Portal:Current events
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Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad
- Israel recognises Somaliland as an independent state, becoming the first country to do so.
- A jet crash near Ankara, Turkey, kills all eight people on board, including Libyan Army chief of staff Mohammed al-Haddad (pictured).
- A mass stabbing in Taipei, Taiwan, leaves four people dead, including the perpetrator.
- Bangladeshi activist Osman Hadi is assassinated, triggering violent protests and arson.
- Fatafehi Fakafānua is elected prime minister by the legislative assembly of Tonga.
December 27, 2025 (Saturday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2025 Cambodia–Thailand conflict
- Cambodia and Thailand sign a new ceasefire agreement, a few hours after Thailand conducted airstrikes. (AP)
Business and economy
- 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
- At least seven people are killed, while ten others have been rescued, when a bus carrying 19 charity workers overturns on a mountain in Yên Bái province, Vietnam. (Reuters)
December 26, 2025 (Friday)
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)
- 2025 Harod Valley attack
- Syrian conflict
- 2025 Homs 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)
- 2025 Homs mosque bombing
- 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)
December 25, 2025 (Thursday)
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. (CBS News) (BBC News)
- 2025 United States strikes in Nigeria
- 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)
- Violations of non-combatant airspace during the Russo-Ukrainian war
- 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)
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 Russian court sentences Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov to six years in prison for justifying terrorism. (AP)
- 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)
December 24, 2025 (Wednesday)
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)
- Israel–Hezbollah conflict
- 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 off 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)
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)
December 23, 2025 (Tuesday)
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)
- Israeli settler violence
- Russo-Ukrainian war
- Northern Donetsk Oblast campaign
- The Ukrainian Armed Forces confirm their withdrawal from Siversk, Donetsk Oblast. (Reuters)
- Northern Donetsk Oblast campaign
- 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)
- 2025 United States military strikes on alleged drug traffickers
- 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
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)
December 22, 2025 (Monday)
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)
- December 2025 Aleppo clashes
- SDF–Syrian transitional government clashes (2025–present)
- Israel–Hezbollah conflict
- Three people are killed in an Israeli airstrike against a vehicle near Sidon, Lebanon. (Al Jazeera)
- Syrian conflict
- 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)
- Operation Southern Spear
- 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)
- Attacks in Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian war
- 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)
December 21, 2025 (Sunday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Israeli settler colonialism
- The Israeli cabinet approves 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite such settlements being considered illegal under international law. (BBC News) (AP)
Business and economy
- Sugar industry in the Philippines
- The Philippine agriculture department extends its import ban on sugar until December 2026. (The Rahnuma Daily)
International relations
- Libya–Pakistan relations
- Pakistan agrees to sell military technology to the Libyan military for over US$4 billion, violating an arms embargo imposed by the United Nations on Libya. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Kidnapping in Nigeria
- Papiri kidnapping
- Nigerian presidential spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale reports that all remaining 130 students and staff abducted in November from a Catholic school in Niger State have been released. (AFP via The Guardian)
- Gunmen abduct 28 people after intercepting a vehicle traveling to a Maulud gathering in Bashar, Plateau State. (AFP via France 24)
- Papiri kidnapping
- Nine people are killed and ten others are injured in a mass shooting when 12 gunmen open fire near a tavern in Bekkersdal, Gauteng, South Africa. (AFP via CBS News)
Politics and elections
- 2025 Extremaduran regional election
- In Extremadura, Spain, the ruling People's Party of Extremadura of regional president María Guardiola wins the elections for its first time since 2011, while PSOE Extremadura reports its worst result ever and the far-right Vox party more than doubles its share of the vote. (RTVE)
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