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2025 December 28

Armed conflicts and attacks

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

Arts and culture

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

Disasters and accidents

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

Law and crime

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

Politics and elections

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

2025 December 27

Armed conflicts and attacks

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

Business and economy

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

Disasters and accidents

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

Law and crime

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

Politics and elections

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

2025 December 26

Armed conflicts and attacks

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

Business and economy

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

Disasters and accidents

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

International relations

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

Law and crime

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

2025 December 25

Armed conflicts and attacks

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

Disasters and accidents

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

International relations

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

Law and crime

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

Politics and elections

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

2025 December 24

Armed conflicts and attacks

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

Disasters and accidents

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

International relations

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

Law and crime

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

Politics and elections

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

2025 December 23

Armed conflicts and attacks

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

Business and economy

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

Disasters and accidents

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

International relations

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

Law and crime

• Corruption in Romania
  • Romanian president Nicușor Dan announces an investigation into alleged systemic abuses within the judiciary after judges and prosecutors report intimidation and undue influence by the High Court of Cassation and Justice. (Reuters)
• Piracy in Venezuela
  • The Venezuelan National Assembly approves a law that creates prison terms of up to 20 years for promoting or financing activities defined as piracy, blockades, or related international crimes. (Reuters)
• Zagreb school stabbing
  • A Croatian man is sentenced to 50 years in prison for fatally stabbing a 7-year-old student at a school in Zagreb in December 2024. (AP)

Politics and elections

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

2025 December 22

Armed conflicts and attacks

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

Business and economy

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

Disasters and accidents

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

Health and environment

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

International relations

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

Law and crime

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

Politics and elections

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

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