Portal:Current events/2023 December 20

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israel–Hamas war
  • The death toll in the Gaza Strip since Israel began airstrikes increases to at least 20,000 people. (Al Jazeera)
• Insurgency in Balochistan
  • In Pakistan, Sarfraz Bungulzai, leader of the separatist Baloch Nationalist Army, surrenders to authorities alongside 70 other militants in Balochistan. (AP)

Business and economy

• 2021–present United Kingdom cost-of-living crisis
  • 2022–2023 United Kingdom industrial disputes and strikes
    • Junior doctors in England begin their longest strike action yet, spanning nine days, to address pay-related disputes with the National Health Service. (AFP via ABS-CBN News)
• 2018–present Argentine monetary crisis
  • Argentine president Javier Milei announces a series of economic deregulation measures, targeting over 300 regulations including property and labor laws, to address the crisis. (AFP via France 24)
• Japanese electronics company Toshiba is delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange after 74 years. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Twelve people are killed and 13 others are injured when a mining cart runs off the tracks in Jixi, Heilongjiang, China. (AP)

Health and environment

• Canada implements a single-use plastic ban as part of its initiative to achieve zero plastic waste by 2030, despite a court ruling that deemed such restrictions unconstitutional. (AFP via Daily Tribune)

International relations

• International reactions to the Israel–Hamas war, Israel–Malaysia relations
  • Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim announces that Israel-registered ships, and all foreign vessels heading to Israel, are banned from docking within their ports or receiving cargo. (Al Jazeera)
• United States–Venezuela relations
  • Venezuela releases ten Americans and extradites fugitive Leonard Glenn Francis, while the United States releases Alex Saab, an ally of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, in a prisoner exchange between the two countries. As part of the deal, Venezuela will also release around 20 political prisoners from jail. (AP)

Law and crime

• Israel–Hamas war protests
  • Israel–Hamas war protests in the United States
    • Pro-Palestine protesters vandalize the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. with graffiti reading "Free Gaza". (The Hill)
• December murders
  • Former Surinamese president Dési Bouterse is sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 1982 murders of 15 men. (NOS)
• Murder of Brianna Ghey
  • A Manchester Crown Court jury convicts two teenagers of murdering trans girl Brianna Ghey in Warrington, Cheshire, England. (AFP via NDTV)
• The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan votes 59–5 in favor of passing a bill to modify the national flag. (AKIpress)

Politics and elections

• 2023 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election
  • Voters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo elect their president, members of the National Assembly, provincial assemblies, and commune councils. Voting is extended until December 21. (Reuters)
• 2023 Guinea-Bissau coup attempt
  • President Umaro Sissoco Embaló dismisses Prime Minister Geraldo Martins, appointing Rui Duarte Barros as Martins' successor. (AFP via France 24)
• The U.S. state of Minnesota votes to change its flag. (The New York Times)