Portal:Current events

Topics in the news

Aftermath of the Magdeburg car attack

• A multi-vehicle crash in Minas Gerais, Brazil, leaves 41 people dead.
• A car attack (aftermath pictured) at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, kills five people and injures more than two hundred others.
• In France, Dominique Pelicot and 49 other men are convicted of the serial rape of his then-wife Gisèle Pelicot.
• A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, leaving at least sixteen people dead.

Ongoing:

• Israel–Hamas war
• Israeli invasion of Lebanon
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • timeline
• Sudanese civil war
  • timeline

Recent deaths:

• James E. Malone Jr.
• Rickey Henderson
• Zakir Hussain
• Sigrid Kehl
• Perry J. Dahl
• Nicholas Chia

December 25, 2024 (2024-12-25) (Wednesday)

December 24, 2024 (2024-12-24) (Tuesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Deir ez-Zor offensive, Eastern Syria insurgency
    • ISIS cells launch attacks on the town of al-Hawayej in Rojava, Syria, against Asayish forces. (SOHR)
  • Protesters gather 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)
  • The Syrian opposition factions have decided to dissolve and merge under the authority of the Ministry of Defense. (Reuters)
• At least 15 people are killed after a series of airstrikes by the Pakistan Army against alleged Pakistani Taliban hideouts in Paktika Province, Afghanistan. (NDTV)

Arts and culture

• The bald eagle becomes the official Great Seal of the United States after president Joe Biden signed a bill doing so. (NBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 Australian bushfire season
  • Residents of the Grampians region of Victoria state evacuate, with over 41,000 hectares (101,000 acres) already burnt from bushfires. (BBC)
• 2024 Lobitos oil spill
  • Residents of Lobitos and Cabo Blanco demonstrate against the Peruvian state-owned oil company PetroPerú following an oil spill that contaminated six beaches. (La República)
• Twelve people are killed and four are wounded after 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 its engine room. The Russian Foreign Ministry says that 14 of 16 crew members are rescued, while two remain missing. (Politico)

International relations

• Russia–United States relations
  • Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Gene Spector, an American citizen of Russian descent, is sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Moscow court for espionage. (CNN)
• Denmark-United States relations
  • The Danish Government announces a boost in defence spending for Greenland hours after US president-elect Donald Trump repeated his desire to purchase the Arctic territory. (BBC)
• Tánaiste Micheál Martin calls for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan and the Gaza Strip. (Irish Times)

Law and crime

• Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia
  • Saudi Arabia has reportedly executed 330 people this year, the highest amount in decades. (First Post)
• 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 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)

Politics and elections

• 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 its temperatures, radiation and magnetic field. (BBC News)

December 23, 2024 (2024-12-23) (Monday)

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)
• Israel–Hamas war
  • 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)
  • 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)
• 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 to 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)
• Three people are killed and another is injured in severe storms in Rome, Italy, while two people go missing on the Gran Sasso d'Italia massif. (Roma Today) (Il Messaggero)

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

• 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)
• 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)
• 2024 New York City Subway immolation
  • A man is arrested after fatally burning a woman yesterday on a Subway train in New York City, United States. (Al Jazeera)
• 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

• 2024 French political crisis
  • Following the collapse of the Barnier government, French President Emmanuel Macron announces a new administration led by François Bayrou as the new Prime Minister. (DW)
• 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)
• The Greek government restores citizenship to 10 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)

December 22, 2024 (2024-12-22) (Sunday)

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)
• Israel–Hamas 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)
• 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)
• 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)

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)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Novi Sad 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)

December 21, 2024 (2024-12-21) (Saturday)

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

• Minas Gerais road crash
  • Forty-one people are killed 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. Kristrún 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)

December 20, 2024 (2024-12-20) (Friday)

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
  • 2024 Israeli invasion of Syria
    • 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. (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, 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)

December 19, 2024 (2024-12-19) (Thursday)

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
      • U.S.-backed SDF forces vow to fight Turkey and pro-Turkish rebel groups in Kobani, Aleppo Governorate. (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)
• Israel–Hamas 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 a improvised landmine at a drug laboratory in Michoacán, Mexico. Three days ago, two other soldiers were killed and three more injured in Michoacán during a similiar incident. (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)
• Nine people are killed during a fire at a warehouse building of PX Mart 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)
• 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)

Time: 01:33 UTC|Day: 25 December

December 2024

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1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Ongoing events

Disasters

• Avian flu outbreak
• Haitian crisis
• Kwango province malaria outbreak
• United States opioid epidemic

Economics

• Chinese property sector crisis
• German economic crisis
• United Kingdom cost-of-living crisis
• Video game industry layoffs

Politics

• Mexico–United States border crisis
• South China Sea territorial disputes
• United States drone sightings
• Venezuelan political crisis

Protests and strikes

• Georgian post-election protests
• Israel–Hamas war protests
• South Korean presidential impeachment
• United Kingdom farmers' protests

Elections and referendums

Recent

• December

• 14: Georgia, President (indirect)

Upcoming

• 29: Chad, National Assembly
• 29: Croatia, President

Trials

Recently concluded

• France:0Dominique Pélicot

Ongoing

• Kosovo:0Specialist Chambers
• ICC:0Ali Kushayb  •  Mahamat Said Abdel Kani

Sports

• American football

• 2024 NFL season
• 2024 NCAA Division I FBS season

• Association football

• 2024–25 UEFA Champions League
• 2024–25 UEFA Europa League
• 2024–25 UEFA Conference League
• 2024–25 UEFA Women's Champions League
• 2024–25 Premier League
• 2024–25 Serie A
• 2024–25 La Liga
• 2024–25 Bundesliga
• 2024–25 Ligue 1

• Basketball

• 2024–25 NBA season
• 2024–25 EuroLeague

• International cricket

• 2023–25 ICC World Test Championship

• Ice hockey

• 2024–25 NHL season
• 2024–25 PWHL season

More details – current sports events

Recent deaths

December

• 20: Rickey Henderson
• 18: Slim Dunlap
• 18: John Marsden
• 17: Igor Kirillov
• 17: Marisa Paredes
• 17: Jānis Timma
• 16: Dick Van Arsdale
• 15: Zakir Hussain
• 14: Isak Andic
• 11: David Bonderman
• 11: Khalil Haqqani
• 10: Rocky Colavito
• 10: Michael Cole
• 10: The Amazing Kreskin
• 09: Nikki Giovanni
• 06: Miho Nakayama
• 06: Maggie Tabberer
• 04: Princess Birgitta
• 04: Brian Thompson
• 04: Chiung Yao
• 02: Neale Fraser
• 02: Debbie Mathers
• 02: Israel Vázquez
• 01: Terry Griffiths

November

• 30: Lou Carnesecca
• 29: Marshall Brickman
• 29: Will Cullen Hart
• 29: Wayne Northrop
• 28: Silvia Pinal
• 28: Tom Hughes
• 28: Prince Johnson
• 28: Ananda Krishnan
• 27: Mary McGee
• 26: Jim Abrahams
• 26: Bob Bryar
• 26: Leah Kunkel
• 25: Earl Holliman
• 25: Hal Lindsey
• 24: Barbara Taylor Bradford
• 24: Breyten Breytenbach
• 24: Helen Gallagher
• 23: Rico Carty
• 23: Fred R. Harris
• 23: Chuck Woolery

Ongoing conflicts

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• Civil war

Americas

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Asia−Pacific

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• Papua conflict

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• Civil war

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• Insurgency in Balochistan
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• Philippines

• NPA rebellion

Europe

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• Russian invasion of Ukraine

Middle East

• Iraq

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• Israel

• Israel–Hezbollah conflict

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• Syria

• Israeli invasion

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• PKK insurgency

• Yemen

• Red Sea crisis

See also – List of ongoing proxy wars

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