Portal:Current events

Business and economy

• 2022–2023 Russia–European Union gas dispute
  • Russia's gas firm Gazprom halts exports of Russian natural gas via Ukrainian pipelines after Ukraine refused to renew a transit agreement. Hungary will continue receiving Russian gas via the TurkStream pipeline. (Reuters)
• Foreign relations of Mexico
  • Mexico's Tax Administration Service implements new tariffs, including a 19% duty on goods from countries without international trade agreements with Mexico and a 17% duty on items from Canada and the United States under certain value thresholds. (Reuters)
• Russia's state-owned energy company Gazprom cuts off its gas supply to the breakaway region of Transnistria, internationally recognized as part of Moldova. (Ukrayinska Pravda via Yahoo News)

Health and environment

• The first children of the western world-named "Generation Beta" demographic cohort are born. (Business Insider) (Nine News)

Law and crime

• 2025 New Orleans truck attack
  • Ten people are killed and 30 others injured during a vehicle-ramming and shooting attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. (New York Post)
• LGBTQ rights in Liechtenstein
  • Liechtenstein becomes the 39th country to legalize same-sex marriage. (GCN)
• Five people are killed, several are injured and at least 330 arrested due to mishandling of pyrotechnics during New Year's celebrations in Germany. (RNZ) (DW)

Politics and elections

• Schengen Area
  • Bulgaria and Romania finalize the process of joining the Schengen Area, lifting land border controls. (AP News)
• Karin Keller-Sutter begins her one-year term as President of Switzerland. (Le News)

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
    • Ten Islamic State militants are killed by Puntland forces while repulsing 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 Philippine-flagged cargo ship sinks in the San Bernardino Strait near Samar. (News Central)
• Puerto Rico experiences a power outage, impacting 1.3 million people. (The New York Times) (NBC News)

International relations

• Foreign relations of France, Françafrique
  • 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 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 14.5 years and three years in prison, respectively, for child neglect and abuse, and also sentences a shooting range instructor to 1.5 years for perjury. (Reuters)
• Capital punishment in Zimbabwe
  • Zimbabwe approves a law abolishing the death penalty in the country, effective immediately. (BBC News)
• Five people are wounded during a random mass stabbing amid New Year's Eve celebrations in Verucchio, Province of Rimini, Italy. The perpetrator is shot dead by a soldier. (Il Resto del Carlino)
• A man steals an excavator in Grünsfeld, Germany, and rams the excavator against vehicles, injuring four police officers, before being shot dead. (DW)

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 have been killed and 121 others injured in shelling by the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum. (Sudan Tribune)
• 2024 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, due to five people 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 envisages the possible nationalisation of Moldovagaz company, which is 50%-owned by Russia's Gazprom, following the announcement by Gazprom that the current gas supply deal, to expire on December 31, will not be renewed. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• In Pakistan, ten people are killed and seven 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)
• 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)

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

• 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. (SOHR)
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom, Yazidi genocide
    • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that a humanitarian crisis has developed in Manbij District following its capture by Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) 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)
• English Channel migrant crossings
  • Three migrants die attempting to cross the English Channel, with 45 rescued and treated for hypothermia and four hospitalized. (BBC News)
• 2024 Sidama truck crash
  • At least 71 people are killed and four injured when a passenger-carrying truck drives off a bridge into a river in Bona Zuria, Sidama Region, Ethiopia. (The Guardian) (Voice of America)
• 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)

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)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israel–Hamas 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

• 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)
• Israel–Hamas 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 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

• 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)
• 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)

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

• Israel–Hamas war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Killing of journalists in the Israel–Hamas 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, Françafrique
  • France hands over its first base in Chad, at Faya-Largeau, as part of the withdrawal of all its military forces from the country. (Al Jazeera)

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 age of 92. (The Times of India)