeating Portugal 3–0 in the final held in Metro Manila, Philippines. Emilly is awarded the tournament's Golden Ball. (GMA News)
• 2025 Formula One World Championship
  • In auto racing, McLaren's Lando Norris wins his first Formula One World Drivers' Championship after outscoring the defending champion, Red Bull's Max Verstappen, by two points at the end of the season's final race in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (BBC)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Yemeni civil war
  • 2025 Hadhramaut offensive
    • The Southern Transitional Council (STC) captures all eight southern governorates of Yemen, opening possibilities for it to claim independence. Saudi Arabia withdraws all of its troops from Aden. (The Guardian)
    • Yemen's airspace briefly closes as a result of the STC offensive. (AP)
• 2025 Cambodia‒Thailand conflict
  • A Thai soldier is killed and eight others are injured after Cambodia shells Ubon Ratchathani province, Thailand. (Bangkok Post)
  • Thai F-16 jets carry out airstrikes on Cambodian military targets in Oddar Meanchey province and Preah Vihear, killing four Cambodian civilians and wounding ten more. (Al Jazeera)
• Israel–Hezbollah conflict
  • Israel carries out a wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon, allegedly targeting Hezbollah's site. (Al Jazeera)
• Sudanese civil war
  • The Rapid Support Forces capture Heglig, Sudan's largest oilfield, after the Sudanese Armed Forces withdraw from the area. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

• 83rd Golden Globe Awards
  • Nominations for the Golden Globe Awards honoring productions in 2025 are released, with One Battle After Another topping the film categories with 9 nominations, while The White Lotus tops the television categories with 6 nominations. This is also the first year the awards will have a Best Podcast category. (Al Jazeera) (AP)

Business and economy

• Czech Republic–Turkey relations
  • Turkish low-cost airline Pegasus announces an agreement to acquire Czech Airlines and its subsidiary Smartwings, the largest Czech airline, for €154 million (US$180 million). (AP)
• Economy of China
  • China's trade surplus passes US$1 trillion for the first time despite significant pressure from U.S. tariffs. (NPR)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Aomori earthquake
  • A M_w 7.6 earthquake strikes off the coast of Aomori Prefecture, Japan, causing some public services to be suspended. (Mainichi) (CNBC)
• Four tourists are killed and one other is missing when a wave hits a seawater pool in Los Gigantes, Tenerife, Spain. The victims had previously ignored the warnings and the closure of the seawater pool. (AP)

International relations

• Hungary–Turkey relations
  • Turkey agrees to guarantee the transit of Russian natural gas to Hungary through the TurkStream pipeline. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Corruption in Cuba
  • Cuba's Supreme Court sentences former economy minister Alejandro Gil to life imprisonment for espionage and multiple economic-related offenses, and in a separate case imposes a 20-year term for bribery, influence peddling, and tax evasion. (AFP via CTV News)
• Corruption in Ecuador
  • An Ecuadorian judge orders former president Lenín Moreno to stand trial on bribery charges linked to alleged payments made during the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair Dam. (Reuters)
• Corruption in Mexico
  • In Mexico, former Chihuahua governor César Duarte Jáquez is arrested for allegedly laundering more than Mex$96 million (US$5 million) in public funds. (Reuters)
• The Honduran attorney general issues an international arrest warrant for former president Juan Orlando Hernández, whom U.S. president Donald Trump recently pardoned after serving part of a 45-year sentence for drug trafficking. (Reuters)
• A former teacher in Dublin is jailed for ten years for indecent assault of eight boys. (Dublin People)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Honduran general election
  • The Honduran electoral council resumes releasing updated presidential election results following an extended pause to conduct technical reviews and address inconsistencies in tally sheets, with the latest count showing National Party candidate Nasry Asfura narrowly ahead. (Reuters)
• Singapore publishes the Albatross file, revealing previously-classified information about the Proclamation of Singapore and events leading up to the independence of Singapore for the first time in public view. (CNA)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• M23 campaign, Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict
  • 2025 Uvira offensive
    • M23 captures Sange, South Kivu, from the Congolese government and Burundian troops. (Al Jazeera) (SOS Media Burundi)
    • M23 enter Uvira, with at least 20,000 people fleeing across the Burundi–DRC border and reach Bujumbura. (Actualité in French) (TRT World)
• 2025 Cambodia‒Thailand conflict
  • The Royal Thai Air Force carries out several airstrikes against Cambodia, killing nine civilians and wounding 20 more. (Al Jazeera)
  • Three Thai soldiers are killed and 29 more injured during clashes with Cambodian soldiers. (Al Jazeera)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Dozens of people are killed in a drone strike by the Sudanese Armed Forces on an oil field in Heglig, West Kordofan, Sudan. (AP)

Arts and culture

• 2025 Turner Prize
  • British autistic artist Nnena Kalu wins the 2025 Turner Prize for her wrapped fabric sculptures, becoming the first artist with a learning disability to win the award. (AFP via The Sun Malaysia) (The Guardian)

Business and economy

• 2025 IndiGo disruption
  • The Directorate General of Civil Aviation of India orders IndiGo, the country's largest airline, to reduce its flights by 5% following a scheduling crisis last week that caused thousands of cancellations. (DW)
• Pakistani economic crisis
  • The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approves the release of US$1.2 billion to Pakistan to assist with recovery from an economic crisis. The country has already received $3.3 billion from the IMF since last year. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Terra Drone Building fire
  • Twenty-two people are killed, while 19 are rescued, in a fire at a seven-story building in Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP)
• Twelve people are killed and four more are injured in a fire at a four-story building in Shantou, Guangdong, China. (AFP via Arab News)
• Seven people are killed when a Russian Air Force Antonov An-22 military transport aircraft crashes during a test flight following repairs in Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. (Reuters)
• A Sudanese Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft crashes while landing at an air base in Port Sudan, Red Sea State, Sudan, killing all crew members. (Al Jazeera)

Health and environment

• 2025 Catalonia swine fever outbreak
  • The Catalan government in Spain announces a state of emergency due to the rapid spread of African swine fever virus in wild boars in a 12 km (7.5 mi) region to avoid spreading to other regions of Spain. (20minutos in Spanish)

International relations

• Belarus–Lithuania relations, Violations of non-combatant airspace during the Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Lithuania declares a state of national emergency over security risks from Belarusian weather balloons violating Lithuanian airspace. (AP)

Law and crime

• War in Darfur
  • International Criminal Court investigation in Darfur
    • The International Criminal Court sentences Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb to 20 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the war in Darfur. (Reuters)
• Catholic Church sexual abuse cases
  • Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York in the United States announces the archdiocese will set up a $300 million fund to compensate victims of sexual abuse who have sued the church. (AP)
• Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
  • A court in Beijing, China, orders Malaysia Airlines (MH) to pay CN¥2.9 million (US$410,000) each to families of eight missing passengers of MH370, which disappeared after departing from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014. (AP)
• Operation Synytsia
  • A court in Villajoyosa, Spain, provisionally closes its investigation into the killing of Russian defector Maxim Kuzminov in the town after authorities cannot identify any perpetrators. (Reuters)
• School violence in the United States
  • One person is killed and another is critically injured in a shooting at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky, United States. A suspect is taken into custody. (BNO News)
• Australia's Online Safety Amendment takes effect, age-restricting social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter (X), TikTok, and YouTube, as well as accounts on the said sites registered to users under the age of 16. (CNN)
• The Nepalese Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority charges 55 people, including former ministers and officials, and a Chinese engineering company with fraud related to inflating expenses in the construction of Pokhara International Airport. (AP)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Czech parliamentary election
  • Andrej Babiš of the opposition ANO party is appointed as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic for his second non-consecutive term. (Reuters)
• 2025 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état
  • Guinea-Bissau's military junta adopts a one-year transitional charter that suspends the constitution, bars the interim leaders from contesting forthcoming elections, and assigns the junta authority over political and institutional reforms until new elections are held at the end of the transition. (Reuters)
• 2025 Honduran general election
  • Honduran president Xiomara Castro denounces the manipulation of the election results, which are still being counted, and accuses U.S. president Donald Trump of interference. (AFP via France 24)
• The Slovak parliament votes to abolish the country's whistleblower protection office and replace it with a new body. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• Chinese space program
  • Chinese astronauts install debris-shielding on the Tiangong space station following damage to the docked Shenzhou 20 reentry capsule from orbital debris, and the crew conducts a spacewalk to prepare the compromised spacecraft for an uncrewed return. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2025 SEA Games
  • The 2025 SEA Games opens at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, with heightened security for Cambodian athletes and staff due to the ongoing Cambodia–Thailand conflict. (AFP via France 24)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2025 United States naval deployment in the Caribbean, United States–Venezuela relations
  • Operation Southern Spear
    • The United States Coast Guard seizes an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. The ship was flying the Guyanese flag, despite not being registered in that country, and was en route to a port in Cuba. (CNBC) (Reuters)
• Insurgency in Balochistan
  • Sistan and Baluchestan insurgency
    • Three members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are killed after an ambush by gunmen in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iran. (AP)
• M23 campaign, Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict
  • 2025 Uvira offensive
    • M23 takes control of Uvira, South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (AP via ABC News)
• Myanmar civil war
  • Conflict in Rakhine State
    • At least 34 people are killed and 80 more injured in a Tatmadaw airstrike on a hospital in Mrauk U, Rakhine State, Myanmar. (AP via ABC News) (BBC News)

Arts and culture

• Eurovision Song Contest 2026, Boycotts of Israel
  • Iceland announces that it will join Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Slovenia in boycotting next year's Eurovision Song Contest in Austria in protest of Israel's participation. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Tourism in the United States
  • The U.S. Customs and Border Protection files a proposal to request mandatory checks on email and social media accounts for all future Visa Waiver Program applicants. (Nine News Australia) (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Fez buildings collapse
  • Twenty-two people are killed and several more injured during the collapse of two adjacent buildings in Fez, Morocco. (Reuters)
• At least one person is killed and two others are injured when a fire engulfs a large market in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (NDTV)

International relations

• Bolivia–Israel relations
  • Bolivia and Israel formally restore diplomatic relations, which were severed in response to the Gaza war by former Bolivian president Luis Arce in 2023. (AP)

Law and crime

• 2025 Beninese coup attempt
  • Benin's government reports that Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri, identified as the leader of the failed coup attempt, flees to Togo, becoming the subject of an extradition request following arrests linked to the plot. (Reuters)
• 2025 Louvre heist
  • The French cultural ministry reports to the Senate that the Louvre's closed-circuit television camera captured the October jewel theft but was unmonitored at the time, adding that the lapses form part of a wider inquiry into related procedural and equipment failures. (ABC News)
• Flood control projects scandal in the Philippines
  • Philippine president Bongbong Marcos announces the cancellation of former Ako Bicol representative Zaldy Co's passport and directs government agencies to facilitate Co's return to the Philippines as investigators examine his alleged involvement in a large-scale flood control corruption scheme. (Gulf News)
• Terrorism in Canada
  • Canada designates 764, Islamic State – Mozambique Province, Terrorgram, and Maniac Murder Cult as terrorist entities. (CBC News) (Reuters)
• Former Bolivian president Luis Arce is arrested as part of an investigation into alleged embezzlement during his tenure as economy minister. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Bulgarian budget protests
  • Tens of thousands of people hold nationwide protests in Bulgaria, calling for Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov's government to resign over alleged corruption and dissatisfaction with proposed fiscal measures. (AP)
• 2025 Honduran general election
  • Supporters of the ruling Liberty and Refoundation party hold protests across Honduras, demanding the results of the presidential election to be annulled after prolonged delays in the vote count and allegations of fraud, and calling for a rerun of the election. (AAP via The Canberra Times)
• Arrest of Jair Bolsonaro
  • The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approves a bill that reduces penalties for certain crimes, including attempted coup, which could significantly shorten former president Jair Bolsonaro's 27-year prison sentence. (AFP via France 24)
• Censorship in Vietnam
  • The Vietnamese National Assembly adopts amendments to its press and state secrets laws that expand government authority to compel journalists to disclose sources and broaden the range of information classified as state secrets. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• Brazil–China relations
  • Brazil and China begin constructing a joint laboratory for radio astronomic technology with the Federal University of Campina Grande and the Federal University of Paraíba to support space research as both countries work on the BINGO radio telescope. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2025 SEA Games
  • Cambodia withdraws its entire delegation from the SEA Games, citing security concerns arising from its escalating border conflict with the host nation Thailand. (AFP via France 24)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • 2025 Sumy offensive, Russian attacks on civilians in the Russo-Ukrainian war
    • Two people are killed and two others injured by a Russian guided bomb strike on a shop in Velyka Pysarivka, Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. (Ukrainska Pravda)
• 2025 Cambodia‒Thailand conflict
  • The death toll during the clashes between the Thai Army and the Cambodian Army at the border increases to eight Thai soldiers, eleven Cambodian civilians and four Thai civilians. (Al Jazeera)
• Nigerian bandit conflict
  • Eleven bandits are killed and several more injured in an ambush by the Nigerian Army in Sabon Birni, Sokoto State, Nigeria. The bandits allegedly planned an attack on a nearby village. (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

• The Game Awards 2025
  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 receives thirteen nominations and nine wins, the most in the show's history, including Game of the Year. (NPR)

Business and economy

• Greek economic minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis is elected the new president of the Eurogroup, succeeding Paschal Donohoe. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Two people are killed and two others are trapped when an under-construction library collapses in Gwangju, South Korea. (Reuters)
• One person is killed and several others are injured when a boat carrying migrants overturns on the Sava river near Slavonski Brod, Croatia. (AP)

Law and crime

• Hijab and burqa controversies in Europe
  • Austria passes a law banning hijabs and burqas being worn in schools by girls aged under 14. (BBC News)
• Brazilian police arrest former Peruvian foreign minister Augusto Blacker Miller in Rio de Janeiro, where he is located after evading authorities following an Albanian court conviction for fraud and an active Interpol notice. (Reuters)
• A military court in Pakistan sentences former Inter-Services Intelligence director general Faiz Hameed to 14 years in prison on charges related to engaging in political activities and violations of the Official Secrets Act. (AP)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Bulgarian budget protests
  • The Zhelyazkov Government resigns after weeks of massive protests against economic policies and alleged corruption. (The Guardian)
• 2025 Falkland Islands general election
  • Falklanders vote to elect eight members of the Legislative Assembly. (Falkland Islands TV)
• 2025 Portuguese general strike
  • The General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers and the General Union of Workers, which together represent nearly 1 million workers in Portugal, launch a general strike across the country to protest against the government's planned changes to labour laws. (AP)
• 2025–2026 United States redistricting
  • The Indiana Senate rejects a proposal backed by U.S. President Donald Trump that would redraw the congressional districts in the U.S. state of Indiana in a 31-19 vote, with 21 state Republicans joining all 10 Democrats in voting against the proposal. (Reuters) (NBC News)

Sports

• Match fixing in tennis
  • The International Tennis Integrity Agency fines French player Quentin Folliot US$70,000 and suspends him from play for 20 years for alleged match-fixing. He is the sixth player to be fined in a wider investigation involving other French and Italian players. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• Gaza war
  • Gaza humanitarian crisis
    • Fourteen people are killed, including three children who died of hypothermia, amid a severe storm in the Gaza Strip. At least 13 homes previously damaged by Israel have also collapsed. (Al Jazeera)
• At least eight people are killed and multiple others are injured when a tank truck crashes and explodes in Tiko, Southwest Region, Cameroon. (Africanews)
• Four people are killed and eleven others are rescued when an under-construction building on top of a Hindu temple collapses in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. (AP) (SABC)

International relations

• Brazil–United States relations
  • The United States Treasury Department lifts sanctions on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, citing a shift in U.S. foreign policy. (AFP via France 24)

Law and crime

• Corruption in Bolivia
  • A Bolivian judge orders former president Luis Arce into five months of pre-trial detention in La Paz while authorities investigate alleged embezzlement linked to the diversion of public funds for projects in Indigenous communities during his tenure as economy minister under Evo Morales. (Reuters)
• Corruption in the Philippines
  • Civil society groups and church representatives file complaints against Philippine vice president Sara Duterte at the Office of the Ombudsman, accusing her of plunder, violations of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, bribery, and betrayal of public trust. (Bloomberg) (Rappler)
• Police in Mashhad, Iran, arrest Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi during a ceremony honoring deceased lawyer and human rights activist Khosrow Alikordi. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• M23 campaign, Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict
  • 2025 Uvira offensive
    • The March 23 Movement states that it has captured several hundred Burundian soldiers during its recent offensive in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, including around Uvira. (Reuters)
• Middle Eastern crisis
  • Gaza war
    • The Israeli military kills Ra'ad Sa'ad, a senior Hamas military commander, in an airstrike against a vehicle in Gaza City, in violation of the ceasefire. Four other people were also killed in the attack, and 25 more injured. (The Times of Israel) (Al Jazeera)
  • Israel–Hezbollah conflict
    • The Israeli military issues an evacuation order in southern Lebanese villages in preparation for planned airstrikes on Hezbollah targets. (The Jerusalem Post)
  • Syrian conflict
    • An attacker identified by the United States Central Command as a member of ISIL opens fire on a joint Syrian and American convoy in Palmyra, killing two U.S. service members and one American civilian interpreter and injuring three others, before being killed by return fire. (SANA via Al Jazeera)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Kordofan Campaign
    • A Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drone strike kills at least three people in El-Obeid, North Kordofan, Sudan. (Al Jazeera)
    • An RSF drone strike on a United Nations base in Kadugli, South Kordofan, Sudan, kills six Bangladeshi peacekeepers and injures eight others. (Al Jazeera)
• 2025 Cambodia–Thailand conflict
  • In response to resumed clashes with Thailand, Cambodia shuts down its border crossings with Thailand. (BBC News)
  • United States president Donald Trump says a new ceasefire has been brokered. However, hours later, Thai leaders announce an increased commitment to fighting Cambodian forces. (France 24)

Disasters and accidents

• Nine African migrants die due to freezing temperatures near the Algeria–Morocco border. (MSN)
• Eight people are killed and five others are injured after a multicab falls into rocky terrain in Ayungon, Negros Oriental, Philippines. (The Philippine Star)

Law and crime

• Mass shootings in the United States, School violence in the United States
  • 2025 Brown University shooting
    • Two people are killed and nine others are injured in a mass shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. The suspect fled the scene and is not in custody. (NBC News) (BNO News)
• Human rights in Belarus, Belarus–United States relations
  • Belarus releases 123 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and protest leader Maria Kalesnikava, from prisons after the United States lifts its sanctions. (BBC)
• War on drugs
  • Spanish authorities dismantle a drug-trafficking network that uses helicopters to transport large quantities of hashish from Morocco into southern Spain, arresting six suspects in a joint operation involving several European countries. (AFP via Arab News)
• Islamic terrorism in Europe
  • Munich police arrest five men, including three Moroccans, one Egyptian, and one Syrian of allegedly planning to attack a Christmas market in Dingolfing, Bavaria, Germany. (DW)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2025 Bondi Beach shooting
  • Two gunmen open fire during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killing 15 people and leaving 42 others injured. One perpetrator is killed, while the other is arrested. Two bombs are found at the scene and detonated by police. (News.au) (Al Jazeera)
• 2025 Cambodia–Thailand conflict
  • Thailand confirms that a rocket launched from Cambodia killed a Thai villager, the first civilian death in Thailand as a result of the ongoing conflict. (AP)
• Gaza war
  • Hamas Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Zamzam is shot and killed by a gunman inside the Maghazi refugee camp in the Deir al-Balah Governorate, Gaza Strip. The perpetrator is arrested. (Palestine Chronicle) (Reuters)
• Israel–Hezbollah conflict
  • Three people are killed in three separated Israeli airstrikes against vehicles in southern Lebanon. (L'Orient Today)
• Syrian conflict
  • Four security force members are killed and another is injured in a mass shooting when gunmen open fire on a patrol in Idlib, Syria. (TRT World)

Disasters and accidents

• At least 37 people are killed and 14 more injured during flash floods in Safi, Morocco. (Al Jazeera)
• A school bus carrying students returning from a field trip falls off a cliff in Remedios, Antioquia, Colombia, killing 17 people and injuring 20 others. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Mass shootings in the United States, School violence in the United States
  • 2025 Brown University shooting
    • A person of interest is taken into custody for yesterday's mass shooting that killed two people and injured nine others at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. The person is later released from custody the same day, with authorities announcing that they are still searching for a suspect. (CNN) (The New York Times)
• Crime in Guatemala
  • Guatemalan president Bernardo Arévalo declares a state of emergency in two municipalities in western Guatemala a day after gunmen attacked a military post and a police station, cut off roads, and hijacked buses, killing at least five people. (CityNews Halifax)
• Killing of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner
  • American filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner are stabbed to death at their home in Los Angeles, California, United States. Their son, Nick, is later charged with the alleged murders. (NBC News), (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Chilean general election
  • Chileans vote for their president in a runoff between Jeannette Jara and José Antonio Kast. (AP)
  • Kast is elected president of Chile. (Reuters)
• 2025 Czech parliamentary election
  • Czech president Petr Pavel appoints prime minister Andrej Babiš's cabinet following ANO's victory in the recent election. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War on drugs, Operation Southern Spear
  • 2025 United States military strikes on alleged drug traffickers
    • The United States Southern Command says the U.S. Navy has carried out airstrikes on three alleged drug smuggling vessels in international waters of the Eastern Pacific, killing at least eight people. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Ten people are killed when a Cessna Citation III aircraft flying from Acapulco to Toluca crashes near a football field in San Mateo Atenco, Edomex, Mexico. (UNO TV in Spanish) (AP)

International relations

• Laos–South Korea relations
  • Laos and South Korea agree to upgrade their bilateral relations to a comprehensive partnership. (Reuters)
• Laos–Thailand relations, 2025 Cambodia–Thailand conflict
  • Thailand's military stops fuel shipments through its border crossing with Laos in Chong Mek, Ubon Ratchathani province, after intelligence indicates that supplies are being diverted to Cambodian forces amid an ongoing conflict between Cambodia and Thailand. (Reuters)
• Trinidad and Tobago–Venezuela relations
  • The Venezuelan government accuses Trinidad and Tobago of participating in the United States seizure of the oil tanker Skipper and suspends all oil trade agreements and contracts between the two countries. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

• 2024 anti-tourism protests in Spain
  • The Spanish government fines homestay company Airbnb €63.9 million (US$75 million) for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals as protests blaming companies like Airbnb and Booking.com for driving up property prices for residents across the country continue. (AP)
• Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia
  • Saudi Arabia records a new annual high in executions, carrying out 340 executions to date after authorities execute three additional individuals, exceeding the previous record of 338 executions in 2024. (AFP via CTV News)
• Terrorism in the United States
  • Five individuals associated with the far-left Turtle Island Liberation Front are arrested for allegedly plotting a series of bombings across Southern California, United States, on New Year's Eve. (BBC News)
• Hong Kong's High Court convicts pro-democracy activist and media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and to publish seditious material under the national security law. (Reuters)
• A court in Moscow, Russia, designates protest music group Pussy Riot as an extremist group, banning its activities within Russia. (Reuters)
• Danske Bank completes its three-year corporate probation with the United States Department of Justice, concluding all regulatory proceedings related to suspicious transactions at its former Estonian branch, after pleading guilty to bank fraud conspiracy and forfeiting US$2 billion as part of a 2022 settlement. (Reuters)
• A judge in the Dominican Republic sentences seven former government officials to over a year in preventative detention in a US$250 million corruption case involving the health ministry. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• M23 campaign, Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict
  • 2025 Uvira offensive
    • The March 23 Movement announces that they will withdraw from Uvira, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, following a request from the United States. (Reuters)
• Herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria, Fulani extremism in Nigeria
  • At least 12 people are killed and three others are abducted after Fulani gunmen attack a mining site in Plateau State, Nigeria. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Thirteen people are killed, and several others are injured when a passenger bus overturns on a highway and collides with a taxi in Isfahan Province, Iran. (AP)

Health and environment

• The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records the Arctic's warmest year since measurements began, with average temperatures from October 2024 to September 2025 standing 1.60 °C (2.88 °F) above the 1991–2020 baseline. (AFP via RFI)

International relations

• Canada–Israel relations
  • Israel denies entry to six Canadian MPs trying to visit the occupied West Bank as part of a nonprofit-sponsored tour. (Al Jazeera)
• Operation Southern Spear, United States–Venezuela relations
  • U.S. president Donald Trump orders a blockade on oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. (The Telegraph)

Law and crime

• 2025 Beninese coup attempt
  • Benin places about 30 suspects, most of them soldiers, in pre-trial detention on charges including treason, murder, and endangering state security following a failed coup attempt. (AFP via Arab News)
• 2025 Liverpool parade incident
  • The Liverpool Crown Court convicts Paul Doyle, the perpetrator who injured 130 people after ramming his car into a crowd in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom, of charges of dangerous driving and maliciously causing grievous bodily harm, and sentences him to 21 years in prison. (DW)
• Belarus–Lithuania relations
  • Lithuanian police arrest 21 people allegedly connected to a criminal network responsible for smuggling cigarettes into the country via weather balloons from Belarus. (AP)
• Colombia–United States relations, War on drugs
  • The U.S. State Department designates Colombian cartel and neo-paramilitary group Clan del Golfo as a foreign terrorist organization. (DW)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Honduran general election
  • Honduran president Xiomara Castro announces that she will denounce an alleged "electoral coup" to the European Union, the Organization of American States, and the United Nations, accusing U.S. president Donald Trump of "interference". (The Guardian) (Reuters)

Sports

• In association football, French and Paris Saint-Germain player Ousmane Dembélé is named the 2025 FIFA Men's Player of the Year. (BBC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Terrorism in Australia
  • 2025 Bondi Beach shooting
    • The surviving gunman of the attack on Bondi Beach, Australia, is charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act. (BBC News)
• War on drugs, Operation Southern Spear
  • 2025 United States military strikes on alleged drug traffickers
    • The United States Southern Command says the U.S. Navy attacked an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing at least four people. (AP)

International relations

• Foreign relations of the United States
  • Travel bans under the Trump administrations
    • United States president Donald Trump expands the country's existing travel ban by banning citizens of Burkina Faso, Mali, South Sudan, and Syria, as well as those holding passports issued by the Palestinian Authority, from entering the country. He also imposes partial restrictions on citizens from 15 other countries. (NPR)
• Egypt–Israel relations
  • Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu approves a deal to export US$35 billion of natural gas from the Leviathan gas field to Egypt over the next 15 years. (AP)

Politics and elections

• Arrest of Jair Bolsonaro
  • The Brazilian Senate approves a bill that reduces penalties for certain crimes, including attempted coup, which could significantly shorten former president Jair Bolsonaro's 27-year prison sentence. The bill now heads to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for signature. (AP)
• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Russian president Vladimir Putin signs a law to redistribute ownerless homes on occupied territories to those who have lost homes during the conflict. (Euromaidan Press)
• Brazil's Supreme Federal Court rules that Indigenous land rights constitute unamendable constitutional guarantees, thereby blocking congressional efforts to restrict the recognition of Indigenous territories and reinforcing existing protections despite pending legislative opposition. (Reuters)

Sports

• 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup
  • In association football, Paris Saint-Germain win their first FIFA Intercontinental Cup after defeating Flamengo 2–1 on penalties, following a 1–1 draw after extra time, in the final in Al Rayyan, Qatar. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2025 Cambodia–Thailand conflict
  • Cambodia accuses Thailand of bombing Poipet on the border and denies the truce previously announced by United States president Donald Trump. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 North Carolina Cessna Citation II crash
  • Seven people, including stock car racer Greg Biffle and his family, are killed after Biffle's Cessna Citation II jet crashes while landing at Statesville Regional Airport in Statesville, North Carolina, United States. (ABC News)

International relations

• Taiwan–United States relations
  • The United States approves a $11.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan, including medium-range ballistic missiles, drones, and howitzers, as the largest arms deal in the history of bilateral relations between the two countries. (DW)
• The United Nations General Assembly elects former Iraqi president Barham Salih as the next High Commissioner for Refugees, succeeding Filippo Grandi, whose term ends December 31. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Mass shootings in the United States
  • 2025 Brown University shooting
    • A 48-year-old suspect of the mass shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, is found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside of a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. Authorities are investigating whether the murder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro is connected. (NBC News)
• Besançon poisonings
  • Frédéric Péchier, an anesthesiologist who was found guilty of poisoning 30 patients and killing twelve with anesthetic infusion bags in Besançon, Doubs, France, is sentenced to life in prison. (BBC News)
• Crime in Peru
  • Councilwoman Elena Rojas is assassinated and several others are injured, including at least four children, in a targeted mass shooting at a Christmas event in Chicama, Department of La Libertad, Peru. (BNO News)
• 2025 Mannheim car attack
  • The Mannheim Regional Court convicts Alexander Scheuermann, the perpetrator of a car attack in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany on March 3, of two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, and sentences him to life imprisonment at a psychiatric facility. (The Straits Times)
• Terrorism in Russia
  • A Russian military court sentences a Belarusian national to 22 years in prison for terrorism after convicting him of planting explosives on two freight trains in Buryatia in 2023, causing major damage and rail disruptions. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • At least six Palestinians are killed when an Israeli tank fires at a wedding hosted in a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City. (Al Jazeera)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Eight people are killed, including four attackers, and 15 others are injured in a suicide attack by unidentified militants on a military post in North Waziristan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP) (Amu Television)

Business and economy

• Mining industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • The Democratic Republic of the Congo suspends artisanal copper and cobalt processing, ordering operators to halt activities and certify mineral origins while a new commission verifies traceability and legality to curb illegal exports. (Reuters)
• Restrictions on TikTok in the United States
  • Social media platform TikTok announces a deal to sell 80.1% of its United States-based assets to a consortium of companies, including Oracle, Silver Lake, MGX, and existing ByteDance investors, to avoid a ban in the US. (DW)
• Uganda restricts imports of Starlink satellite internet equipment by requiring military clearance for related devices. (Reuters)

International relations

• Russo-Ukrainian war, Ukraine–European Union relations, Foreign involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Confiscation of Russian central bank funds
    • The European Union agrees to loan €90 billion (US$105 billion) to Ukraine from its internal budget after failing to use frozen Russian assets. (The Washington Post) (Reuters)
• Immigration policy of the second Trump administration, 2025 Brown University shooting
  • The U.S. government suspends the Diversity Immigrant Visa scheme for green cards after the Brown University shooting suspect was revealed to be from Portugal. (BBC News)
• The Bahamas–Kosovo relations
  • The Bahamas becomes the 110th country to recognize Kosovo as an independent state. (Office of the Prime Minister)

Law and crime

• 2025 Bondi Beach shooting
  • Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese announces a nationwide gun buyback program, the largest since the aftermath of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in response to the recent Bondi Beach shooting in Sydney. (AFP via France 24)
• 2025 Taipei stabbings
  • Three people are killed and five more injured in a mass stabbing near a subway station in Taipei, Taiwan. The perpetrator, who also threw smoke bombs at the train station, dies during the chase with police. (Reuters)
• Caning in Singapore
  • Singapore announces that scammers will face mandatory caning of up to 24 strokes from December 30 under changes to the criminal law passed by parliament in November. (AP)
• December 2025 Bangladesh violence
  • Protests and riots erupt across Bangladesh after the assassination of activist Osman Hadi by two members of the banned Awami League party. (Al Jazeera)
• Epstein Files Transparency Act
  • The U.S. Department of Justice releases a heavily redacted fraction of the Epstein files, potentially violating the law that determines their full release by December 19. The department intends to continue releasing remaining files over subsequent weeks. (AP) (The Guardian)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Operation Southern Spear
  • 2025 United States naval deployment in the Caribbean, United States–Venezuela relations
    • The United States Coast Guard intercepts and seizes an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela after previously seizing another last week. (Reuters) (BBC) (The Washington Post)
• US intervention in the Syrian civil war
  • Operation Hawkeye Strike
    • The United States and Jordan carry out airstrikes on 70 Islamic State targets at multiple locations in Syria, in retaliation for the December 2025 Palmyra attack. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• Seven elephants are killed and another is injured when a passenger train strikes a herd in the Hojai district of Assam, India. (DW) (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Arrest of Imran Khan
  • A Pakistani court sentences former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, to 17 years in prison after finding them guilty of corruption-related charges. (AP)
• Iran executes a man convicted of spying for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in Urmia. (AP) (Iran Human Rights)

Science and technology

• Blue Origin NS-37
  • German engineer Michaela Benthaus becomes the first person in a wheelchair and the first with paraplegia to travel to space on a sub-orbital trip conducted by Blue Origin. (DW)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Israeli settler colonialism
  • The Israeli cabinet approves 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite such settlements being considered illegal under international law. (BBC News) (AP)

Business and economy

• Sugar industry in the Philippines
  • The Philippine agriculture department extends its import ban on sugar until December 2026. (The Rahnuma Daily)

Disasters and accidents

• Eleven people are killed and nine others are injured after a collision between a pickup and an oil tanker near Nok Kundi, Balochistan, Pakistan. (Dawn)

International relations

• Libya–Pakistan relations
  • Pakistan agrees to sell military technology to the Libyan military for over US$4 billion, violating an arms embargo imposed by the United Nations on Libya. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Kidnapping in Nigeria
  • Papiri kidnapping
    • Nigerian presidential spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale reports that all remaining 130 students and staff abducted in November from a Catholic school in Niger State have been released. (AFP via The Guardian)
  • Gunmen abduct 28 people after intercepting a vehicle traveling to a Maulud gathering in Bashar, Plateau State. (AFP via France 24)
• Nine people are killed and ten others are injured in a mass shooting when 12 gunmen open fire near a tavern in Bekkersdal, Gauteng, South Africa. (AFP via CBS News)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Extremaduran regional election
  • In Extremadura, Spain, the ruling People's Party of Extremadura of regional president María Guardiola wins the elections for its first time since 2011, while PSOE Extremadura reports its worst result ever and the far-right Vox party more than doubles its share of the vote. (RTVE)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Middle Eastern crisis
  • Syrian conflict
    • SDF–Syrian transitional government clashes (2025–present)
      • December 2025 Aleppo clashes
        • Two people are killed and eight others are injured during clashes between Syrian security forces and Syrian Democratic Forces fighters in Aleppo. (AP via WFMZ-TV)
  • Israel–Hezbollah conflict
    • Three people are killed in an Israeli airstrike against a vehicle near Sidon, Lebanon. (Al Jazeera)
• 2025 United States naval deployment in the Caribbean, United States–Venezuela relations
  • Operation Southern Spear
    • U.S. President Donald Trump says that the United States will keep the oil from the oil tankers it seized off the coast of Venezuela, along with the ships themselves. (BBC) (The Hill)
• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian war
    • Ukrainian military forces launch airstrikes on several targets across Russia, hitting an oil terminal, an ammunition depot, and a drone launch site in Krasnodar. (AP)
  • Lieutenant general Fanil Sarvarov is killed by a car bomb in Moscow, Russia. The Security Service of Ukraine is being investigated for its role in the attack, which they have not taken responsibility for, with connections also drawn to the assassination of Igor Kirillov last year. (The Guardian)
• Turkey–Islamic State conflict, Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Turkish intelligence agents capture a senior member of the Islamic State – Khorasan Province along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border. (AP)

Business and economy

• China–European Union relations
  • The Chinese commerce ministry imposes a provisional set of 42.7% tariffs on dairy products imported from the European Union. (AP)
• The price of gold reaches an all-time high of US$4,383.76 per ounce, surpassing its previous peak of $4,381.52. (AFP via Barron's)

Disasters and accidents

• At least 16 people are killed and 18 others are injured, including five critically, when a passenger bus loses control on a toll road, strikes a concrete barrier, and overturns in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. (AP)
• A Mexican Navy Beechcraft Super King Air plane carrying eight people, including a pediatric patient, crashes into a bay while on approach to Scholes International Airport in Galveston, Texas, United States. At least five people are killed, including a two-year-old child, while two others are rescued and another is reported missing. (Chron) (BNO News) (AP)
• Ten people are injured, including three seriously and the driver, when an individual drove into a crowd waiting to watch a parade in Nunspeet, Gelderland, Netherlands. (Nunspeet Huis aan Huis in Dutch) (AP)

Health and environment

• Nuclear power in Japan
  • The Niigata prefectural assembly approves the restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, the world's largest nuclear facility, nearly 15 years after Japan shut down its reactors following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. (Reuters)

International relations

• India–New Zealand relations
  • India and New Zealand finalize a free-trade agreement aiming to reduce most tariffs on bilateral trades, while New Zealand also pledges to invest US$20 billion in India's economy over the next 15 years. (DW)

Law and crime

• 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
  • The high court of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, rules that former prime minister Najib Razak must remain in prison, holding that a purported royal addendum allowing house arrest lacks legal force because it was not approved by the pardons board, as required under the constitution. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Mass media in Israel
  • The Israeli cabinet approves defense minister Israel Katz's proposal to close the Israeli Army Radio, one of the country's two state broadcasters, by March 1, 2026, citing dissatisfaction from soldiers. (Reuters)
• United States president Donald Trump reveals the development of the Trump Class USS Defiant, the first American battleship built since World War II. (BBC News) (USNI)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Israeli settler violence
    • Five masked Israeli settlers break into a Palestinian house in the southern West Bank, killing three sheep, injuring four others, and fire tear gas into the living quarters. Three children under the age of four are taken to hospital after the tear gas attack. (Los Angeles Times)
• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • The Ukrainian Armed Forces confirm their withdrawal from Siversk, Donetsk Oblast. (Reuters)
• War on drugs, Operation Southern Spear
  • 2025 United States military strikes on alleged drug traffickers
    • The United States Southern Command announces U.S. forces have struck an alleged drug trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person. (ABC News)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • The Pakistani Taliban detonates a bomb and shoots at a police van in Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, killing five officers. (Reuters)
• Yemeni civil war
  • In an agreement mediated by the United Nations special envoy office and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council and the Houthis release a joint 2,900 detainees held throughout the civil war. (AP)

Business and economy

• The Italian Competition Authority fines Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair €255 million (US$300 million) for allegedly abusing its dominant market position from April 2023 to April 2025 by restricting how travel agencies sell its flights. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Harmony Jets Flight 185
  • A Dassault Falcon 50 jet carrying Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, the Libyan Army chief, four other passengers and three crew crashes approximately two kilometers south of Kesikkavak, Haymana, Ankara, Turkey. No survivors are reported. (Al Jazeera) (AP)
• At least two people are killed and 20 others are injured in an explosion and fire at a nursing home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. (WPVI-TV) (Reuters)

International relations

• Montenegro–Turkey relations, Visa policy of Montenegro
  • Montenegro reinstates visa-free entry for Turkish citizens but shortens the permitted stay from 90 days to 30 days after resuming cooperation with Turkey. (Reuters)
• United States–European Union relations, Visa and deportation controversies in the second Trump administration
  • The United States imposes visa bans on Center for Countering Digital Hate CEO Imran Ahmed, former European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton, Global Disinformation Index co-founder Clare Melford, and HateAid CEOs Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon for allegedly pressuring U.S. social media platforms to restrict speech. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Corruption in Romania
  • Romanian president Nicușor Dan announces an investigation into alleged systemic abuses within the judiciary after judges and prosecutors report intimidation and undue influence by the High Court of Cassation and Justice. (Reuters)
• Epstein Files Transparency Act
  • The U.S. Department of Justice releases 30,000 more pages of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, including allegations of his ties to U.S. President Donald Trump. (NBC News)
• Piracy in Venezuela
  • The Venezuelan National Assembly approves a law that creates prison terms of up to 20 years for promoting or financing activities defined as piracy, blockades, or related international crimes. (Reuters)
• Zagreb school stabbing
  • A Croatian man is sentenced to 50 years in prison for fatally stabbing a 7-year-old student at a school in Zagreb in December 2024. (AP)

Politics and elections

• 2026 Portuguese presidential election
  • A court in Lisbon, Portugal, orders Chega presidential candidate André Ventura to remove campaign posters targeting the Romani people within 24 hours, ruling that the materials are discriminatory and may incite hatred, or face daily fines of €2,500 (US$2,940) per poster. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Middle Eastern crisis
  • Israel–Hezbollah conflict
    • An alleged Hezbollah member is killed in an airstrike by the Israel Defense Forces on a vehicle near Jannata, Tyre District, South Governorate, Lebanon. (MSN)
  • Syrian conflict
    • Three former officials of the al-Assad regime are killed in clashes with Syrian security forces near Jableh, Latakia Governorate. (AFP via Al Arabiya)
• Religious violence in Nigeria
  • At least six people are killed, including the perpetrator, and 35 others are injured in a suicide bombing by a Boko Haram terrorist at a mosque in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. (The Punch) (Reuters)
• An explosive device kills two police officers and the suspected perpetrator in Moscow, Russia, near where Russian lieutenant general Fanil Sarvarov was killed in a separate bombing two days prior. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• Mediterranean Sea migrant smuggling
  • A boat carrying 117 migrants capsizes in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 116 people and leaving only one survivor. (Daily Express)
• Five people are killed when a rescue helicopter crashes on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. (Reuters)

International relations

• Algeria–France relations
  • The Algerian parliament unanimously passes a law classifying France's colonization of the country as a crime, criminalizing its glorification, and asserting France's legal responsibility to apologize and provide reparations. (AP)

Law and crime

• The Ghanaian information ministry arrests 48 Nigerians allegedly participating in cybercrime operations on the outskirts of Accra. (DW)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Honduran general election
  • The Honduran National Electoral Council declares National Party candidate Nasry Asfura winner of the presidential election almost one month after it was held. (BBC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War against the Islamic State
  • 2025 United States strikes in Nigeria
    • The United States Armed Forces launch airstrikes on over 70 locations in Sokoto State, Nigeria, targeting Islamic State camps on orders of U.S. president Donald Trump. An unknown number of casualties are confirmed. (BBC News) (CBS News)
• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Violations of non-combatant airspace during the Russo-Ukrainian war
    • The Polish Air Force intercepts and escorts a Russian aerial reconnaissance aircraft over international waters in the Baltic Sea away from nearby Polish airspace. (DW)
• Israel–Hezbollah conflict, Iran–Israel relations
  • Three people are killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes targeting vehicles in southern Lebanon, including a member of the Iranian Quds Force. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)
• Turkey–Islamic State conflict
  • Turkish authorities seize weapons and documents and arrest 115 suspects in Istanbul, connected with Islamic State-planned attacks on non-Muslims at Christmas and New Year's festivals across the country. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• A bus falls into a ravine in Del Gallego, Camarines Sur, Philippines, killing six passengers and injuring more than 20. (GMA News)

International relations

• Niger–United States relations
  • Niger imposes an indefinite ban on issuing visas to and admitting United States citizens to reciprocate the ban on Nigeriens from entering the U.S. (APA News)

Law and crime

• 2024 Venezuelan political crisis
  • Venezuela states that it has released 99 people detained after protests over the 2024 presidential election. (Reuters)
• A woman is found dead and two other people are wounded in an attack in Boden, Sweden. The perpetrator is shot and killed by police. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Elections in Somalia
  • Residents of Mogadishu, Somalia, vote to elect 390 district council members who will select the city's mayor, marking Somalia's first direct election since 1969, serving as a pilot for planned nationwide polls. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Palestinian political violence
  • 2025 Harod Valley attack
    • Two Israeli civilians are killed and another two are injured, including a child, in a vehicle ramming and stabbing attack by a Palestinian man in Beit She'an and Afula, Israel. The perpetrator is shot by police and hospitalized. (AP) (DW) (The New York Times)
• Syrian conflict
  • Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque bombing
    • Eight people are killed and 18 more are injured in an explosion caused by Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah at an Alawite mosque in Homs, Syria. (Al Jazeera) (France 24)
• Two soldiers are killed and another is critically wounded in a drone strike against a military base in Tine, Wadi Fira, Chad. The perpetrators are unknown. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• The Takaichi Cabinet of Japan approves a ¥122.3 trillion (US$785 billion) budget for the next fiscal year, the largest national budget in Japan's history, while reducing the debt-dependence ratio to 24.2 percent, supported by projected tax revenues of a record ¥83.7 trillion ($535 billion). (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Two people are killed and 26 others are injured in a 50-vehicle collision on the Kan-etsu Expressway in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. (Kyodo News) (The Independent)

International relations

• Israel–Somaliland relations, International recognition of Somaliland
  • Israel becomes the first country to recognize Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state. Somaliland also officially recognises Israel. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
  • The Malaysian Federal Court sentences former prime minister Najib Razak to 15 years in prison and a RM‎13.5 billion (US$3.3 billion) fine for abuse of power and money laundering. (AP)
• 2022–2023 Brazilian coup plot
  • The Brazilian Supreme Federal Court orders the preventive detention of former federal highway police chief Silvinei Vasques after he was captured in Paraguay while attempting to flee Brazil despite electronic tagging, following his conviction for involvement in the attempted coup. (Reuters)
• Fifteen people are injured in a mass stabbing and liquid attack at a factory in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The perpetrator is arrested. (CBS News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Kyiv strikes, Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • Two people are killed and 32 are injured during a Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv, Ukraine. Damage to critical infrastructure leaves 40% of Kyiv's residential areas and surrounding districts without heating. (BBC News)
  • Denis Kapustin, leader of the Ukraine-aligned neo-Nazi Russian Volunteer Corps, is reported to have been killed in a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. It is later revealed that Kapustin had faked his death in order to thwart an assassination attempt. (The Kyiv Independent) (The Moscow Times)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Darfur genocide
    • The Rapid Support Forces kill over 200 civilians in ethnically motivated attacks targeting non-Arabs in West Darfur and during advances in North Darfur, according to the Sudan Doctors Union. (The Express Tribune)
• 2023 Nigerien coup d'état, Islamist insurgency in Niger
  • The Nigerien government declares a nationwide mobilization that authorizes the conscription of citizens and the requisition of property and services to support operations against jihadist insurgent groups. (AFP via France 24)
• 2025 Cambodia–Thailand conflict
  • Cambodia and Thailand sign a new ceasefire agreement, calling for a pause in military movements and airspace encroachment for military purposes. (AP)

Business and economy

• Cross-strait relations, China–United States relations
  • China sanctions 20 United States defense-related companies and ten executives for providing weapons to Taiwan last week. (AP)
• Lithium mining in Chile
  • Chilean state-owned mining company Codelco and private miner SQM create a joint venture to develop lithium in the Atacama salt flat until 2060, with the Chilean state set to receive the majority of operating margins. (AFP via Barron's)
• Trade policy of China
  • The National People's Congress of China passes a revised trade law that will expand the government's authority to counter trade restrictions, regulate exports of strategic goods, and update provisions on digital, green, and intellectual-property trade from March 1, 2026. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Fifteen people are killed and 19 more injured as a bus plunges in to a ravine while driving on the Inter-American Highway in Sololá Department, Guatemala. (Al Jazeera)
• An accident involving two cars after an improper overtaking kills eleven people on the BR-101 highway near Mucuri, Bahia, Brazil. (UOL)
• At least nine people are killed and eight others are injured when a bus carrying 19 charity workers overturns on a mountain in Phình Hồ, Lào Cai province, Vietnam. (Reuters) (Tuổi Trẻ)
• Three of five members of a Spanish tourist family are killed after a boat carrying eleven people sinks near Padar, Indonesia. (AP)
• A M_w 7.0 earthquake, rated intensity four on the Central Weather Administration seismic intensity scale, strikes 32 km (20 mi) off the coast of Yilan, Taiwan, causing a temporary power outage for over 3,000 households. (DW) (CNN)

Law and crime

• Oil smuggling in Iran
  • The Iranian justice ministry seizes a foreign-flagged oil tanker carrying 25,000 barrels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz and detains its sixteen crew members on allegations of carrying illegal items. (AP)
• A joint operation between the Italian state police and the financial police results in the arrest of nine people for allegedly raising about €7 million (US$8.2 million) through charities and diverting most of the funds to Hamas following the 2023 attack on Israel. (UPI)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Ivorian parliamentary election
  • Citizens of the Ivory Coast vote for the 255 members of the National Assembly despite the opposition Democratic Party boycotting due to alleged election fraud by the ruling RHDP party. (DW)
• The Italian Parliament approves a reform that reduces the powers of the Court of Audit over public spending, caps financial penalties for negligent administrators at 30% of losses or two years of salary, and introduces automatic approval if the court does not respond within 30 days. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian conflict
  • Western Syria clashes
    • At least three people are killed and dozens of others are injured after gunfire erupts during Alawite-led protests in Latakia, Syria, demanding decentralization and for the transitional government to release Assadist detainees. (Reuters)
• Gaza war
  • Israel introduces new rules for aid groups, forbidding activities or criticism that "delegitimizes" Israel, without providing specific definitions. Aid groups say that the requirements are political and may hinder criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza. (ABC News)
• Ecuadorian security crisis
  • Six people, including a two-year-old girl, are killed and three others are injured in a mass shooting at a beach in Puerto López, Manabí Province, Ecuador. (La Nación in Spanish) (TRT World)

Arts and culture

• After months of a high-profile legal dispute, entertainment agency ADOR terminates its contract with singer Danielle and expels her from the South Korean girl group NewJeans. (The Independent) (Korea JoongAng Daily)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Oaxaca train derailment
  • At least 13 people are killed and 98 others are injured, including five critically, when a Tren Interoceánico train carrying 250 people derails in Asunción Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. (Reuters) (Infobae in Spanish)
• Sixteen people are killed and three others sustain burn injuries after a fire breaks out at a retirement home in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. (Reuters)
• Three people, including a toddler, are killed and three others are injured when a building collapses in Soweto, Gauteng, South Africa. (AP)

Law and crime

• 2025 Richelieu stabbing
  • Nine people are killed, including five children, and three others are injured, including the perpetrator and another child, in a mass stabbing spree at multiple houses in Richelieu, Commewijne District, Suriname. (AP)
• Capital punishment in Iraq
  • The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal sentences a former Ba'athist lieutenant to death for the massacre of Barzanis during the Anfal campaign against Kurds. (The New Region)

Politics and elections

• 2025–26 Myanmar general election
  • Citizens of Myanmar vote in the first phase to elect the nation's legislature. Two further phases of voting are expected in January. (AP)
• 2025 Central African general election
  • Citizens of the Central African Republic vote to elect a president and 140 members of the National Assembly. Incumbent president Faustin-Archange Touadéra seeks a third term in office. (Reuters)
• 2025 Guinean presidential election
  • Guineans vote for a president as incumbent Mamady Doumbouya seeks to be elected four years after leading a coup. (Reuters)
• December 2025 Kosovan parliamentary election
  • Kosovans vote for the second time in a year to elect the members of the Kuvendi. (AP via ABC News)
  • Prime Minister Albin Kurti's Vetëvendosje party wins the election with about half of the votes and an estimated 56 of the 120 assembly seats but falls short of the 61 seats required to govern without support from minority parties. (Al Jazeera)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Turkey–Islamic State conflict
  • Three police officers and six Islamic State gunmen are killed in a shootout during a raid at a house in Elmalık, Yalova Province, Turkey. Eight other officers and a civilian are also wounded. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

• Nine people are killed and 30 injured after smog-related accidents in Punjab, Pakistan. (Dawn)
• Three people are killed and another is injured when an avalanche hits a ski resort on the Pyrenees in Panticosa, Aragon, Spain. (Daily Express)
• Two people are killed and British boxer Anthony Joshua is injured when a car crashes into a stationary truck on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State, Nigeria. (BBC News) (TVC News)

International relations

• Cross-strait relations
  • Justice Mission 2025
    • China conducts the largest live fire exercises to date around Taiwan, designating multiple sea and air zones for drills by naval and air units to rehearse a blockade and to signal opposition to recent United States arms sales to Taiwan. (Reuters)
• India–New Zealand relations
  • India and New Zealand reach a free trade agreement where India grants zero-duty access for its exports to New Zealand, and New Zealand receives phased concessions on most Indian tariff lines, while excluding dairy and selected agricultural products. (AP)

Law and crime

• Corruption in Malaysia
  • The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission raids multiple companies and freezes six bank accounts while investigating alleged bribery linked to army procurement contracts, as army chief Muhammad Hafizuddeain Jantan is placed on leave pending the inquiry. (Reuters)
• War crimes in the Syrian civil war
  • The Syrian transitional government orders the military to secure a mass grave at a former military base near Al-Dumayr, Rif Dimashq Governorate, and opens a criminal investigation into a covert operation that transferred thousands of bodies there from another site during the previous administration. (Reuters)
• Mexican drug war
  • Three people are killed and four others are injured, including one critically, in a livestreamed mass shooting when suspected Jalisco New Generation Cartel gunmen open fire on a Lamborghini in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. (BNO News)
• Russian president Vladimir Putin signs a law allowing the government to disregard criminal judgments issued by foreign or international courts that lack a treaty basis or a United Nations Security Council mandate. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Iranian protests
  • Protests erupt in Tehran, Iran, for a second day after the Iranian rial drops in value and inflation rates increase by 42.2%. The leader of the Central Bank of Iran Mohammad Reza Farzi [fa] resigns in response. (AP)
• 2025 Iraqi parliamentary election
  • Haibat al-Halbousi of the Iraqi Progress Party is elected Speaker of the Council of Representatives following the recent parliamentary election. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, Gaza Strip famine, Gaza genocide
    • Israel announces the suspension of many international humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, the International Rescue Committee, and divisions of Oxfam and Caritas, from operating in Gaza starting January 1 for allegedly failing to pass new rules to vet the organizations and cooperating with Hamas and other militant groups. (AP)
• Yemeni civil war
  • 2025 Southern Yemen offensive, Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war, Saudi Arabia–United Arab Emirates relations
    • The Royal Saudi Air Force strikes the port of Mukalla, Yemen, targeting a ship with weapons delivered from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the Southern Transitional Council. (AP)
  • Yemen ends its defense pact with the UAE, with its leader Rashad al-Alimi ordering all Emirati forces to depart within 24 hours. He also declares a 90-day national state of emergency and a three-day blockade of the country's southern and eastern regions. The UAE later announces that its remaining forces in Yemen will leave the country. (Reuters) (Morocco World News)
• Somali Civil War
  • 2025 Shabelle offensive
    • 29 al-Shabaab militants are killed by the Somali Armed Forces in Jabad Godane, Middle Shabelle, Somalia. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Economy of Hungary
  • Moody's downgrades the credit rating of the city of Budapest, Hungary, to Ba1 and places it on review for a further cut, citing weak liquidity, uncertainty over state transfers, rising solidarity tax obligations, and the partial suspension of European Union funds to Hungary. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Ollantaytambo District train collision
  • Two trains on a rail line between Cusco to Machu Picchu in Urubamba province, Peru, collide, killing a train driver and injuring 40 passengers. (Al Jazeera) (CBS News)
• Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
  • The search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 resumes in the southern Indian Ocean under a contingent fee agreement between the Malaysian government and Ocean Infinity, which has deployed autonomous underwater vehicles. (AFP via France 24)

Health and environment

• The South African Police Service confirms at least 41 young men were killed from circumcision procedures during traditional initiation activities over the past two months in South Africa. (MSN)

International relations

• Burkina Faso–United States relations, Mali–United States relations
  • Burkina Faso and Mali impose reciprocal travel bans on Americans after the United States added them to a list of countries subject to a full U.S. entry ban. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Deportation in the second Trump administration
  • U.S. federal judge Angel Kelley of Massachusetts blocks the Trump administration's plan to end temporary protected status for South Sudanese nationals, issuing an administrative stay that prevents the expiration of deportation protections while a legal challenge proceeds. (Reuters)
• Turkey–Islamic State conflict
  • Turkish police detain 357 people nationwide suspected of being Islamic State members following clashes between the two sides yesterday. (DW)
• Western Syria clashes
  • Syrian authorities arrest 21 people in the Latakia Governorate and impose a curfew in the provincial capital following sectarian violence linked to unrest after a mosque bombing and protests in Alawite-majority areas. (AFP via Al Arabiya)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Guinean presidential election
  • Provisional results show that incumbent leader Mamady Doumbouya is elected president. (Reuters)
• 2026 Republic of the Congo presidential election
  • Congolese president Denis Sassou Nguesso announces his candidacy for re-election in the upcoming election. (AFP via France 24)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War on drugs
  • United States strikes on alleged drug traffickers during Operation Southern Spear
    • Five people are killed while others escape after the United States conducts airstrikes on three alleged drug boats at an undisclosed location. (BBC News)
• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Russian authorities report at least 24 people are killed, including a child, and dozens of others are injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on a hotel and a restaurant in Khorly in Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. (The Moscow Times)
• 2025 Cambodian–Thai border crisis
  • Thailand releases 18 prisoners as part of a ceasefire agreement with Cambodia. (AP)
• Syrian conflict
  • An Islamic State suicide bomber blows himself up near a checkpoint in Aleppo, Syria, after attempting to reach an Orthodox church, killing one security force member and wounding two more. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

• Saudi Vision 2030
  • The Six Flags Qiddiya City amusement park officially opens to the public in Saudi Arabia, with the Falcons Flight attraction breaking records as the world's tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster. (Zawya) (Arab News)

Business and economy

• 2025–2026 Iranian protests
  • Iran appoints Abdolnaser Hemmati as the new leader of the Central Bank following protests over the Iranian rial's value depreciating and the previous governor's resignation. (AP)

International relations

• Serbia–United States relations, United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • The United States issues a temporary license allowing Serbia's majority-Russian-owned Naftna Industrija Srbije to resume refinery operations until January 23 despite sanctions linked to the Russo-Ukrainian war. (AFP via Barron's)
• United States–Venezuela relations, Operation Southern Spear
  • The United States imposes sanctions on four Venezuelan companies in the oil industry and four oil tankers. (AP)

Law and crime

• 2025–2026 Iranian protests
  • A Basij officer is killed and 13 others are injured in clashes in Lordegan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran, during demonstrations over rising living costs. (AP)
• 2025 deployment of federal forces in the United States
  • U.S. president Donald Trump announces the withdrawal of National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland after federal courts blocked or restricted the deployments. (AFP via France 24)
• Deportation in the second Trump administration
  • U.S. federal judge Trina Thompson of California blocks the Trump administration from ending temporary protected status for about 89,000 migrants from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, ruling that the terminations may be motivated by racial hostility. (Reuters)
• At least three informal miners are killed in a shooting in Pataz District, Department of La Libertad, Peru. Two people are arrested. (Reuters)