Portal:Current events/December 2024

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • Battle of Aleppo
      • 2024 Aleppo University Hospital airstrike
        • Twelve people are killed and 23 others are injured in Russian airstrikes on a hospital in Aleppo, Syria. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
      • Turkish-backed militants say that they captured Aleppo's Ramouseh district as well as the city of As-Safira and the town of Khanasir in Aleppo Governorate. (Al Jazeera Mubasher) (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
    • At least nine people are killed and at least 62 others are injured in Russian airstrikes on Idlib. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
    • The Syrian National Army says that they captured the city of Tell Rifaat and Menagh Air Base in Aleppo Governorate. (Al Jazeera Mubasher)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Battle of Khartoum
    • The Rapid Support Forces establish a civilian administration in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, including the adjacent cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North. (The National) (Radio Dabanga)
• Colombian conflict
  • Clashes between FARC dissident groups Raúl Reyes Front and Frontera Commands leave twelve militants dead in Puerto Guzmán, Putumayo Department, Colombia. (Deutsche Welle)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sectarian violence in Pakistan
  • The number of people killed during sectarian violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, during the last ten days has increased to 130. (Associated Press)
• Mali war
  • A Malian army drone strike in Tinzaouaten kills eight leaders of the Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad coalition. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • Nineteen people are killed by Cyclone Fengal in India and Sri Lanka. (Reuters)

International relations

• Ukraine–United States relations
  • U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says that the United States will not return the nuclear weapons that they dismantled to Ukraine. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2024 Nzérékoré stampede
  • At least 56 people are killed during a stampede at a football match in Nzérékoré, Guinea, after the police tear gassed the field as rival fans stormed it following a controversial referee decision. A police station is later set ablaze. (Al Jazeera English)
• Weiss special counsel investigation, Federal pardons in the United States
  • United States President Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter Biden of tax and firearms charges. (BBC News)
• Seventy-nine people are injured in football hooliganism clashes between fans of FC Carl Zeiss Jena and BSG Chemie Leipzig following a match in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. (Deutsche Welle)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Icelandic parliamentary election
  • In Iceland, the Social Democratic Alliance wins 15 seats in the Althing elections, with the incumbent Independence Party winning 14 seats. However, no party achieved a majority. (Deutsche Welle)
• 2024 Liechtenstein referendums
  • Citizens of Liechtenstein vote in a referendum to form a state pension fund. The vote passes with a 52.6% majority. (Liechtensteiner Vaterland)
• 2024 Romanian parliamentary election
  • Romanians vote for the 330 seats of the Chamber of Deputies and the 136 seats of the Senate. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Gaza war hostage crisis
    • Hamas says that 33 hostages have been killed in the 14 months since the war started. (The Times)
    • The Israel Defense Forces say that Israeli-American soldier Omer Maxim Neutra, previously believed to be a living hostage, was killed during the October 7 attacks last year and his body was kept in Gaza. (Haaretz)
    • U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says there will be "all Hell to pay" if all the hostages are not released prior to the start of his second term. (AP)
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • The Gaza Health Ministry says that around 37 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, increasing the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 44,466. (The Hindu)
• Israel–Hezbollah conflict
  • Despite the ceasefire, Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire, with Israel targeting Talousa and Haris in Lebanon, killing at least eleven people. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • Operation Dawn of Freedom
      • Significant populations of Kurds in Syria are displaced from the northern Aleppo countryside, after factions of the Turkish-backed National Army take control of Kurdish-held territories. (SOHR)
• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
    • U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announces that the United States will provide Ukraine with a $725 million weapons package. (Reuters)
• Allied Democratic Forces insurgency, Kivu conflict
  • At least 10 people are killed during an attack by Allied Democratic Forces gunmen in Batangi-Mbau, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Several houses are burned. (AP)
• New People's Army rebellion
  • Six suspected New People's Army guerrillas, including two ranking leaders of a regional committee, are killed in an encounter in Las Navas, Northern Samar, Philippines. (Daily Tribune)

Business and economy

• German economic crisis
  • Workers of the German metalworkers' union IG Metall begin a labor strike after failed negotiations with Volkswagen following the closure of three automotive manufacturing plants. (DW)

Law and crime

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
    • The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Accountability Committee releases their final reports on the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States investigating the origins of COVID-19, Operation Warp Speed's vaccination program, and mask mandates and lockdowns. (The Hill)
• 2024 Georgian post-election protests
  • Georgian police arrest opposition leader Zurab Japaridze, accusing his party of "coordinating violence" during the protests against Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)
• Maritime drug smuggling into Australia
  • Australian Federal Police announces they have arrested thirteen men, including the vice president of the outlaw Comanchero Motorcycle Club and two teenagers, for illegally smuggling 2.34 tonnes of cocaine into the country after their fishing boat broke down off the coast of Urangan, Queensland, Australia. (Al Jazeera) (RNZ) (ABC News)
• Forty-four children are injured, including one critically, when a person sprays an unknown gas inside a school in Berlin, Germany. (Blue News)
• Three people are killed and eight others are injured after a mass shooting at a gathering in Gage Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States. (NBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Irish general election
  • In Ireland, Fianna Fáil remains the largest party in Dáil Éireann, increasing its number of seats to 48. Its governing partner Fine Gael wins 38 seats, with the two parties combined winning 86 seats, two shy of a majority. (AP)
• 2024 Romanian presidential election
  • The Constitutional Court of Romania upholds the results of the first round of the presidential elections following a recount last week after far-right independent candidate Călin Georgescu won a plurality of the vote, triggering a run-off. (Al Jazeera) (France24)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • 2024 Hama offensive
      • Rebel forces capture the city of Suran, the towns of Halfaya and Taybat al-Imam, and the village of Maardis in Hama Governorate, Syria. (SOHR)
  • Deir ez-Zor offensive
    • The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture seven villages and the town of Khasham in Deir ez-Zor Governorate from pro-government forces. The US-led CJTF–OIR coalition aircraft also launch airstrikes against Syrian government forces in support of the SDF offensive. (Rudaw)
• Red Sea crisis
  • The Government of Canada officially designates the Yemen-based Houthi movement as a terrorist organization due to the group's attacks on civilian and military vessels in the Red Sea. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–2025 floods in Southeast Asia and South Asia
  • At least 31 people have been killed by flooding in Thailand and Malaysia in the past five days. (AP)

Health and environment

• 2024 Kwango province disease outbreak
  • Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo announce an investigation into the deaths of 143 people from a flu-like disease in the Province of Kwango. (AP)

Law and crime

• A court in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, upholds the death penalty for real estate tycoon Trương Mỹ Lan after Lan was found guilty of embezzling $12.5 billion through the Sai Gon Joint Stock Commercial Bank. (VnExpress) (AP)
• The South Korean tourism ministry announces that 38 Vietnamese citizens have gone missing from Jeju Island before their flight back to Vietnam on November 17. (Newsweek) (JoongAng Daily)

Politics and elections

• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • During an emergency address to the nation, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares martial law in order to clear out alleged "threats posed by North Korean communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements." Yoon says that the decision to declare martial law was made in order to "remove North Korean forces" and to protect South Korea's "liberal constitutional order". (KBS) (BBC News) (Reuters) (Barrons)
  • South Korean Army general Park An-su is appointed Martial Law Commander by Yoon Suk Yeol, with Park announcing that media organizations will be subject to military control and that protests will be banned. (YNA) (The Guardian)
  • Protesters clash with police while attempting to storm the National Assembly building in Seoul. (The Independent)
  • In defiance of the declaration of martial law, which prohibits political activities, the National Assembly votes unanimously to order Yoon Suk Yeol to lift martial law. Korean soldiers that were guarding the National Assembly building withdraw following the vote. (The Guardian)
  • Yoon Suk Yeol announces that he will lift the martial law that he declared hours earlier amid staunch opposition from both the opposition and his own People Power Party. (Reuters)
• Fatah–Hamas reconciliation process
  • Palestinian officials announce that Fatah and Hamas are close to reaching an agreement on appointing a technocratic committee to govern the Gaza Strip following the end of the Gaza war. (The Globe and Mail)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • 4 December 2024 al-Mawasi attack
      • Two Israeli Air Force strikes on an evacuation zone in Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip kill at least 20 refugees due to explosions and a subsequent fire that destroyed several refugee shelters. (Al Jazeera)
  • Israeli incursions in the West Bank (2023–present)
    • Israeli settler violence, Legality of Israeli settlements
      • Israeli settlers attack Huwara and Beit Furik in Nablus Governorate, West Bank, and sets fire to several buildings and vehicles. The attacks are in retaliation to Palestinians destroying illegal farming outposts. (Al Jazeera)
• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • 2024 Hama offensive
      • Rebels capture the town of Al-Saan and the villages of Shaykh Hilal and Suruj in Hama Governorate, Syria. (SOHR)
      • Heavy fighting is reported in and around Hama as rebel forces enter the city and capture three neighbourhoods. (France24) (Al Jazeera Mubasher)
• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Russia–NATO relations
    • A Russian Navy warship fires warning shots at a German helicopter conducting a routine patrol over the Baltic Sea, forcing the helicopter pilots to make evasive maneuvers. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemns the incident as part of Russia's hybrid warfare against NATO. (Anadolu Agency)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • The Pakistan Army kills five jihadist insurgents and captures two others in a raid in Lakki Marwat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Cuba blackouts
  • Another round of blackouts in Cuba leave millions of households without power. The energy ministry says that it is prioritizing restoring electricity to hospitals and water pumping facilities. (Reuters)
• An Iranian Air Force training jet crashes in Fars province, Iran, killing both pilots. (IRNA)

International relations

• Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan relations
  • Krygyzstan National Security official Kamchybek Tashiev and Tajikistan National Security official Saimumin Yatimov announces that both countries have signed an agreement that would end 33-years of conflict at the border. (The Diplomat)

Law and crime

• Human trafficking in Germany
  • German police, French security services, and Interpol conduct coordinated mass raids on an Iraqi-Kurdish human trafficking network in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. (DW)
• Killing of Brian Thompson
  • The CEO of American health insurance company UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson is assassinated by a masked gunman while attending a business conference in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. (Reuters)
• Feather River School shooting
  • Two kindergarten students are critically injured in a suspected religious hate crime school shooting at a private Protestant school in Palermo, California, United States, before the gunman commits suicide. (The New York Times)
• Twelve neo-Nazis are arrested in police raids across Italy. (Ansa)

Politics and elections

• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • The National Assembly begins impeachment proceedings against Yoon Suk Yeol in response to Yoon's attempt to impose martial law in South Korea. (BBC News)
  • The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and other professional unions in South Korea announce a labor strike on December 5 and 6 in response to President Yoon Suk Yeol's surprise declaration of martial law yesterday, calling for Yoon's resignation. (Maeil Business Newspaper) (Bloomberg)
  • The South Korean won drops to a two-year low following Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law yesterday. Several ETFs on the Korea Exchange also drop to a one-year low. (Invezz)
  • Foreign embassies in Seoul warn their citizens to stay away from mass demonstrations, citing the possibility of violence and death. (The Korea Herald)
• 2024 French political crisis
  • Collapse of the Barnier government
    • In France, the Barnier government collapses after 331 of 577 deputies vote in favor of a no-confidence motion, the first time since 1962 that the government has collapsed following a no-confidence motion. The left subsequently calls on President Emmanuel Macron to resign and hold early presidential elections. (Reuters)
• 2024 Georgian post-election protests
  • Ahali party leader Nika Gvaramia is arrested in a police raid on his office in Tbilisi, Georgia. The arrest comes as the government continues to crack down on the opposition in response to protests against delaying negotiations to join the European Union. More than 100 demonstrators are also injured during clashes with riot police in Tbilisi. (AP)
• 2024 Namibian general election
  • The Electoral Commission of Namibia certifies the results of the general election, announcing Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of the ruling SWAPO party as the new President, the first female president in the country's history. (The South African) (DW)
• Activists file a second impeachment complaint against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte over alleged misuse of government funds. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • 2024 Hama offensive
      • The Syrian Army says that it has withdrawn from the city of Hama in order to "protect the lives of civilians" after rebel forces enter the city. Rebel forces later begin releasing hundreds of prisoners from Hama's central prison. (MSN) (Ynet)
      • A helicopter is shot down after taking off from Hama Air Base as pro-government forces evacuate the airbase. Another helicopter that took off from the air base makes an emergency landing after being hit. The airbase is later fully captured by the rebels. (Al Jazeera) (YeniSafak)
      • Rebel forces enter the city of Salamiyah in Hama Governorate after reportedly facing no resistance. (SOHR)
      • Rebels capture the town of Qamhana and Jabal Zayn al-Abidin mountain in Hama Governorate. (SOHR)
    • 2024 Homs offensive
      • Syrian rebel forces capture and take military vehicles and ammunition from a Syrian military engineering battalion facility on the outskirts of the city of al-Rastan in Homs Governorate. (SOHR)
      • A Russian jet launches an airstrike on the Rastan Bridge over the Orontes River in an attempt to impede the rebel advance on Al-Rastan. (Pravda) (SOHR)
      • Rebel forces take control of the town of Talbiseh in Homs Governorate as they advance south toward Homs. (SOHR)
• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • Gaza genocide
      • Amnesty International accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel rejects the accusation, referring to Amnesty's statements as "fake news." (Reuters) (Sky News)
    • Kamal Adwan Hospital sieges
      • An Israeli airstrike near the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza kills a 16-year-old Palestinian boy and injures at least 12 others. (Arab News)
• Piracy off the coast of Somalia
  • The European Union's anti-piracy mission says that heavily armed Somali pirates have hijacked a Chinese fishing vessel off the coast of Puntland, Somalia. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• German economic crisis
  • German workers' union IG Metall announces they will go on extended strikes next week leading up to a fourth round of negotiations with Volkswagen. (DW)
• The value of a Bitcoin surpasses US$100,000 for the first time, after increasing 130% in the past year. (CNN) (NBC News)
• British multinational oil and gas company Shell and Norwegian state-owned company Equinor announce a joint venture to merge their North Sea assets. (Cyprus Mail) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Cape Mendocino earthquake
  • A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes offshore near the northern coast of California, United States. (Weather Channel)
• Winter of 2024–25 in the Gaza Strip
  • Heavy winter rainfall causes extensive flooding across Gaza, with a majority of tents in several refugee camps being destroyed. (IRC)
• Eight people are killed when a cargo truck loaded with fertilizers hits pedestrians and crashes into a house in Makilala, Cotabato, Philippines. (Philippine News Agency)

Health and environment

• The Mexican health department reports that thirteen children have died from a bloodstream infection caused by Klebsiella oxytoca found in contaminated IV bags in Mexico state, Mexico. Seven children remain hospitalized. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

• 2024 French political crisis
  • Michel Barnier resigns as Prime Minister of France following the collapse of the Barnier government. (Sky News)

Science and technology

• European Union Space Programme
  • Copernicus Programme
    • The European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launches the Vega C rocket carrying the Sentinel-1C satellite to monitor Earth from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, two years after its failed commercial flight. (DW) (European Space Agency)
  • ISRO successfully launches the PSLV-XL rocket carrying the European Space Agency's PROBA-3 satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India, in a solar observatory mission to gather data about the Sun's atmosphere. (DW) (El Mundo)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • 2024 Homs offensive
      • After capturing the town of Talbiseh and the city of Al-Rastan, rebel forces capture several more towns and villages in the northern countryside of Homs Governorate, Syria, reaching the town of Al-Dar al-Kabirah and approaching the outskirts of Homs. (SOHR) (Anadolu Agency)
      • Russian and Syrian warplanes bombard rebel-held areas in Homs Governorate, killing at least 20 people. (BBC News)
  • Southern Syria offensive
    • Syrian Army soldiers from the 8th Armoured Division in Daraa defect to the Syrian opposition as rebels launch attacks on pro-government checkpoints across Daraa Governorate, taking control of several towns, including Inkhil, Ghabaghib, and al-Jiza, as well as the city of Jasim. Rebels later claim near total control of the governorate. (Yeni Safak)
    • Rebels take full control of the city of Daraa after agreeing to allow Ba'ath Party officials to leave the city with safe passage to Damascus, and also take full control of the mainly Druze city of Suwayda. (The Times of Israel) (The New Arab) (Anadolu Agency) (Newsweek)
    • Jordan closes its border with Syria after rebel forces seize the main Nasib Border Crossing. (Reuters)
  • Deir ez-Zor offensive
    • The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces take control of Deir ez-Zor and its airport following the withdrawal of pro-government forces. (Enab Baladi) (SOHR)
    • Iraqi militias withdraw from the Syrian side of the Al-Qa'im border crossing on the border with Iraq. (Shafaq)
  • Russia–Syria relations
    • Russia tells its citizens to leave Syria on commercial flights while they still can amid rebel advances in the country. (Al Arabiya)
  • Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war
    • Turkey freezes the assets of deceased former commander of Tahrir al-Sham Abu Maria al-Qahtani, who was killed in April, to comply with the United Nations Security Council's policies. (Turkish Minute)
  • Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani says that his forces will not end their military campaign until Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is removed from power. (France 24)
  • Egypt and Jordan both urge Bashar al-Assad and his family to leave Syria, saying that Assad can no longer stop the rebel offensive. (The Wall Street Journal)
  • The Indian Ministry of External Affairs advises its citizens to leave Syria and avoid all travel to the country indefinitely. (WION)
• Gaza war
  • Kamal Adwan Hospital sieges
    • Israeli drone strikes on the northern and western sides of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip kill at least 29 Palestinians. Israeli forces subsequently raid the hospital, killing four doctors. (Al Jazeera) (CNN)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Southern front of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Attacks on civilians in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • A Russian missile strike kills ten civilians in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, and injures four others, including two children. Separately, a missile attack on an administrative building in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, kills two people and injures 16 others. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• EU–Mercosur Association Agreement
  • The European Union and Mercosur trade bloc finalize a free trade deal in Montevideo, Uruguay, after 25 years of negotiations. (France 24)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 European windstorm season
  • Millions of people receive emergency alerts in the United Kingdom as Storm Darragh prepares to make landfall over the British Isles. (BBC News)
• Twenty-six people are killed and 28 more injured after a collision between two minibuses in Brokoua, Ivory Coast. (AP)
• New Zealand Police presume that two Americans and a Canadian are dead after evidence suggests they fell while attempting to summit Mount Cook (Aoraki), suspending search operations. (CNN)

International relations

• Belarus–Russia relations, Nuclear risk during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko sign an agreement in Minsk, Belarus, offering security guarantees to Belarus including nuclear security and the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons in order to repel aggressions. (AP)

Law and crime

• Antisemitism in Australia
  • Two people are injured in an arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne, Australia. (DW) (The Australian Jewish News)
• Restrictions on TikTok in the United States
  • A United States court of appeals upholds the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which requires China-based company ByteDance to sell TikTok by January 19 or face an effective ban on operations in the United States. (CNBC)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Aruban general election
  • Arubans vote to elect the 21 members of the Parliament. The Aruban People's Party wins nine seats and the People's Electoral Movement wins eight seats, neither parties achieving a majority. (Aruba Papers)
• 2024 Mauritian presidential election
  • An uncontested election is held for the President of Mauritius, with former minister of education and Labour Party representative Dharam Gokhool winning without contest. Robert Hungley is elected Vice-President. (Xinhua)
• 2024 Romanian presidential election
  • The Constitutional Court of Romania annuls the first round results of the presidential election vote two days before the second round of the election. (The Washington Post)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • Operation Dawn of Freedom
      • 2024 Manbij offensive
        • Turkish-backed Syrian National Army forces conduct extensive drone strikes and artillery shelling on villages near U.S.-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces positions in the city of Manbij in Aleppo Governorate, Syria. (Motabaat) (Asharq Al-Awsat)
    • Fall of Damascus
      • The Military Operations Command coalition led by Tahrir al-Sham says that a military operation to capture Damascus is underway with rebels reportedly advancing on the capital on several fronts. (The Jerusalem Post)
      • Rebel forces capture the cities of Al-Dumayr and Yabroud and the town of Sa'sa' in Rif Dimashq Governorate as the Syrian Defense Ministry denies reports that its troops are abandoning positions in the Damascus countryside. (Al Arabiya) (SOHR)
      • Syrian security officials and Arab officials say that First Lady of Syria Asma al-Assad fled with her three children to Russia last week. However, amid conflicting reports, Syrian state television says that President Bashar al-Assad remains in Damascus. (The Telegraph via Yahoo! News) (BBC News)
      • United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Otto Pedersen calls for an "orderly political transition" from the collapsing Syrian government to the Syrian opposition in order to end the conflict. (AP) (Barron's)
      • A statue of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad is toppled in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana. (NBC News) (Barron's)
    • Southern Syria offensive
      • The Syrian Armed Forces announce a complete withdrawal from the Daraa and Suwayda Governorates in order to reinforce Damascus. (AP)
      • Rebel forces capture the city of Al-Sanamayn in Daraa Governorate and also capture the city of Quneitra. (First Post) (The Hindustan Times) (Al Arabiya)
    • 2024 Homs offensive
      • Rebel forces enter the city of Homs, eventually capturing the city after hours of urban warfare to oust Assad loyalists. Rebels also capture Homs Central Prison and release around 3,500 prisoners. (Reuters) (Times Now) (Cedar News) (Barron's)
    • Deir ez-Zor offensive
      • More than 1,000 Syrian soldiers seeking refuge cross into Iraq through the Al-Qa'im border crossing according to Iraqi authorities. (Iraqi News Agency)
    • Palmyra offensive
      • The U.S.-backed Revolutionary Commando Army takes control of the city of Palmyra in Homs Governorate following heavy fighting with pro-government forces. Rebels also capture the towns of Al-Sukhnah and Al-Qaryatayn in Homs Governorate. (Yeni Safak)
    • The Syrian Army withdraws from the cities of Al-Hasakah and Qamishli in Al-Hasakah Governorate, transferring control of the Kurdish-majority cities to the Syrian Democratic Forces. (Anadolu Agency) (Yeni Safak)
  • Iranian intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • Iran begins to evacuate military personnel, diplomatic staff, and civilians from Syria amid rebel advances. (The New York Times)
  • Refugees of the Syrian civil war
    • The UN World Food Programme reports that the renewed conflict in Syria is estimated to displace around 1.5 million Syrians. (Al Jazeera)
• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • Attacks on refugee camps in the Gaza war
      • At least 20 people, including six children, are killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp in Deir al-Balah Governorate, Gaza. (Al Jazeera)
  • Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says at the Doha Forum that his country is seeing a momentum build up for a ceasefire to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Al Jazeera)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Six Pakistan Army soldiers and 22 Tehreek-e-Taliban militants are killed in clashes near the Afghan border. (Reuters)
  • Six soldiers are killed and seven are injured after a mass shooting at a military checkpoint in Kurram District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 European windstorm season
  • Storm Darragh
    • Two people are killed by falling trees in England and more than 1.5 million people experience power outages in Ireland and the United Kingdom as Storm Darragh hits the British Isles. (BBC News) (Sky News)
• 2024 The Hague explosion
  • Five people are killed, four others are injured, and several others are missing in an explosion that destroyed several apartments in The Hague, Netherlands. (BBC News) (Euronews)

Law and crime

• Cross-strait relations, Chinese intelligence activity abroad
  • Prosecutors in Taiwan charge four soldiers with espionage, accusing the soldiers of passing photographs of Taiwan's military capability to Chinese agents in exchange for money between 2022 and 2024. (DW) (The Standard)

Politics and elections

• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • Attempted impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol
    • A vote to impeach South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol fails in the National Assembly due to a boycott of the vote by members of Yoon's People Power Party. (AP)
  • President Yoon Suk Yeol apologizes to the South Korean population, promising that he will not avoid legal sanctions or institute martial law a second time. (The Guardian)
• 2024 Indian farmers' protest
  • Over 100 Indian farmers march from Punjab to the capital city New Delhi to demand for the legal assurance of a minimum support price for all crops as well as loan forgiveness for farmers. (DW)
  • Punjab Police set up barricades and fire tear gas at the marching farmers as they enter Haryana, causing them to turn around and return to Shambhu, Punjab. (Hindustan Times) (Anadolu Agency)
• 2024 Ghanaian general election
  • Ghanaians vote to elect the President and the 275 members of the Parliament. (France24)
• 2025 Singaporean general election
  • Former Workers' Party Secretary-General and longest-serving opposition Member of the Parliament of Singapore Low Thia Khiang announced retirement in politics ahead of the election. (The Straits Times) (CNA)
• Interim President and military junta leader of Burkina Faso Ibrahim Traoré dismisses Prime Minister Apollinaire J. Kyélem de Tambèla and dissolves the government. (DW) (Irish Examiner)

Science and technology

• The Iranian Space Agency successfully launches the Simorgh rocket carrying two satellites and the Saman-1 space tug from the Imam Khomeini Space Launch Terminal in Semnan, Iran, the heaviest payload ever launched in Iran. (DW)

Sports

• MLS Cup 2024
  • In association football, the Los Angeles Galaxy defeat the New York Red Bulls 2–1 to win a record 6th championship. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • Fall of Damascus
      • Fall of the Assad regime
        • Syrian President Bashar al-Assad leaves the country on a flight from Damascus International Airport to Moscow, Russia. (BBC News) (Al Jazeera)
        • Russian state media reports that Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow, and that he and his family have been granted asylum by the Russian government. (Euronews) (Sky News)
        • Senior Syrian government officials are reportedly in talks with the Syrian opposition and are preparing to defect. (CNN)
        • Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali says that he is not leaving Syria and will commit to a peaceful transition of power to the Syrian opposition. Al-Jalali also calls on rebel forces to not damage state institutions in Damascus or to harm civilians. (Axios)
        • The Syrian Army says that Bashar al-Assad's rule has ended and orders all of its troops to lay down arms and stop fighting. (Reuters)
        • Syrian rebels seize state television and announce to the nation that Bashar al-Assad has been toppled and that a new government will be formed. (Xinhua)
        • Rebel forces seize the Presidential Palace in Damascus, which is later looted by armed soldiers and civilians. (The Guardian) (Al Arabiya)
      • Rebel forces take control of Sednaya Prison and begin releasing thousands of prisoners, including many political prisoners. (Barron's)
      • Thousands of Damascus residents gather in Umayyad Square to celebrate the collapse of the Assad regime. (BBC News)
      • A video posted to X shows Syrians tearing down posters of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani at the Iranian embassy in Damascus. Statues of former president Hafez al-Assad are also toppled across the city. (Al Bawaba) (Madhyama Online)
      • Syrians abroad celebrate the collapse of the Assad regime, with rallies being held in cities across Europe. (France24) (The Guardian)
    • 2024 Manbij offensive, Operation Dawn of Freedom
      • Turkish security sources claim that 80% of Kurdish-held positions in the city of Manbij in Aleppo Governorate have been taken by the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army. (Türkiye Today)
      • Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan threatens "appropriate measures" against Kurdistan Workers' Party-aligned rebel groups, and states that Turkey will never allow these groups control over any part of Syria or its government. (Shafaq)
    • Deir ez-Zor offensive
      • Syrian regime forces reportedly surrender Deir ez-Zor to opposition forces, according to Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham. (BBC News)
  • Israel and the Syrian civil war
    • Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
      • Israeli tanks and troops enter Syria's Quneitra Governorate to reportedly establish a buffer zone, marking Israel's first crossing of the ceasefire line in 50 years. (The Times of Israel) (Al Jazeera)
      • Israeli forces take control of the towns of Madinat al-Baath and Khan Arnabah in Quneitra Governorate and also capture the Syrian side of Mount Hermon in Rif Dimashq Governorate. (Factjo) (The Times of Israel)
      • The Israeli Air Force launches targeted airstrikes on ammunition and equipment depots at Mezzeh Air Base in Damascus and Khalkhalah air base in Suwayda Governorate. An Israeli airstrike also targets the Scientific Research Center in Damascus's security zone, which oversees chemical weapons and ballistic missile programs. (Reuters) (Sada El-Balad) (Al Jazeera)
      • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria has "collapsed" and orders the Israel Defense Forces to occupy the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. (New Arab)
  • US intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • War against the Islamic State
      • The United States launches airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria following the collapse of the Assad regime. (The Telegraph)
    • U.S. President Joe Biden praises the end of the Ba'athist Syria regime and announces that the U.S. will support Syria and its neighbors during Syria's political transition. (CNBC)
  • Turkish forces bombard positions in Syrian Democratic Forces-controlled areas in Al-Hasakah. (SOHR)
  • The Syrian opposition takes control of the city of Jableh in Latakia Governorate. (Al Jazeera)
• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • At least 16 Palestinians are killed in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, including in Deir al-Balah and the Bureij refugee camp. (Al Jazeera)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War
    • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and that 370,000 soldiers have been injured, while estimating the number of Russian casualties at 198,000 soldiers killed and more than 550,000 soldiers injured. (Politico)

Arts and culture

• Reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris
  • The Notre-Dame cathedral in Île de la Cité, Paris, France, reopens and holds its first public mass five years after a structural fire damaged the building and destroyed its spire. French President Emmanuel Macron and dozens of world leaders attend the reopening ceremony. (Irish Independent) (RTHK)

Law and crime

• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • South Korean National Police arrest former national defense minister Kim Yong-hyun and raid his home, alleging that Kim helped President Yoon Suk Yeol institute martial law. (DW) (Anadolu Agency)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Ghanaian general election
  • Former Ghanaian President and National Democratic Congress candidate John Mahama wins the presidential election as incumbent vice president and New Patriotic Party candidate Mahamudu Bawumia concedes defeat. (DW) (BBC News)

Sports

• 2024 Formula One World Championship
  • In auto racing, McLaren wins the World Constructors' Championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, its first title since 1998. (NBC News)
• In professional baseball, the New York Mets sign Dominican outfielder Juan Soto to a $765 million, 15-year contract, the largest contract in Major League Baseball history. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • Operation Dawn of Freedom
      • 2024 Al-Mustariha massacre
        • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that a Turkish drone strike on the village of Al-Mustariha in Raqqa Governorate, Syria, kills eleven family members, including six children. (SOHR)
      • 2024 Manbij offensive
        • The opposition Syrian National Army takes control of the city of Manbij, with 50 people killed in fighting between the Syrian National Army and the Syrian Democratic Forces. (LiveUA) (The Jerusalem Post) (SOHR)
    • Fall of Damascus
      • Fall of the Assad regime
        • Lieutenant General Ali Mahmoud, Maher al-Assad's office manager and leader of several Syrian civil war campaigns, is found dead in his office in a suburb of Damascus. (SOHR) (Naharnet)
      • The White Helmets civil defense organization announces they have freed over 20,000 prisoners from Sednaya Prison, with over 10,000 others unaccounted for. They report that there are areas of the prison hidden underground that they do not have access codes to, but can see prisoners on security cameras. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
  • Israel and the Syrian civil war
    • Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
      • Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz orders the Israeli Defense Forces to quickly occupy the entire Syrian buffer zone and to establish a new security zone further into southern Syria free of all insurgent infrastructure and heavy weapons. (Israel Hayom)
      • The Israeli Air Force launches several airstrikes on the city of Daraa and also carries out a series of airstrikes on Syrian Air Force bases, destroying the Syrian Air Force's entire fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets. (Erem News) (VIN News)
• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Blockade of the Gaza Strip
    • At least 50 Palestinians are killed and 84 others are injured in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, including ten at a flour distribution zone in Rafah. (Al Jazeera)
  • Israeli–Palestinian peace process
    • The Hamas delegation holds another round of ceasefire talks in Cairo, Egypt, with General Intelligence Service chief Hassan Mahmoud Rashad. (APA)
• Haitian crisis
  • At least 110 elderly people are killed in Cité Soleil, Haiti, following accusations by a gang leader that the people practiced witchcraft against the gang leader's child. (France24)
• Myanmar civil war
  • The Arakan Army announces their capture of Maungdaw, Rakhine State, giving them full control over the Bangladesh–Myanmar border. (AP News)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Twenty-eight people are killed and 37 others are injured in a bombing on a petrol station in Mayo, Khartoum, Sudan. (The Peninsula) (Ommcom News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Kanlaon eruption
  • PHIVOLCS raises the alert level of the Kanlaon Volcano in the Philippines to Level 3 after an explosive eruption occurred at the summit vent. (Rappler)
• 2024 The Hague explosion
  • The rescue operation at the scene of an explosion at several apartments in The Hague, Netherlands, two days ago, officially ends, with the final toll being six people killed and five others injured. (Euronews)
• Five people are killed and 26 others are injured after an explosion at an Eni factory in Calenzano, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy. (Rai News)
• Ten people are killed and two others are missing in floods and landslides in Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia. (AP)
• A fishing boat collides with a sand barge near Gyeongju, South Korea, killing seven people with another person missing. (AP)
• Two military helicopters collide during a training flight in Isparta, Turkey, killing six soldiers. (Daily Sabah) (AP)
• At least seven people are killed and 42 others are injured when a bus rams into several vehicles and pedestrians in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The bus driver is detained by local police. (DW) (The Indian Express)

International relations

• Austria–Syria relations, Germany–Syria relations
  • Refugees of the Syrian civil war
    • Austria and Germany announce that they will freeze all new and ongoing asylum applications by Syrians and will review previous asylum claims by Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime. (Euronews)
• Australia–Nauru relations
  • Australia and Nauru announce a joint security treaty that will see Australia sending Nauru AU$100 million (US$64 million) in direct support over five years in exchange for Nauru consulting Australia before signing any bilateral agreements with other countries. (DW) (Nikkei Asia)

Law and crime

• Killing of Brian Thompson
  • A suspect, identified as Luigi Mangione, is arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, United States, for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (CNN)
• China launches an investigation into American chip manufacturer Nvidia over suspected violations of China's anti-monopoly law. (CNA)
• 2024 Indian bomb hoaxes
  • At least 40 schools in New Delhi, India, receive bomb threats and a $30,000 ransom demand via e-mail on the same day. No evidence of explosives are found. (DW) (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Azad Kashmir protests
  • The local government of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, repeals an executive order that banned protests following four days of shutter-down demonstrations in May. (Al Jazeera) (Daily Express)
• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • The South Korean Corruption Investigation Office imposes a blanket travel ban on President Yoon Suk Yeol for his failed attempt at imposing martial law last week. (Al Jazeera) (Kyodo News)
• Syrian peace process
  • Syrian opposition leader Mohammed al-Bashir is appointed Prime Minister of the Syrian transitional government. (Al Jazeera)
• Prime Minister of Tonga Siaosi Sovaleni resigns ahead of a vote of no confidence. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • Operation Dawn of Freedom
      • 2024 Manbij offensive
        • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports that pro-Turkish factions have begun sectarian reprisal attacks killing at least three Kurdish civilians in Manbij, Aleppo Governorate, Syria, as well as burning and looting civilian homes. (SOHR)
        • Pro-Turkish factions impose a siege on several neighborhoods in Manbij, prompting humanitarian concerns of potential massacres and kidnappings. (SOHR)
        • The SOHR reports that the Free Syrian Army-affiliated Dawn of Freedom Brigades performed a field execution of dozens of injured pro-Kurdish Manbij Military Council soldiers who had been receiving hospital treatment. (SOHR)
      • Deir ez-Zor offensive
        • The Military Operations Command says that its forces have taken full control of Deir ez-Zor following days of clashes with the Syrian Democratic Forces. (Trend News Agency)
    • Israel and the Syrian civil war
      • Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
        • Regional security sources report that Israeli troops have reached the city of Qatana in Rif Dimashq Governorate, 10 km into Syrian territory and 25 km southwest of Damascus. (Reuters)
        • The Israeli Navy attacks and destroys most of the Syrian Navy's fleet at anchor in the Port of Latakia, including Osa-class missile boats and minesweepers. (MSN) (Naval News)
        • Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia condemn Israel's actions in Syria and the United Nations special envoy for Syria calls on Israel to stop its military movements and bombardments inside Syria. (The Times of Israel)
  • Eastern Syria insurgency
    • The Islamic State summarily executes 54 Syrian Army soldiers captured near Al-Sukhnah, Homs Governorate. (SOHR)
• Gaza war
  • Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
    • The United Nations reports that humanitarian aid has been blocked from entering the Gaza Strip for at least 66 days, leaving at least 65,000 Palestinians without food, water, electricity, and healthcare. (AP)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Battle of Khartoum
    • At least 65 people are killed and hundreds of others are injured in Rapid Support Forces artillery shelling on a market in Karary District, Khartoum State, Sudan. (Anadolu Agency) (Sudan Tribune)
  • Darfur campaign
    • At least 100 people are killed and 37 others are injured in a Sudanese Air Force airstrike on Kabkabiya District, North Darfur, Sudan. (Business Recorder) (Sudan War Monitor) (BBC News)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Southern front of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • A Russian missile strike on a private clinic in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, kills four civilians and injures 20 others. (Interfax Ukraine) (Al Arabiya)
• Insurgency in Balochistan
  • One Pakistani soldier and 15 separatist militants are killed in an operation in Zhob District, Balochistan, Pakistan (Arab News)

Arts and culture

• Filipino singer Sofronio Vasquez wins the 26th season of The Voice, becoming the first Filipino and Asian contestant to win a season of the show. (MSN)

Business and economy

• Proposed acquisition of Albertsons by Kroger
  • U.S. federal judge Adrienne Nelson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon blocks a $24.6 billion bid by Kroger to acquire stores from Albertsons. (Bloomberg Law)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 California wildfires
  • In Malibu, California, United States, the Franklin Fire spreads to more than 2,800 acres, prompting over 20,000 people to evacuate. (KABC-TV)
• A six-story apartment building collapses in Waili, Cairo, Egypt killing eight people and injuring three others. (U..S. News & World Report)

International relations

• Switzerland–Syria relations
  • Refugees of the Syrian civil war
    • Switzerland suspends all new and pending asylum requests and announces that they will review their asylum policy following the fall of the Assad regime. (The Economic Times)
• Belarus–Russia relations, Nuclear risk during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirms the presence of nuclear weapons in his country, including Russia's Oreshnik missile system. (AP)

Law and crime

• The Russian Federal Security Service arrests a German-Russian man for allegedly planning to sabotage a rail line in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine. (DW)

Politics and elections

• Kenya Police fire tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators in Nairobi, Kenya, protesting against gender-based violence and femicide. Protests also took place in Mombasa and Lodwar, with at least three people arrested. (Al Jazeera) (Africanews)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Somali Civil War
  • Constitutional crisis in Somalia
    • 2024 Jubaland presidential election
      • Battle of Ras Kamboni
        • Somali forces launch a failed attack on Jubaland regional forces, with Jubaland capturing hundreds of Somali soldiers and claiming to have fully taken over Ras Kamboni, Lower Juba, Somalia. (Reuters) (Idil News) (Garowe Online)
• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • Siege of North Gaza
      • At least 29 people are killed in Israeli airstrikes on civilian areas in Beit Lahia, North Gaza Governorate, Gaza. (Al Jazeera)
  • An Israeli boy is killed and three others are injured by a Palestinian gunman attack on a bus in Al-Khader, West Bank. (The Times of Israel)
• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
    • United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
      • The United States Department of State approves a $266.4 million sale of F-16 maintenance equipment to Ukraine. (Ukrainska Pravda) (DSCA) (Newsweek)
    • The Parliament of Canada approves the allocation of CA$764 million (US$587 million) in military aid to Ukraine. (Ukrainska Pravda)
• Syrian civil war
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • Armed men raid and set fire to the tomb of former president Hafez al-Assad and also conduct attacks on other tombs and graves in Qardaha District, Latakia Governorate, Syria. (SOHR)
  • Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian civil war
    • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights urges Syria's military leadership to prevent ongoing sectarian riots, looting, and assaults on civilians from armed groups. (SOHR)
  • The Federal Foreign Office of Germany announces an additional €8 million (US$8.4 million) in humanitarian aid to Syria following the fall of the Assad regime. (APA)
• Haitian crisis
  • Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, reopens after it was closed in November when a Spirit Airlines aircraft was struck by gunfire. (DW)
• Islamic State–Taliban conflict
  • Afghanistan's acting Minister of Refugee and Repatriation Khalil Haqqani and five other people are killed in a suicide bombing at the Ministry's headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Reuters)
• Israel–Hezbollah conflict
  • Five civilians are killed in Israeli airstrikes in Ainata, Bint Jbeil, and Beit Lif, Lebanon, despite the agreed ceasefire with Hezbollah. (Al Jazeera)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Amnesty International reports that Sudan is currently facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with over 30 million people at risk or in need of humanitarian aid. (DW)

Business and economy

• Proposed acquisition of Albertsons by Kroger
  • American grocery store company Albertsons of Boise, Idaho backs out of a $24.6 billion merger deal between Cincinnati-based grocer Kroger and files a lawsuit against them that includes a $600 million termination fee. (ABC News)

Disasters and accidents

• One person is killed in a fire and explosion at a residential high-rise apartment building in Shenzhen, China. (Reuters)
• Forty-four people are presumed dead from drowning when a boat carrying refugees from Sierra Leone capsizes on its way from Sfax, Tunisia, to Europe. (DW)

Law and crime

• Two United States foreign nationals from California are killed in a shooting by unidentified gunmen in Angamacutiro, Michoacán, Mexico. (ABC News)

Health and environment

• Environmental issues in Iran
  • Iran announces that all government offices, universities, and schools in Tehran province will be closed for two days due to severe air pollution. (AP)

Politics and elections

• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • A special investigations team conducts a raid on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's office, the National Police Agency headquarters, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency headquarters, and the office of the National Assembly's security service, as part of an investigation into Yoon's failed attempt at imposing martial law last week. (DW)
  • Jailed former national defense minister Kim Yong-hyun, who allegedly helped President Yoon Suk Yeol impose martial law, attempts suicide while in custody. (BBC News)
• 2024 United Kingdom farmers' protests
  • Hundreds of tractors block Whitehall, City of Westminster, England in protest of Labour government changes to the agricultural inheritance tax. (The Independent)
• The Swiss Federal Assembly elects Karin Keller-Sutter, currently a Federal Councillor, as President for 2025. (Swissinfo)

Sports

• 2034 FIFA World Cup
  • FIFA announces that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. (Khaleej Times)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom
    • 2024 Manbij offensive
      • Large-scale protests occur in Manbij, Aleppo Governorate, Syria, against pro-Turkish Dawn of Freedom Operations Room revenge killings and crimes against civilians. (SOHR)
      • Pro-Turkish factions are filmed executing dozens of surrendered prisoners of the pro-Kurdish Manbij Military Council and Syrian Democratic Forces. (SOHR)
    • 2024 Kobani clashes
      • Turkish military forces and the pro-Turkish Dawn of Freedom Operations Room launch an attack with tanks and drones against the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates river, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warns could trigger a dam failure and a severe humanitarian crisis. (SOHR)
  • Israel and the Syrian civil war
    • Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
      • Syrian residents of the villages of Hader, Hamidiya, and Umm Batna in Quneitra Governorate are displaced from their homes after Israeli military forces enter the villages with military vehicles. (SOHR)
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • At least six civilians are reported to have been killed by gunfire in celebration of the fall of the Assad regime. (SOHR)
  • Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • Satellite images and MarineTraffic data confirm that the Russian Navy has abandoned its naval base in the port city of Tartus. (The Telegraph)
  • Syrian peace process
    • The Syrian transitional government announces that the constitution and parliament will be suspended during the three-month transitional period. (Al Arabiya)
• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • December 2024 Nuseirat refugee camp attack
      • At least 33 Palestinians are killed and 50 others are injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. (AP) (Euronews)
    • Fifteen people are killed in Israeli airstrikes while guarding humanitarian aid convoys near Rafah and Khan Younis, Gaza. (Al Jazeera)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Four police officers are injured in a drone attack on the barracks of a police regiment building in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia. (Kyiv Independent)
• Islamic State–Taliban conflict
  • The Islamic State – Khorasan Province claims responsibility for yesterday's suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, which killed acting Minister of Refugee and Repatriation Khalil Haqqani and several other people. (AP)

Arts and culture

• United States president-elect Donald Trump is named Person of the Year by Time magazine. (BBC News)
• Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2024. (Polygon)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • Tropical Cyclone Chido makes landfall over Agaléga, Mauritius. (Crisis24)
• Seven people, including a child, are killed and 35 others are injured in a fire at a private hospital in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, India. (The Times of India)
• At least nine people are found dead, six others are missing, and 27 people are rescued when a boat carrying African migrants sinks off the coast of Chebba, Mahdia Governorate, Tunisia. (Al Jazeera) (Arab News)

International relations

• Enlargement of the European Union
  • The European Union approves of Romania and Bulgaria to join the Schengen Area in 2025. (Al Jazeera) (Euronews)
• Israel–Paraguay relations
  • Paraguay reopens its embassy in Jerusalem, Israel. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Federal pardons in the United States
  • U.S. President Joe Biden announces pardons for 39 people convicted of non-violent offenses, and commutes the sentences of 1,500 others who had been released from prison to house arrest during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is considered the "largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history". (AP)
• A Danish court sentences British hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah to 12 years in prison for tax fraud. (The National)
• The Venezuelan government releases 103 prisoners who were arrested during the protests against the results of the disputed presidential election in July. (Al Jazeera) (CNN)

Politics and elections

• In Lithuania, the three-party coalition Government headed by the new appointed Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas takes over. (Reuters)
• Hundreds of protesters, led by university students, gather outside the Radio Television of Serbia headquarters in Belgrade, Serbia, to protest against the state-owned television broadcaster and President Aleksandar Vučić's administration. At least 13 people are detained by Serbian police. (AP) (BalkanInsight) (Euronews)
• In Somalia, Abdirahman Irro is sworn in as president of Somaliland. (Mogadishu 24)

Science and technology

• Edith Heard, biologist specialist of epigenetics and director-general of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, is awarded the CNRS Gold Medal, France's highest research award. (CNRS - Le Journal)

Sports

• World Chess Championship 2024
  • Gukesh Dommaraju defeats Ding Liren to win the World Chess Championship 7½-6½, becoming the youngest ever chess champion at the age of 18 years. (Sportstar)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Israel and the Syrian civil war
    • Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
      • Syrian sources report that Israeli forces met with village dignitaries in the Yarmouk Basin area of Daraa Governorate, instructing them to surrender all weapons in the villages and for villagers to comply with home searches. (Erem News) (Sada El-Balad)
  • US intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • The U.S. military evacuates American citizen Travis Timmerman out of Syria after Timmerman had previously been reported missing in the country. (NBC News)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Moldova and the Russo-Ukrainian War
    • The Parliament of Moldova votes in favor of declaring a 60-day national state of emergency beginning on December 16 due to Ukraine not renewing its transit contract with Gazprom to deliver Russian gas to Moldova. (Reuters)
  • Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • Russia launches one of its largest attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure since the conflict began, with about 290 missiles fired and drones striking multiple regions. The Russian Defense Ministry claims that the attack was in response to a recent Ukrainian ATACMS attack on Taganrog-Central air base in Rostov Oblast, Russia. (The Kyiv Independent) (UNN)
• Gaza war
  • December 2024 Nuseirat refugee camp attack
    • The number of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp yesterday increases to 33, most of whom are from the same family. Eighty-four others are reported to be either injured or missing. (Al Jazeera)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Darfur campaign
    • Nine people are killed and 20 others are injured in a Rapid Support Forces airstrike on a hospital in Al-Fashir, North Darfur, Sudan. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • Cyclone Chido destroys most of Agaléga, Mauritius. (L'Express) (Le Mauricien)
• Six people are killed and 66 others are injured in a fire at a nursing home in Amman, Jordan. (Reuters)

Health and environment

• Opioid epidemic in the United States
  • McKinsey & Company agrees to pay $650 million and enter a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve criminal charges related to its advisory work for Purdue Pharma on increasing OxyContin sales, including conspiracy to misbrand a drug and obstruction of justice. (Al Jazeera)
• The British Antarctic Survey reports that A23a, the world's largest iceberg, has exited the Taylor column and is beginning to drift further north through the Southern Ocean. (BBC News) (CNN)

International relations

• Syria–Ukraine relations
  • Humanitarian aid during the Syrian civil war
    • The Ukrainian government says that it is ready to supply food to Syria after Russia suspended wheat supplies to Syria amid uncertainty about the new government and payment delays. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Gaza war
  • A court in The Hague, Netherlands, rejects a request by 10 pro-Palestinian NGOs for the Netherlands to stop arms exports to Israel. (Reuters)
• Three people are killed and 48 others are injured in a bombing during a festival in Umphang District, Tak Province, Thailand. Two suspects are arrested. (Thai PBS)
• Former Chinese footballer and coach Li Tie is sentenced to 20 years in prison for bribery and match-fixing. (CNN)

Politics and elections

• 2024 French political crisis
  • French President Emmanuel Macron appoints François Bayrou as Prime Minister. (Politico) (The Guardian)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom, Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war
    • 2024 Kobani clashes
      • The Turkish Armed Forces and pro-Turkish rebel groups amass troops on the Syria–Turkey border outside of Kobani, Aleppo Governorate, Syria, and along the nearby Qarqozak Bridge, following several breaches in an internationally-brokered temporary ceasefire agreement between them and the Syrian Democratic Forces. (Enab Baladi) (Roj News)
      • Iraqi water experts issue warnings regarding cracks that have formed in the Tishrin Dam in Aleppo Governorate following continuous bombardment by Turkish and pro-Turkish forces and the possibility of further damage causing a dam failure. (Waradana)
• Somali Civil War
  • Puntland–Somaliland dispute
    • Las Anod conflict
      • Two Somaliland troops are killed and eight others are injured in fighting between Somaliland and SSC-Khatumo forces in Erigavo, Sanaag, Somaliland. (Idil News)
  • At least eight people were killed and ten others injured in a deadly inter-clan conflict in a rural area under the El Buur district of Galgadud region in south-central Somalia (Hiiraan Online)
• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • At least 52 Palestinians are killed in Israeli airstrikes on two schools in Gaza City and Rafah in the Gaza Strip. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

• Moody's downgrades France's bond credit rating to "Aa3" from "Aa2" following the collapse of the Barnier government, citing "political fragmentation" as a threat to the country's ability to reduce its public debt and lower its deficit. (DW) (Politico)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • Cyclone Chido kills two people and causes "catastrophic" damage to the island of Mayotte, with many more feared dead on the island. (France 24) (RFI)

International relations

• The 24th summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) is held in Caracas, Venezuela. (ALBA-TCP News)

Law and crime

• 2024 New Jersey drone sightings
  • Flights are temporarily suspended at Stewart International Airport in New York, United States, after the Federal Aviation Administration alerts them to a drone sighting in the area. The incident prompts Governor Kathy Hochul to call for federal government intervention amid a series of widespread drone sightings across the Northeastern United States. (ABC News)
  • The Public Service Enterprise Group files a request with the Federal Aviation Administration to close the airspace over two of its nuclear power plants to all aircraft after unidentified drones were spotted hovering over the facilities in New Jersey. (The New York Post via MSN)
• 2024 Nord Department killings
  • Five people are killed during a shooting spree between Dunkirk and Loon-Plage, in Nord Department, France. A man is detained. (AP)
• Operation Counter-coup
  • Former Minister of Defence and running mate of Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 Brazilian general election Walter Braga Netto is arrested amid charges with meddling in investigations related to an attempted coup. (Reuters)
• One police officer is killed and at least two others are injured in an explosion in Dnipro, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Ukrinform)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Georgian presidential election
  • President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili states that she will not recognize the scheduled presidential election results as legitimate due to the election not being a direct vote, and repeats her intention to remain as president until new parliamentary elections are held. (Anadolu Agency)
  • Georgian Dream candidate Mikheil Kavelashvili is elected as president by the electoral college. Major opposition parties do not participate in the vote, having boycotted Parliament since the parliamentary election in October. (CNN)
• Impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol
  • South Korea's National Assembly votes to impeach president Yoon Suk Yeol over his recent attempt to impose martial law. (The Guardian)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • December 2024 Nuseirat refugee camp attack
    • Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmad Al-Louh is killed in an Israeli airstrike on a civil defense point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. (WAFA) (anews)
• Syrian civil war
  • Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
    • Israeli Air Force fighter jets strike surface-to-air missile and weapon depots in Tartus Governorate, Syria, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights describing the strikes as the heaviest in the region since the start of the civil war. (AFP via Barron's)

Business and economy

• Free trade agreements of the United Kingdom
  • The United Kingdom joins the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, becoming the 12th member and the first European member. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • Thousands of people are believed to have been killed by Cyclone Chido in the French overseas department of Mayotte, with the cyclone also causing damage in the Comoros and Mozambique. (The Independent)
• 2024 Kerch Strait oil spill
  • At least one person is killed when two Russian oil tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-236, are damaged due to bad weather in the Kerch Strait with oil from the tankers actively leaking into the strait. (NOS) (CNN)

International relations

• Australia–Indonesia relations
  • Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announces that the remaining five members of the Bali Nine drug-trafficking group, who were serving life sentences in Indonesia, have returned to Australia following an agreement between the two countries to end their imprisonment. (CNN)
• Ireland–Israel relations
  • Israel announces that it will close its embassy in Dublin, Ireland, over Ireland's alleged "extreme anti-Israel policies". (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2024 Northeastern United States drone sightings
  • White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says that the United States Coast Guard has confirmed that there is no evidence of any "foreign-based involvement" in the unidentified drones that are being sighted over the Northeastern United States. (The Times of India via MSN)
• ABC News settles a defamation lawsuit filed by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump over statements made on air by anchor George Stephanopoulos about the E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump lawsuits, with ABC agreeing to pay $15 million to the Trump presidential library as well as $1 million for legal fees. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • Syrian mass graves
      • A recently created mass grave containing the bodies of 17 executed Syrian Army soldiers is discovered in the Syrian Desert near Deir ez-Zor. (SOHR)
    • In his first public statement since being overthrown, former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad says that he "didn't intend to leave Syria", claiming that he went to Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia Governorate to "oversee combat operations" only to find that the Syrian Army had abandoned their positions and surrendered to rebel forces. Amid "an intensified attack by drone strikes" at the air base, Assad says that Russia decided to airlift him to Moscow. (BBC News)
  • Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
    • The Cabinet of Israel approves a plan proposing to double the occupied Golan Heights' regional Israeli settlers population. (BBC News)
    • Heavy overnight Israeli airstrikes are reported in Tartus Governorate, Syria. (The Times of Israel)
  • Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian civil war
    • The brother of the imam of the Great Prophet Mosque of Masyaf is assassinated by unidentified gunmen in Hama Governorate, in a potential revenge operation due to the imam being associated with Hezbollah and other Iranian- and Shia-associated militias. (SOHR)
  • US intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • The United States Air Force conduct strikes targeting ISIS camps and operatives, killing at least twelve fighters, according to the Pentagon. (U.S. Department of Defense)
• Gaza war
  • The Gaza Health Ministry announces that the death toll in the ongoing war has surpassed 45,000 people. (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican Drug War
  • An improvised explosive device detonates in Cotija de la Paz, Michoacán, leaving two soldiers dead and five others injured. The Secretary of National Defense, Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, blames the Cárteles Unidos for the attack. (Revista Proceso) (Expansión)

Health and environment

• 2024 Australia heat wave
  • Walpeup, Victoria, Australia, reports a temperature of 47.1 °C (116.8 °F), the hottest temperature reported in the state since 2019. Extreme heat wave and fire risk warnings are also issued for areas across Australia. (The Guardian) (ABC News Australia)

Law and crime

• 2024 Northeastern United States drone sightings
  • U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calls for state National Guards to be given the authority to shoot down unidentified drones, saying that the federal government is not able to address the issue by themselves. (The Telegraph)
  • U.S. officials say that a drone detection system is being deployed in New York following a formal request by Governor Kathy Hochul. (BBC News)
  • The United States Air Force reports that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio temporarily suspended air operations for four hours on Friday and Saturday after the airbase reported sightings of unidentified "small unmanned aerial systems". (CNN)
  • President-elect Donald Trump cancels a planned visit to Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey amid drone sightings in the state. Trump also calls on outgoing President Joe Biden and the U.S. military to reveal the truth about the drones, saying that "the government knows what's happening" and that they know where the drones are coming from. (The Times of India)
• Abundant Life Christian School shooting
  • Two people are killed and six others are injured in a mass shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. The perpetrator is found dead at the scene. (CNN)
• Bolivian prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for former President Evo Morales in connection to sexual abuse allegations that he fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl, a claim he denies. (AP)

Politics and elections

• 2024 German government crisis, 2025 German federal election
  • German Chancellor Olaf Scholz loses a vote of confidence, thereby allowing for early elections to be held on February 23. (BBC News)
• Resignation of Chrystia Freeland
  • Chrystia Freeland resigns as Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance amid disagreements with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on increased government spending and how to handle possible U.S. tariffs imposed by the incoming Trump administration. (Reuters)
• President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov announces that he has dismissed Akylbek Japarov as Prime Minister. (Reuters)
• The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle expels former Indonesian President Joko Widodo, his son Vice President Gibran Rakabuming and his son-in-law, North Sumatra Governor-elect Bobby Nasution, following a rift over Rakabuming's candidacy as Prabowo Subianto's running mate during the 2024 election. (Bloomberg)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • War crimes in the Syrian civil war, Fall of the Assad regime
    • Syrian mass graves
      • Several mass graves are uncovered across Syria following the fall of the Assad regime, with a site in Al-Qutayfah, Rif Dimashq Governorate, estimated to contain the remains of at least 100,000 people. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
  • Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
    • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz visit the summit of Mount Hermon in Syria, which was captured by the Israel Defense Forces last week. (The New York Times)
    • The Israeli military continue invading Syria beyond the 1974 buffer zone in Quneitra Governorate and take control of the Al-Wehda Dam on the Yarmouk River. (JFeed)
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom
    • Senior American officials report that Turkey is building up its forces along the Syrian border, raising fears of a possible ground invasion on territories held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the NBC Protection Troops, and his assistant are assassinated by an IED hidden inside of an e-scooter in Moscow, Russia. A Ukrainian source claims that the Security Service of Ukraine is responsible for the killings, after Kirillov was charged in absentia yesterday for the use of chemical weapons, which made him a "legitimate target". Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, says that the Ukrainian leadership would face an "imminent revenge" for the killings. (BBC News) (Deccan Herald)
  • Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Russia–NATO relations
    • NATO's Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine command center in Wiesbaden, Germany, takes over coordination of Western military support to Ukraine from the United States. (Reuters)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Two police officers are killed and three others are injured in a mass shooting at a security checkpoint in Shangla district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP)
  • Three police officers are killed and two more are wounded by a roadside bomb targeting a vehicle carrying polio vaccination workers in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (ABC News)
• Mexican drug war
  • Two municipal policemen are killed and three civilians are wounded in an attack near the Jerécuaro-Apaseo el Alto state highway in Jerécuaro, Guanajuato, Mexico. In the same day, four State Public Security Forces officers are killed and two more are wounded after a confrontation with gunmen in the city of Uriangato. (Milenio)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • The death toll in Mozambique from Cyclone Chido increase to 34, with more than 23,000 homes destroyed. (DW)
• 2024 Port Vila earthquake
  • A 7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes Vanuatu's capital Port Vila, with at least fourteen people killed and more than 200 others injured. (RNZ)

Health and environment

• 2024 Kwango province malaria outbreak
  • The Democratic Republic of the Congo's Health Ministry announces that the mystery illness that has left at least 143 people dead in Kwango was a severe form of malaria. The World Health Organization says more malaria vaccines are being sent to its health centres in the region. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

• 2024 Northeastern United States drone sightings
  • The U.S. House Intelligence Committee hold a closed-door classified briefing on drone sightings over the Northeastern United States. The briefing is provided by Federal Bureau of Investigation, the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, according to senior U.S. officials. (ABC News) (NBC News)
• Killing of Brian Thompson
  • A U.S. grand jury indicts Luigi Mangione for the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (NBC News)
• Mexican Drug War
  • Three foreigners are arrested and one ton of cocaine is seized by the Mexican Navy in an operation off coasts of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán. (El Universal)
• Murder of Sara Sharif
  • English High Court judge John Cavanagh sentences Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool to life imprisonment for the murder of Sharif's 10-year-old daughter Sara. (ABS-CBN News)
• Canadian-American anti-whaling activist Paul Watson is released from prison in Greenland after Denmark declines Japan's extradition request. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

• Second presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • The U.S. Electoral College formally certifies President-elect Donald Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election. (WNYW-TV) (CNN)
• Switzerland's Federal Assembly votes 126–20 with 41 abstentions to outlaw membership or support of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. (The New Arab)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Syrian opposition
    • Hadi al-Bahra, President of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, says that the coalition will dissolve once a national conference is convened and a constituent assembly is elected, and demands that the current transitional government be "credible, inclusive and not founded on sectarian bases". (North Press Agency)
• Armenia–Azerbaijan border crisis
  • Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says that arms sent by France to Armenia pose a threat to Azerbaijan. (Trend News Agency)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Mumbai boat accident
  • At least fifteen people are killed after an Indian Navy craft collides with a passenger ferry off the coast of Mumbai, India. (The Hindu)
• 2024 San Fernando Airport runway excursion
  • A Bombardier Challenger 300 aircraft flying from Punta del Este, Uruguay, veers off the runway while trying to land at San Fernando International Airport in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and collides with a house, killing the two pilots onboard. (Buenos Aires Herald)
• Ibadan Christmas funfair crowd crush
  • Thirty-five children are killed and six others are injured in a crowd crush during a Christmas funfair in Ibadan, Nigeria. (BBC News)
• Twenty-five people are killed and dozens of others are missing when a boat capsizes on a river in Inongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Al Jazeera)
• Twenty people are killed and five others are rescued in a shipwreck carrying migrants sinking off the coast of Sfax, Tunisia. (AP)

Health and environment

• Russian state media agency TASS claims that the nation developed an mRNA cancer vaccine, which is planned to be distributed to patients free of charge beginning next year. However, the Russian Ministry of Health has not provided any evidence to support their claim that the vaccine treats cancer. (The Times of India) (TASS) (Newsweek)
• The state of California, United States, declares a state of emergency over bird flu. (The New York Times)

International relations

• China–United States relations
  • Chinese espionage in the United States
    • Two Americans of Chinese descent plead guilty to running a covert secret police surveillance station on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security to monitor, threaten and coerce ethnic Chinese in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. At least 100 such stations have been reported worldwide across 53 countries, with human rights monitoring NGOs accusing China of using the outposts to threaten and monitor Chinese nationals abroad. (BBC)
• Indonesia–Philippines relations
  • Mary Jane Veloso, a former inmate on death row in Indonesia, is repatriated to the Philippines following negotiations between the two countries. (Reuters)
• Malaysia–United States relations
  • The U.S. Department of Defense repatriates two al-Qaeda members, Mohammed Farik Bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep, from Guantanamo Bay to Malaysia, where they will undergo a rehabilitation process before reintegration into society. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2024 Northeastern United States drone sightings
  • In his first direct comments on the issue, president Joe Biden states there is "nothing nefarious, apparently" and "no sense of danger so far" behind the aircraft sightings in the northeastern United States. (NBC News)
• Legal affairs of the Tate brothers
  • The Westminster Magistrates' Court rules that British police may seize £2.2 million (US$2.5 million) from influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan for allegedly failing to pay taxes on profits from their online ventures. (DW)
• The Dutch Data Protection Authority fines Netflix €4.75 million ($4.98 million) for failing to properly inform subscribers about the handling of their personal data between 2018 and 2020. (Al Arabiya)
• Eleven people are killed and two others are injured in an arson attack on a bar in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Georgian presidential election, 2024 Georgian parliamentary election, 2024 Georgian post-election protests
  • In an address to the European Parliament, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili urges the European Union to economically and politically pressure the current Georgian government into holding new elections, claiming that recent elections represented a "new form of invasion" by Russia. (Euronews) (AP)
• 2024 Irish general election
  • Simon Harris submits his resignation as Taoiseach of Ireland to President Michael D Higgins. (The Irish Independent)
• The parliament building of Liberia catches on fire amid anti-government protests condemning the attempted removal of House Speaker Jonathan F. Koffa. (AP) (BBC)

Sports

• 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup
  • In association football, Real Madrid wins the inaugural FIFA Intercontinental Cup after defeating Pachuca 3–0 in the final in Lusail, Qatar. Vinícius Júnior is awarded the Golden Ball. (The Guardian)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • Deir ez-Zor offensive, Eastern Syria insurgency
      • Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein warns that ISIS cells in Syria have begun reorganizing and taking new land following the collapse of the Syrian Armed Forces and subsequent abandonment of weapons depots. (Asharq News)
    • The Baniyas Refinery, Syria's largest oil refinery, stops operating after ceasing to receive the crude oil from Iran that previously made up the majority of the country's input. (Financial Times)
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom, Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war
    • 2024 Kobani clashes
      • The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces vow to fight Turkey and pro-Turkish rebel groups in Kobani, Aleppo Governorate, Syria. (Reuters)
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • Ahmed al-Sharaa, the emir of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, makes an announcement claiming that the country is exhausted by perpetual warfare and is no longer a threat to its neighbors or the Western world. (BBC News)
    • The Military Operations Command forces take control of several towns in Raqqah Governorate, Syria. (SOHR)
    • Iraq announces the repatriation of members of the Syrian Armed Forces who fled after the fall of the Assad regime through the Al-Qa'im border crossing, back to Syria. (Al Arabiya)
  • Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • Satellite imagery reveals that Russian forces are mobilizing heavy planes at Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia Governorate and are also mobilizing ships at Tartus naval base, indicating a potential withdrawal. (BBC News)
    • Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the Prime Minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity of Libya, denounces the entry of Russian forces from Syria into the eastern part of Libya. (The Libya Observer)
    • Russian president Vladimir Putin says that Russia helped evacuate 4,000 Iranian fighters from Syria. (Anadolu Agency)
  • Prosecution of Syrian civil war criminals
    • The Syrian Interim Government announces that they have begun preparing lists of people from the former regime who were involved in war crimes, torture, and murder. (The Jerusalem Post)
• Red Sea crisis
  • December 2024 Israeli airstrikes in Yemen
    • Israel carries out a series of airstrikes against the Houthis in western Yemen, damaging the Ras Isa oil facility, the port of as-Salif and several power stations in Sanaa, and killing at least nine people. (Al Jazeera)
  • The United States Department of the Treasury announces sanctions on the governor of the Central Bank of Yemen in Sanaa, Yemen, and several Houthi officials and associated companies and vessels, accusing them of trafficking dual-use weapon components and Iranian petroleum to the Houthis. (Al Jazeera) (JNS)
• Gaza war
  • Gaza genocide, Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
    • Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of committing "acts of genocide" in Gaza by damaging water supply infrastructure and depriving civilians of clean water. (DW) (Reuters) (Human Rights Watch)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Military aids during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, United Kingdom and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • British defence secretary John Healey announces a proposal to send military advisors to train Ukrainian forces. (BBC News)
• 2024 Parliament of Abkhazia shooting
  • A lawmaker is killed and another is injured in a shooting inside the Parliament in Sukhumi, Abkhazia. The perpetrator, identified as MP and former Sukhumi mayor Adgur Kharazia, flees the scene. (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican drug war
  • Two soldiers are killed after an explosion caused by an improvised landmine at a drug laboratory in Michoacán, Mexico. Three days earlier, two other soldiers were killed and three more injured during a similar incident in Michoacán. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • The death toll from Cyclone Chido in Mozambique increase to 73, including 66 in Cabo Delgado Province. (Al Jazeera)
• European migrant crisis
  • A vessel carrying approximately 80 migrants heading for Spain sinks in Moroccan waters, leaving 70 people missing and eleven survivors rescued. (Le Monde)
• Fire at the Central Warehouse
  • Nine people are killed during a fire at a PX Mart warehouse building under construction in Taichung, Taiwan. (AP)

International relations

• China–India relations
  • Sino-Indian border dispute
    • Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi meet in Beijing, China, and reach a six-point consensus to maintain peace along the border, refine border management rules, resume cross-border exchanges, and work toward resolving border disputes. A follow-up meeting is planned to be held in India next year. (CNN)
• Georgia–United Kingdom relations, Georgia–United States relations, 2024 Georgian post-election protests
  • The United Kingdom and the United States impose sanctions on Georgian officials, including Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, in response to alleged violent crackdowns on pro-European protests. (EFE)
• Hungary–Poland relations
  • Hungary grants political asylum to former Polish deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski, who faces allegations of corruption in Poland. (Reuters)
• France's Directorate-General for External Security reports that four French nationals detained in Burkina Faso on allegations of being foreign intelligence agents have been released following mediation by Morocco. (ABC News)

Law and crime

• 2024 Northeastern United States drone sightings
  • The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration bans the flying of drones over multiple cities in New Jersey citing "special security reasons". (WPVI-TV)
• Deportation and removal from the United States
  • The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency reports 271,484 deportations in the past fiscal year, the most since 2014 and almost double of the previous fiscal year. (AP) (FOX News)
• Mazan rapes
  • The Judicial Court in Avignon, France, finds Dominique Pelicot guilty of the aggravated rape of his ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot, and imposes the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The 50 other defendants in the case are also convicted of crimes ranging from attempted rape to aggravated rape, and receive prison sentences ranging from three to 15 years. (Reuters)
• Italian journalist Cecilia Sala is detained by Iranian authorities in Tehran and held at Evin Prison. (AP)
• A Malaysian high court acquits Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, of 17 charges of money laundering and tax evasion due to insufficient evidence. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Aleksandar Šapić, the mayor of Belgrade, Serbia, announces the city will make all public transit free on January 1, 2025. (DW) (Novinite)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Sudanese civil war
  • Darfur campaign
    • Siege of El Fasher
      • The United Nations Human Rights Office reports that the Rapid Support Forces have killed over 782 civilians and wounded over 1,143 others in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, since May, and urges the RSF to halt their incursions into the city. (Al Jazeera)
      • At least 50 people, mostly from the Zaghawa ethnic group, have been killed by the Rapid Support Forces in the past week in El Fasher, North Darfur State, Sudan. (Sudan Tribune)
• Syrian civil war
  • Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present)
    • Israeli soldiers injure a Syrian man protesting against the soldiers' presence in Ma'ariya, Daraa Governorate. (Al Jazeera)
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • The United States drops the $10 million terrorism bounty offered for capture of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani who ousted Assad. (AP) (Times of Israel)
  • US intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • U.S. forces kill regional ISIS leader Abu Yusif, also known as Mahmud, in an airstrike in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria. (US CENTCOM)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 2024 Kursk offensive
    • A Ukrainian missile strike kills six people and injures 10 others in Rylsk, Kursk Oblast, Russia, according to acting Kursk Oblast governor Alexander Khinshtein. Russia says that it will raise the issue of the missile strike at the United Nations Security Council. (Reuters)
  • Kryvyi Rih strikes, Kyiv strikes
    • At least one person is killed and eight others are injured in Russian missile strikes on civilian infrastructure in Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv, Ukraine. (The Kyiv Independent) (Reuters)
• Islamist insurgency in the Sahel
  • Mali War
    • At least 20 people are killed in attacks on six villages in Mali's Mopti Region by suspected jihadists linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, who also destroy property during the assaults. (Reuters)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Israel–Hamas war, Israeli settler violence
    • Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque in Marda, Salfit Governorate, in the occupied West Bank and deface the building's facade with anti-Arab statements, including "Death to Arabs". (Al Jazeera) (AFP via Barron's)
• Terrorism in Germany
  • 2024 Magdeburg car attack
    • Five people are killed and over 200 others are injured in a vehicle-ramming attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. The suspected perpetrator is arrested. (Al Jazeera) (Blick)
• Myanmar civil war
  • The Arakan Army claims to have captured the Tatmadaw's regional headquarters in Rakhine State, Myanmar. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
  • Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
    • Malaysian Minister of Transport Anthony Loke announces a new search effort for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which went missing in March 2014, to be conducted by American marine robotics company Ocean Infinity. (DW)
• Rohingya genocide
  • The Sri Lanka Navy rescues 102 Rohingya refugees, including 25 children, that were found adrift on a fishing trawler and takes them to Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. (Al Jazeera) (The Independent)
• Thirty-eight people are killed, 20 people are rescued, and over 100 others remain missing after a ferry capsizes while crossing the Busira River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (AP) (Al Jazeera)
• Eleven people are killed, 45 others are injured and 37 vehicles are destroyed after an LPG tank truck catches fire and explodes after a speeding truck crashed into it in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. (The Statesman)
• Eight people are killed and 18 others are rescued when a speedboat carrying migrants capsizes off the coast of Rhodes, Greece. (AP)

International relations

• Australia–Solomon Islands relations
  • Australia agrees to provide Solomon Islands with financing, training, and infrastructure support worth AU$190 million (US$118 million) over four years to strengthen its police force as part of a renewed security partnership between the two countries. (France 24)
• Hungary–Poland relations
  • Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summons Hungary's ambassador to protest the Hungarian government's decision to grant asylum to former Polish deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski, who is wanted under the European Arrest Warrant for alleged corruption. Poland also recalls its ambassador to Hungary Sebastian Kęciek for consultations. (AP)

Law and crime

• 2024 Zagreb school stabbing
  • A child is killed and seven other people are injured in a mass stabbing at a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia. The 19-year-old perpetrator is arrested. (BBC News)
• The Inter-American Court of Human Rights rules that El Salvador violated the human rights of a woman denied an abortion during a high-risk pregnancy in 2013 and orders the country to implement measures allowing abortions in cases where the woman's life is at risk. (The Guardian)
• Guatemalan authorities rescue 160 minors from the Lev Tahor sect in Oratorio, Santa Rosa, amid allegations of human trafficking, forced marriage, and child abuse. (Reuters)
• The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau files a lawsuit against banks JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo for failing to protect consumers against alleged widespread fraud on the built-in payment system Zelle equating over $870 million. (Al Jazeera) (Detroit Free Press)

Politics and elections

• 2025 United States federal budget
  • Government shutdowns in the United States, National debt of the United States, United States debt ceiling
    • A funding bill ensuring full operation of the U.S. federal government service with an amendment supported by President-elect Donald Trump that would enforce a two-year suspension of the federal debt ceiling is rejected in the Republican-majority House of Representatives, with multiple Republicans and nearly all Democrats opposing the bill. A government shutdown is expected to occur if no bill is passed by midnight. (BBC News)
    • House Speaker Mike Johnson reintroduces a funding bill without Trump's debt ceiling suspension, stating that "we will not have a government shutdown". The bill, which will fund the government until March 2025, passes the House by a vote of 336–34 and will now go to the Senate. (The Washington Post)
• 2025 Belarusian presidential election
  • Estonia says that it will not recognize the results of the upcoming presidential election in Belarus, which it claims has already been rigged to ensure that President Alexander Lukashenko will be re-elected. (ERR)
• In Italy, the Meloni government survives a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies on the 2025 budget. (Reuters)
• Sam Hou Fai is sworn in as Chief Executive of Macau, succeeding Ho Iat Seng. (RTHK)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • At least seven Ukrainian drones strike Kazan, Russia, six of which reportedly hit residential areas, including a 32-story apartment building. (Ukrainska Pravda) (Reuters)
• Haitian crisis
  • The Haitian government declares a one-month state of emergency amid the escalating gang violence and the deepening security crisis. (Caribbean National Weekly)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Sixteen Pakistan Army soldiers are killed and five others are critically injured when Pakistani Taliban militants launch an overnight raid on an army post in Makeen, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (Al Arabiya)
• Red Sea crisis
  • Sixteen people are injured in a Houthi missile attack on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area in Israel. (CNN)

Business and economy

• Constitutional crisis in Somalia
  • The Puntland region of Somalia announces that it will introduce a new regional currency in 2025. The region had previously shifted to use of the United States dollar in 2021, due to severe inflation of the Somali shilling. (Garowe Online) (Hiiraan Online) (Horseed Media)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Minas Gerais road crash
  • Forty-one people are killed and seven more are injured when a bus collides with a granite block that fell from a truck on a highway in Minas Gerais, Brazil. (The Guardian) (G1) (O Globo)
• Ten people are killed and many others are injured in a stampede during a distribution of food and clothes at a church in Abuja, Nigeria. (AP)
• Nine people are killed and 13 more injured when a bus plunges into a ravine in Pa Alam, Lorestan, Iran. (AP)
• Two people are killed and three others are missing when an under-construction six-story building collapses in Sohana village, Mohali district, India. (Zee News)

Law and crime

• Censorship of TikTok
  • The Albanian government announces a one-year ban on the social media platform TikTok beginning in 2025, following a fatal stabbing of a teenager in November in connection to a confrontation on the platform. (Al Jazeera) (Türkiye Today)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Icelandic parliamentary election
  • The Social Democratic Alliance, led by Kristrún Frostadóttir, forms a coalition government in Iceland's Althing with the Liberal Reform Party and the People's Party. Frostadóttir becomes Iceland's youngest prime minister at 36 years old. (CNA)
• 2025 United States federal budget, Government shutdowns in the United States
  • The United States Senate passes a funding bill, with President Joe Biden subsequently signing the bill into law, thereby averting a government shutdown. (CBS News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • Syrian mass graves
      • An Assad regime mass grave containing the remains of 93 civilians, including several women and children, is discovered in Qarfa, Daraa Governorate, Syria, with all of the bodies reportedly burnt alive. (SOHR)
  • In the highest-ranking state visit since the regime change, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan holds a meeting with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus to support the transitional government. (Reuters)
• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip kill at least 28 people. (France 24)
• Red Sea crisis
  • The US military states that the USS Gettysburg guided-missile cruiser accidentally shot down a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet and injured one of its pilots in a friendly fire incident following a series of airstrikes on Yemen. However, the Houthis claim that they shot down the fighter jet. (CNN) (Middle East Monitor)

Business and economy

• Residents of Logroño, La Rioja, Spain, win the world's biggest lottery, the Spanish Christmas Lottery's El Gordo €2.7 billion prize. (DW)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • The death toll from Cyclone Chido in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, increases to 94. (DW)
• Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira bridge collapse
  • Four people are killed and 13 others are missing when a highway bridge across the Tocantins River between Estreito, Maranhão, and Aguiarnópolis, Tocantins, Brazil, partially collapses. (Xinhua) (G1)
• 2024 Gramado Piper PA-42 crash
  • Ten people are killed and seventeen others are injured when a Piper PA-42 Cheyenne crashes into shops and a hotel while taking off from the Canela Airport in Gramado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. (CNN) (ASN)
• The death toll from the stampede at two food distribution events in Abuja and Okija, Nigeria, increases to 32. (DW)
• Seven people are killed when a private Cessna 207 crashes into a hill in El Montoso, Jalisco, Mexico. (Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive)
• An Airbus EC135 ambulance helicopter crashes near a hospital in Muğla, Turkey, killing all four people onboard. (AP)

International relations

• Russia–Slovakia relations
  • Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico holds a previously unannounced meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. (The Moscow Times)
• Iceland-European Union relations
  • The new Icelandic Government says it will put Iceland's EU membership to referendum by 2027. (Euronews)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Serbian anti-corruption protests
  • Around 100,000 people gather at the Slavija Square in Belgrade, Serbia, to protest against the government response to the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse and demand the resignation of President Aleksandar Vučić and the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. President Vučić is dismissive of the protests and accuses the opposition of manipulating the protestors to gain political power. (Al Jazeera) (DW) (N1)
• New Zealand rejects the Cook Islands' proposal to establish its own passports and citizenship but expresses willingness to discuss independence if initiated by Cook Islanders. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Somali Civil War
  • Constitutional crisis in Somalia
    • Jubaland crisis
      • Violent clashes occur between the Ethiopia-backed Jubaland forces and the Somali Armed Forces in Dolow, Gedo Region, Somalia, with Jubaland forces later taking control of the town. (Garowe Online) (Hiiraan Online)
      • The mayor of Badhadhe District, Lower Juba, Hassan Nuur Cabdi, survives an ambush attack which killed at least five of his security personnel. (Idil News) (Hiiraan Online)
• Syrian civil war
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom
    • Manbij offensive
      • The pro-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces launch a counter-offensive on recently captured pro-Turkish faction positions in Manbij, Aleppo Governorate, Syria, and recapture several villages. (SOHR)
  • Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi meets with de facto Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus to discuss the support of the Syrian transitional government. (Al Jazeera)
• Haitian crisis
  • Gang war in Haiti
    • 2024 Cité Soleil massacre
      • The death toll from the mass killing by a gang in Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, increases to 207, according to the United Nations. (Al Jazeera)
• Gaza war
  • Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh
    • For the first time, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz claims responsibility for the July 2024 assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran. (Reuters)
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Attacks on protected zones and civilians in Gaza
    • At least seven people are killed in Israeli airstrikes on a safe zone in al-Mawasi, Gaza. Several other attacks across the Gaza Strip kill at least 43 others. (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican drug war
  • Seventeen people are killed in a string of attacks over the past 48 hours across the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. (El País)

Business and economy

• Student loans in the United States, Economic policy of the Joe Biden administration
  • The Biden administration officially withdraws two major legislative plans that would have granted student loan forgiveness to more than 30 million Americans. (Forbes) (CNBC)
• Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda announce plans for a merger by 2026, potentially forming the third-largest automotive company in the world. (Al Jazeera) (Nikkei Asia)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 famine in Sudan
  • The Government of Sudan suspends participation in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification hunger monitoring system, in advance of a new report about famine occurring in the nation. (Reuters)
• In Italy, three people are killed and another is injured in severe storms in Rome, while two others are killed on the Gran Sasso d'Italia massif. (Roma Today) (Il Messaggero)
• The Santa Cruz Wharf of Santa Cruz, California, United States, partially collapses from high waves of a Pacific storm. (BBC News)

International relations

• Panama–United States relations
  • Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino rebuffs U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's recent threat to reimpose U.S. control over the Panama Canal, saying its shipping tolls aren't inflated and that Panamanian sovereignty over the waterway isn't negotiable. (Bloomberg)

Law and crime

• 2024 Changde car attack
  • The perpetrator of a car attack Dingcheng, Changde, China, in November is sentenced to death by Chinese authorities. (Xinhua)
• 2024 New York City Subway immolation
  • A man is arrested after fatally burning a woman yesterday on a Subway train in New York City, New York, United States. (Al Jazeera)
• Capital punishment by the United States federal government
  • U.S. President Joe Biden commutes the death sentences of 37 out of the 44 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment. The exceptions are Dylann Roof, Robert Gregory Bowers, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who received death sentences for terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder-related crimes, as well as all four prisoners on US Military death row. (CBS News)
• 2024 Minas Gerais road crash
  • The suspected truck driver that caused a multiple-vehicle collision and killed at least 41 people in Teófilo Otoni, Minas Gerais, Brazil, turns himself in to local authorities. (R7) (G1)
• A man is arrested and charged with animal cruelty for shooting and killing 98 kangaroos on a military base in Singleton, New South Wales, Australia. (news.com.au)
• Guatemalan police rescue at least 160 children and 40 women held by the Lev Tahor Jewish sect and accuse the group of child sexual abuse, forced marriage, and human trafficking. Members of Lev Tahor broke into the care center in Oratorio, Santa Rosa Department, where the children were being held on Sunday. (Al Jazeera) (The Times of Israel) (The Independent)

Politics and elections

• Second presidency of Donald Trump
  • The United States House Committee on Ethics releases a report on former Florida representative and Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz, revealing that Gaetz paid women for sexual activity, committed statutory rape with a 17-year-old, possessed and used illegal drugs, accepted financial gifts beyond House limits, and assisted a woman in obtaining a passport. (BBC News)
  • Joel Greenberg, a former IRS employee of Florida is sentenced to 11 years in prison on 6 federal charges for underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, stalking, identity theft, producing a fake ID card, and conspiring to defraud the US federal government, receiving a reduced sentence after testifying against eight other men including Gaetz, after initially facing 33 federal charges. (CNN)
• 2024 French political crisis
  • Following the collapse of the Barnier government, French President Emmanuel Macron announces a new center-right, minority coalition Government led by François Bayrou as new Prime Minister. (DW)
• 2024 Romanian parliamentary election
  • Following the December 1 parliamentary elections, President Klaus Iohannis asks incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to form a new majority coalition cabinet, comprising of the Social Democratic Party, National Liberal Party and Democratic Alliance of Hungarians parties. The government is named and confirmed by the Chamber of Deputies, and takes office the same day. (France 24)
• The Greek government restores citizenship to ten members of the former royal family, including the children and grandchildren of King Constantine II, following their agreement to adopt the surname "De Grece", renounce royal claims, and formally recognize Greece's status as a parliamentary democracy. (AP)

Science and technology

• A team of scientists at the North-Eastern Federal University in Sakha Republic, Russia, unveil the highly preserved remains of a 50,000-year-old female juvenile woolly mammoth named Yana. The researchers say Yana was roughly about one-year-old when she died, likely from drowning, and was discovered in the Batagaika crater by locals. (BBC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Deir ez-Zor offensive, Eastern Syria insurgency
    • Islamic State militants launch attacks on the town of al-Hawayej in northeastern Syria, against Asayish forces. (SOHR)
  • Protests occur after a Christmas tree was set on fire in Al-Suqaylabiyah, Hama Governorate, Syria. (The Week)
  • Turkey's interior minister announces that more than 25,000 Syrian refugees have returned to Syria since former president Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by rebels. (Al Arabiya)
  • Syrian opposition factions announce that they will dissolve and merge under the authority of the Ministry of Defense. (Reuters)
• Haiti crisis
  • Gang war in Haiti
    • Three people are killed by gunmen in Haiti opening fire at the journalists, police and medical staff at the reopening of the Port-au-Prince General Hospital. (BBC News)
• 2024 Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes
  • At least 46 people are killed in a series of airstrikes by the Pakistan Army against alleged Pakistani Taliban hideouts in Paktika Province, Afghanistan. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

• National symbols of the United States
  • U.S. President Joe Biden signs a bill making the bald eagle the official national bird of the United States. (NBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 Australian bushfire season
  • Residents of the Grampians region of Victoria, Australia, evacuate due to bushfires, with more than 41,000 hectares (100,000 acres) already burnt by the bushfires. (BBC News)
• 2024 Lobitos oil spill
  • Residents of Lobitos and Cabo Blanco, Peru, demonstrate against Peruvian state-owned oil company PetroPerú following an oil spill that contaminated six beaches. (La República)
• Twelve people are killed and four others are injured in an explosion at an explosives factory in Kavakli, Balıkesir Province, Turkey. (Al Jazeera)
• The Russian cargo ship MV Ursa Major, allegedly used to evacuate military personnel and equipment from Russian bases in Syria, sinks in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain following an explosion in the ship's engine room. The Russian Foreign Ministry says that 14 of the 16 crew members have been rescued, with the two others missing. (Politico)

International relations

• 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Syrian civil war
  • Palestinian factions turn over their arms to the Lebanese army and vacate their headquarters in Lebanon. (Middle East Monitor)
• Denmark–United States relations
  • The Danish government announces an increase in defense spending for Greenland hours after US president-elect Donald Trump repeated his interest in purchasing Greenland, although they affirm that the two are unrelated. (BBC News)
• Russia–United States relations
  • Gene Spector, an American citizen of Russian descent, is sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Russian court for espionage. (CNN)

Law and crime

• Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia
  • Human rights organization Reprieve reports that Saudi Arabia executed 330 people this year. (First Post)
• 2024 Mozambican protests
  • At least 21 people are killed and 25 others are injured in a series of violent incidents in Mozambique following the previous day's confirmation by the high court of Daniel Chapo as the winning presidential candidate in the recent election. (ABC News)
• Hong Kong offers bounties of HK$1 million (US$128,728) each for six foreign pro-democracy activists accused of violating the national security law, including Tony Chung, and also revokes the passports of seven others, citing actions such as incitement to secession, subversion, and collusion with foreign forces. (Reuters)
• Five people accused of being Al-Qaeda supporters are arrested in four cities in Italy. (Il Gazzettino)
• Four participants in the November 2024 Amsterdam riots are sentenced to prison, with 32-year-old Sefa Ö handed the longest sentence of six months. (BBC News)
• A Belarusian court sentences opposition activist and Green Party leader Dzmitry Kuchuk to six years in prison and fines him approximately US$6,000 for alleged public order violations and calls for actions undermining national security, according to the human rights group Viasna. (AP)

Politics and elections

• Protests against Donald Trump, Panama–United States relations
  • Protesters gather at the U.S. Embassy in Panama City over Trump's threat to take back the Panama Canal. (France24) (DW)
• Maia Sandu is sworn in for her second four-year term as the President of Moldova. (Euronews)
• In his Christmas speech, Grand Duke of Luxembourg Henri announces that he will abdicate on 3 October 2025 and hand over the throne to his son, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume. (The Brussels Times)
• ʻAisake Eke is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Tonga. (RNZ)

Science and technology

• NASA large strategic science missions
  • The Parker Solar Probe attempts its closest-ever approach to the Sun to study the sun's temperatures, radiation, and magnetic field. (BBC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • Siege of North Gaza, Gaza famine
      • The United States-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network removes a report estimating that food insecurity conditions in northern Gaza have surpassed the highest IPC famine thresholds, after the United States envoy to Israel criticized the report's methodology as "irresponsible" for "outdated" and "inflated" estimates of the civilian population of Gaza. (FEWS NET) (The Times of Israel)
• Somali Civil War
  • Constitutional crisis in Somalia
    • Jubaland crisis
      • The federal government of Somalia imposes a flight ban on Jubaland, including all flights to and from Jubaland, particularly affecting the cities of Kismayo and Doolow. The flight ban was initiated amid ongoing political tensions and military engagements after Jubaland forces reportedly defeated Somali Armed Forces in several locations, including Ras Kamboni, Kulbiyow, and Dolow. (Garowe Online) (The Somali Digest) (The Eastleigh Voice)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure, Ukrainian energy crisis
    • A series of Russian ballistic missile and drone strikes target critical energy infrastructure in cities across in Ukraine, killing at least two people, injuring 20 others, and causing widespread emergency blackouts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemns Russian President Vladimir Putin for the "inhumane" attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. (The Kyiv Independent) (The Guardian) (RTÉ)
• Sudanese civil war
  • 2024 famine in Sudan
    • The IPC Famine Review Committee determines the presence of famine in five areas in Darfur and South Kordofan, Sudan, and estimates that five more areas will face famine by May 2025 due to ongoing conflict and blocked aid distribution. (BBC News Hausa)
• Syrian civil war
  • Western Syria clashes
    • Syria's new government says that fourteen of its troops were killed and 10 others were injured in clashes with Assad regime loyalists in Tartus Governorate. (BBC News) (Reuters)
• Ethiopian civil conflict
  • Ethiopian military forces close the country's border with Somalia following ongoing heavy fighting in rural areas of Harshin, Fafan Zone, between Ethiopia's Somali regional forces and local clan militias after the killing of a local security chief and his bodyguards. Hundreds of people, including children, flee from their homes. (Hiiraan Online) (Somali Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

• Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243
  • An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 aircraft carrying 67 passengers from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, crashes while being diverted to Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people and injuring 29 others. (Al Jazeera) (NPR)
  • Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev instructs the government to launch a criminal investigation into the crash. (Euronews)
• 2024 Estlink 2 incident
  • HVDC submarine power cable Estlink 2, which connects the power grids of Estonia and Finland, suffers an unexplained outage with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo stating that an investigation into the incident is underway. (AP)

International relations

• 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon
  • Lebanon files a new complaint to the UN Security Council over Israel's ceasefire violations. (Bastille Post)

Law and crime

• More than 1,500 inmates escape from a prison in Maputo, Mozambique, after knocking down a wall during a riot. At least 33 people are killed and 15 others are injured. (BBC News) (Al Jazeera)
• Syrian authorities impose a curfew from 6 pm to 8 am in Homs following a series of protests by Alawite and Shi'ite Muslim minority groups. (Reuters)
• A Turkish court sentences the owner and architect of the Grand Isias Hotel in Adıyaman to more than 18 years in prison for negligent homicide after 72 people died when the hotel collapsed in the 2023 earthquakes. (DW)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Kosovan parliamentary election
  • Kosovo's election appeals authority allows the Serb List party, a Serb ethnic party, to participate in the upcoming election, stating that the party meets legal certification requirements. (AP)

Science and technology

• 2024 in archosaur paleontology
  • Scientists confirm the discovery of the Alpkarakush kyrgyzicus dinosaur species in Kyrgyzstan, the first theropod from the Jurassic period to be discovered in Central Asia. (Tempo)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Killing of journalists in the Gaza war
    • Five journalists of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad-affiliated Al Quds Today TV are killed in their vehicle by an Israeli airstrike near the Al-Awda Hospital in Deir al-Balah Governorate, Gaza. (CNN) (The Jerusalem Post)
  • Winter of 2024–25 in the Gaza Strip, Gaza Strip evacuations
    • Gaza Strip doctors report that three infants have died due to hypothermia from inadequate shelter in displacement camps amid a decrease in outdoor temperatures. (Al Jazeera)
• Red Sea crisis
  • December 2024 Israeli airstrikes in Yemen
    • Israel carries out a series of airstrikes between Sanaa and Hodeidah in Yemen, hitting a number of facilities, including Sanaa International Airport, and killing at least six people and injuring at least 40 others with the Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus present. (Al Jazeera) (Al Jazeera 2) (YNet) (BBC)
• Somali Civil War
  • American military intervention in Somalia
    • Al-Shabaab confirms the death of Mohamed Mire Jama, a senior leader of the group, who had been designated as a terrorist by the United States, in an American drone strike near Kunyo Baroow, Hirshabelle State, Somalia. (Idil News) (Garowe Online) (Long WaR Journal)
• Nigerian bandit conflict
  • A Nigerian Air Force jet mistakenly kills ten civilians in Sokoto State, Nigeria, during a bombing raid targeting armed groups in the state, according to state governor Ahmad Aliyu. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• 2021–present United Kingdom cost-of-living crisis
  • The United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics announces that the UK economy showed no growth in the 3rd quarter of the current fiscal year, following downward revisions. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243
  • Azerbaijani government officials tell Reuters that a Russian military surface-to-air missile launched from a Pantsir-S missile system was responsible for the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people yesterday. Officials also say that the aircraft's GPS navigation system was jammed during the flight. (Euronews) (Reuters)
  • Azerbaijan MP Rasim Musabayov calls for an apology and accountability from Russia following their alleged involvement in the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight. (United24Media)
  • Azerbaijan Airlines says that they will provide compensation for the victims and families of those who died in the plane crash. (Trend)
• Hadsel bus accident
  • Three people are killed and at least four others are injured when a bus carrying 58 people crashes into a lake in Hadsel Municipality, Norway. (BBC News) (NRK)

Health and environment

• 2024 Lobitos oil spill
  • The Government of Peru declares a 90-day environmental emergency for parts of Talara province due to an oil spill caused by state-owned oil company Petroperú. (Reuters)

International relations

• 2024 Baltic Sea submarine cable disruptions, Finland–Russia relations
  • 2024 Estlink 2 incident
    • Finnish border guards and police detain a Russian vessel suspected of damaging the Estlink-2 submarine power cable yesterday. (AP)
• Chad–France relations, French military withdrawal from West Africa
  • France hands over its military first base in Chad, at Faya-Largeau, as part of the withdrawal of all its forces from the country. (Al Jazeera)
• Philippines–United Arab Emirates relations
  • The United Arab Emirates pardons 220 Filipino detainees for various offenses as part of its National Day celebrations, following discussions between Philippine President Bongbong Marcos and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. (The Philippine Star)

Law and crime

• A Cambodian court sentences the president of the opposition Nation Power Party Sun Chanthy to two years in prison and also bans Chanthy from running in elections for inciting civil disorder. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • Impeachment of Han Duck-soo
    • South Korea's opposition files a motion to impeach prime minister and acting president Han Duck-soo, two weeks after president Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached. (BBC News)
• Death and state funeral of Manmohan Singh
  • Former prime minister of India Manmohan Singh dies at the age of 92. (The Times of India)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Somali Civil War
  • Constitutional crisis in Somalia
    • Ethiopian–Somali conflict, 2024 Ethiopia–Somaliland memorandum of understanding
      • The United Nations Security Council approves the Resolution 2767 deployment of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), effective January 1, replacing the current African Union Transition Mission in Somalia. However, Somalia rejects Ethiopia's participation in AUSSOM amid tensions over a memorandum of understanding that Ethiopia signed with Somaliland in January. Somalia considers the memorandum a violation of its sovereignty and has instead asked Egypt to contribute troops to the mission. (Reuters) (Idil News) (UNSC)
• Gaza war
  • Kamal Adwan Hospital sieges
    • Israeli forces forcibly evacuate the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza. (BBC News)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • North Korean involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 2024 Kursk offensive
    • South Korea confirms the first capture of a North Korean soldier fighting against Ukrainian forces in Kursk Oblast, Russia, with the soldier later dying from his injuries. (BBC News) (Reuters)
• 2024 Baltic Sea submarine cable disruptions, 2024 Estlink 2 incident
  • NATO announces that it will increase its presence in the Baltic Sea in response to the suspected sabotage of Estlink submarine power cables. (Reuters)
  • Estonia deploys its navy to protect its remaining Estlink submarine power cable following the failure of Estlink 2. (BBC News)
• Red Sea crisis
  • The Houthis launch a ballistic missile from Yemen, targeting Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. The missile is intercepted before reaching Israeli airspace. It is the first time that the THAAD missile defense system is used by Israel to intercept a missile during combat operations. (The Times of Israel) (The Guardian)
  • Houthi-run state television reports that American and British airstrikes have targeted the Ma'ain District of Sanaa, Yemen. No casualties are reported. (Anadolu Agency)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • A 83-year-old Israeli woman and Holocaust survivor is fatally stabbed by a Palestinian former Shin Bet informant from the West Bank in Herzliya, Israel. The attacker was then shot and injured by police. (The Times of Israel)

Business and economy

• Medog Hydropower Station
  • China announces the formal approval of a proposal to construct the world's largest hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243
  • Azerbaijan Airlines suspends flights to seven cities in Russia following the crash of Flight 8243 on Wednesday, amid allegations that the plane had been hit by a Russian surface-to-air missile. (DW)
  • United States National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says that there is evidence that Russia shot down the Azerbaijan Airlines flight. (The Hill)
  • Kazakhstan and Israel suspend flights over Russian airspace in response to the Azerbaijan Airlines crash. (Politico)
• A traffic collision between a truck and a bus kills eight people and injures 27 others in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. (AP)

Health and environment

• 2023–2024 mpox epidemic
  • Kosovo reports its first case of mpox in a 30-year-old man who travelled to Africa. (Reuters)

International relations

• French military withdrawal from West Africa
  • Senegalese prime minister Ousmane Sonko announces the closure of all foreign military bases in the country, citing a decision by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye to remove foreign troops as part of a broader shift away from colonial-era military arrangements. (AP)
• Georgia–United States relations
  • The U.S. State Department announces sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of the Georgian Dream political party. Georgian prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze accuses the United States of "blackmail" over the move. (BBC News) (Al Arabiya)
• Syria–Ukraine relations, Grain From Ukraine program
  • Ukraine announces that it has sent a shipment of 500 tonnes of wheat to Syria after Russia suspended shipments following the fall of the Assad regime. (The Kyiv Independent)

Law and crime

• 2024 Zhuhai car attack, Capital punishment in China
  • A Chinese court sentences the perpetrator of the car attack in Zhuhai that killed 35 people to death. (AP)
• Argentina–Venezuela relations, Conservative wave
  • Venezuelan attorney general Tarek William Saab announces an investigation into a previously detained Argentine National Gendarmerie non-commissioned officer for alleged links to right-wing terrorism. (Reuters)
• The Montenegrin Minister of Justice approves the extradition of cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon to the United States over fraud allegations resulting from the collapse of the Terra and Luna tokens. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • Impeachment of Han Duck-soo
    • South Korean prime minister and acting president Han Duck-soo is impeached by the National Assembly after refusing to appoint three Constitutional Court judges chosen by the Assembly to oversee president Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment case. Finance minister Choi Sang-mok is appointed acting president and acting prime minister. (BBC News) (Reuters)
• 2024 German government crisis, 2025 German federal election, Scholz cabinet
  • German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolves the Bundestag and schedules new elections for February 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition collapses and no parliamentary majority emerges to form a stable government. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Winter of 2024–25 in the Gaza Strip, Gaza Strip evacuations
    • The Gaza Strip Government Media Office reports that 110,000 out of 135,000 tents used as shelters by displaced Palestinians have "completely deteriorated" and are now unusable due to strong winter winds and heavy rainfall. (Al Jazeera)
• Syrian civil war
  • Western Syria clashes
    • Syria's new government announces "a large-scale sweep operation" in Latakia to arrest or eliminate all remaining pro-Assad insurgents and any threats to national security. (Al Jazeera)
• 2024 Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes
  • Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense announces that they targeted several locations in Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani aircraft conducting aerial bombardments within Afghanistan. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

• Homelessness in the United States
  • U.S. homelessness hits a record high in 2024, increasing by more than 18% in the past year, primarily due to high housing costs, natural disasters, and an increase in migration to major cities. (BBC News)
• Moldova-Russia relations
  • Russian company Gazprom announces the supply of gas to Moldova will cease on January 1, 2025, alleging fails to fulfill its payment obligations. The Moldovan Prime Minister, Dorin Recean, accuses the Russian Government of deliberately weaponising energy flows to destabilise the country. (Euronews).

Disasters and accidents

• Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Bridge collapse
  • The death toll from the highway collapse between Maranhão and Tocantins, Brazil, six days ago, increases to eleven, with six others still missing. (Correio Braziliense)
• Tornado outbreak of December 26–29, 2024
  • At least two people are killed in a tornado outbreak across the southern United States, with damage reported near Houston, Texas. (USA Today)

International relations

• Lukoil oil transit dispute, Ukrainian energy crisis, Slovakia–Ukraine relations
  • Slovakia threatens reciprocal measures against Ukraine's plans to suspend the transit of Russian oil to Slovakia on January 1, including suspending electricity supplies. In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accuses Slovakia of opening a "second energy front" against Kyiv under Moscow's orders. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

• The Afghanistan's Taliban government bans windows overlooking to places "used by women", and says that existing ones should be blocked. (RFI)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Mozambican general election
  • 2024 Mozambican protests
    • At least 13,000 Mozambicans flee the country into Malawi amid widespread civil unrest due to the results of the recent general election. (DW)
• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • Impeachment of Han Duck-soo, Impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol
    • Impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol is accused of ordering the authorization of the use of live firearms to stop MPs from overriding the martial law vote and to force the MPs out of the National Assembly legislature building. (BBC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • Syrian mass graves
      • Three mass graves associated with the Assad regime are discovered in Al-Qabou, Homs Governorate, Syria. (SOHR)
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom, Yazidi genocide
    • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that a humanitarian crisis has developed in Manbij District, Aleppo Governorate, following its capture by Turkish-backed Syrian National Army forces and Turkish artillery fire, leading to continuous water scarcity, power outages, and basic needs shortages. (SOHR)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Battle of Khartoum
    • Seven civilians are killed and several others are injured in a Sudanese Armed Forces strike on residential areas in the southern part of Khartoum, Sudan. (Sudan Tribune)

Disasters and accidents

• Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243
  • Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says that Russia accidentally shot down the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, accusing Russia of trying to "hush up" the crash, and demanding from Russia a full admission of guilt, punishment for those responsible, and compensation for the victims. (AP)
• 2024 Sidama truck crash
  • At least 71 people are killed and four are injured when a passenger-carrying truck drives off a bridge into a river in Bona Zuria, Sidama Region, Ethiopia. (The Guardian) (Voice of America)
• English Channel migrant crossings
  • Three migrants die attempting to cross the English Channel, with 45 others rescued and treated for hypothermia and four hospitalized. (BBC News)
• Jeju Air Flight 2216
  • A Bangkok-departed Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 with 181 people on board crashes during landing at the Muan International Airport, in South Korea, killing 179 people and wounding two crew members. (Bloomberg) (YNA) (Euronews)
• Three police officers are killed and two others are injured in a gas explosion at the police academy in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
• Two pilots are killed when their light aircraft crashes into the sea near Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, shortly after takeoff from Al Jazeirah Airport. (Inquirer.net)
• A tourist is killed and another is injured in a shark attack at a resort in Marsa Alam, Egypt. (Al Arabiya)

Health and environment

• Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas becomes the world's oldest living person at 116 years old following the death of Japanese businesswoman Tomiko Itooka at the same age. (Sky News)

International relations

• Cambodia–Philippines relations
  • Cambodia pardons and repatriates 13 Filipino women who were convicted of human trafficking for participating in a surrogacy scheme prohibited under Cambodian law. (ABC News)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Chadian parliamentary election
  • Voters in Chad elect the 188 members of the National Assembly. (Al Jazeera)
• 2024 Croatian presidential election
  • Croatians vote to elect the President between incumbent Zoran Milanović and seven other candidates. (Reuters)
• 2024 Georgian post-election protests
  • Mikheil Kavelashvili is inaugurated as the 6th President of Georgia, with outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili announcing that she would vacate her residence at the Orbeliani Palace in Tbilisi. Zourabichvili continues to claim that the new presidency is illegitimate and calls for continued protests. (Politico) (AP)
• Death and state funeral of Jimmy Carter
  • Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter dies at the age of 100 in Plains, Georgia, United States. (BBC News)
• At the conclusion of the annual year-end general meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, the appointment of Pak Thae-song to replace Kim Tok-hun in the post of Prime Minister of North Korea is announced. (Yonhap News Agency)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Prisoners of war in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Russia and Ukraine exchange hundreds of prisoners of war in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates. Ukraine says that many of those released by Russia are soldiers captured during the Siege of Mariupol in 2022. (BBC News)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Battle of Khartoum
    • The Sudanese government says at least nine people are killed and 121 others injured in shelling by the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum. (Sudan Tribune)
• Israeli invasion of Syria
  • Israel Defense Forces operating in the Syrian side of the 1974 buffer zone, in Quneitra Governorate, advance into the Syrian town of Madinat al-Baath. (The Times of Israel)
• Trinidad and Tobago declares a state of emergency as gang violence escalates in the country, after five people were shot dead at a shop in Laventille, Port of Spain, the previous day. (BBC News) (Al Jazeera)

Business and economy

• Syrian civil war
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • The Syrian transitional government appoints Maysaa Sabreen as the first female governor of the Central Bank of Syria. (Reuters)
• Moldova–Russia relations
  • Moldovan prime minister Dorin Recean states his country is envisaging the possible nationalization of the Moldovagaz energy company, which Russia's Gazprom owns 50% of, following the announcement by Gazprom that the current gas supply deal that expires on December 31 will not be renewed. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• In Pakistan, ten people are killed and seven are injured in a bus crash on a highway in Fateh Jang, Punjab. Separately, eight people are killed during a van–truck collision in Naushahro Feroze, Sindh. (AP)
• Three tourists are killed and seven others are injured in a fire at a hotel on Khaosan Road in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP)

International relations

• Syria–Ukraine relations
  • Syria says that it hopes to form a "strategic partnership" with Ukraine following a high-level meeting in Damascus, Syria, between Syria's de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha, where the two countries re-established diplomatic relations. Ukraine also vowed to send additional food aid to Syria. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials formally requests an arrest warrant for impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol over his declaration of martial law. (Reuters)
• 2024 Venezuelan protests
  • Venezuelan prosecutor general Tarek William Saab announces the release of 413 protesters from prison. (Reuters)
• Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations
  • The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a jury verdict finding Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation in E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump. (USA Today)
• Yazidi genocide
  • Germany's federal prosecutor charges an Iraqi couple, allegedly members of the Islamic State, with enslavement, torture, and war crimes, after they allegedly kept two Yazidi girls as slaves and sexually and physically abused them. (DW)
• An Argentine judge issues arrest warrants for Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega, Vice President Rosario Murillo, and several others for alleged crimes against humanity, invoking universal jurisdiction. (Arab News)
• Cuba releases Salvadoran national Raúl Ernesto Cruz León after he completed a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in the 1997 hotel bombings. (BSS)
• The Supreme Court of Venezuela fines social media platform TikTok $10 million for "not implementing measures" to prevent viral challenges that allegedly led to the death of three children. (AP)

Politics and elections

• Death and state funeral of Jimmy Carter
  • U.S. president Joe Biden orders a state funeral for former president Jimmy Carter to be held in Washington, D.C. on January 9. Biden also orders flags to be lowered to half-staff for thirty days in accordance with federal law. (BBC News)
• Treatment of women by the Taliban
  • The Taliban government of Afghanistan announces it will close all national and foreign nongovernmental organizations in the country that currently employ women. (AP)
• Kenya Police fire tear gas at demonstrators in Nairobi protesting against alleged government extrajudicial abductions in the past few months. (Al Jazeera)
• Philippine president Bongbong Marcos signs an order removing Vice President Sara Duterte and former presidents from the National Security Council, allowing the president to appoint other officials and private citizens as members. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launches its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket carrying the Space Docking Experiment twin satellite mission from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh, with the satellites expected to perform a docking maneuver on January 7, 2025. (DW) (The Times of India)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War against the Islamic State
  • Opération Chammal
    • The French Air Force conducts airstrikes against several Islamic State targets in Syria. (Le Parisien)
  • Somali Civil War, Puntland military offensives into ISIS
    • Ten Islamic State militants are killed by Puntland forces in an attempted attack involving suicide bombers on a military base in Dharjaale, Bari, Puntland, Somalia. This comes after the semi-autonomous region of Puntland announced a military offensive against the Islamic State and Al-Shabaab. (Garowe Online) (Reuters) (Idil News)
• Red Sea crisis
  • The United States Air Force launches at least 12 airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

• One crew member is killed and two others are missing after a cargo ship sinks in the San Bernardino Strait near Samar, Philippines. (News Central)
• Puerto Rico experiences a power outage, impacting 1.3 million clients. (The New York Times) (NBC News)

International relations

• French military withdrawal from West Africa
  • France–Ivory Coast relations
    • In his New Year's speech, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara announces that the French military base in Abidjan will be handed over to the Ivorian Government in January. (France 24)
  • France–Senegal relations
    • In his New Year's speech, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye announces the closure of French military facilities and the withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Senegal beginning in 2025. (Le Figaro)

Law and crime

• 2024 Ecuadorian conflict
  • An Ecuadorian judge issues arrest warrants for 16 soldiers accused of the disappearance and murder of four children in Guayaquil after genetic tests confirm the charred remains found near a military base belong to the missing victims. (AP)
• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • The Seoul Western District Court issues an arrest warrant for impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol. (The Japan Times)
• Belgrade school shooting
  • A Serbian court sentences the parents of a boy who killed 10 people in a Belgrade primary school in 2023 to over 14 years and three years in prison, respectively, for child neglect and abuse, and also sentences a shooting range instructor to 1 and a half years for perjury. (Reuters)
• Capital punishment in Zimbabwe
  • Zimbabwe approves a law abolishing the death penalty in the country, effective immediately. (BBC News)
• Kivu conflict, Capital punishment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • A military tribunal in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, sentences 13 soldiers to death for charges including murder, looting, and cowardice, following territorial losses attributed to desertion during the conflict. (Reuters)
• Five people are wounded during a mass stabbing amid New Year's Eve celebrations in Verucchio, Province of Rimini, Italy. The perpetrator is shot dead by a soldier. The perpetrator was carrying a Koran and an Islamic prayer cap, while also possessing antipsychotic drugs at his residence. (Il Resto del Carlino)
• A man steals an excavator in Grünsfeld, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and rams the excavator against vehicles, injuring four police officers, before being shot dead. (DW)