Portal:Current events

Disasters and accidents

• Jeju Air Flight 2216
  • A Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 carrying 181 people crashes during landing at the Muan International Airport in South Korea, killing 179 people and wounding two crew members. (Bloomberg) (Yna) (Euronews)

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 their President. (Reuters)

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)

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 Brazilense)
• 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 Taliban 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. (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 is fatally stabbed by a Palestinian militant in Herzliya, Israel. (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)

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)

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)

Armed conflicts and attacks

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famine thresholds, after the United States envoy to Israel criticized the report's methodology as "irresponsible" for "outdated" and "inflated" estimates of the civilian population of Gaza.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

Disasters and accidents

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

International relations

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

Law and crime

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

Politics and elections

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

Science and technology

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

Armed conflicts and attacks

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

Arts and culture

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

Disasters and accidents

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

International relations

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

Law and crime

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

Politics and elections

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

Science and technology

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

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 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
  • Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh
    • For the first time, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz claims responsibility for the July 2024 assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Iran. (Reuters)
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Attacks on protected zones and civilians in Gaza
    • At least seven people are killed in Israeli airstrikes on a safe zone in al-Mawasi, Gaza. Several other attacks across the Gaza Strip kill at least 43 others. (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican drug war
  • Seventeen people are killed in a string of attacks over the past 48 hours across the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. (El País)

Business and economy

• Student loans in the United States, Economic policy of the Joe Biden administration
  • The Biden administration officially withdraws two major legislative plans that would have granted student loan forgiveness to more than 30 million Americans. (Forbes) (CNBC)
• Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda announce plans 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)
• In Italy, three people are killed and another is injured in severe storms in Rome, while two others are killed on the Gran Sasso d'Italia massif. (Roma Today) (Il Messaggero)
• The Santa Cruz Wharf of Santa Cruz, California, United States, partially collapses from high waves of a Pacific storm. (BBC News)

International relations

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

Law and crime

• 2024 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)
• 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 Changde car attack
  • The perpetrator of a car attack in November is sentenced to death by Chinese authorities. (Xinhua)
• A man is arrested and charged with animal cruelty for shooting and killing 98 kangaroos on a military base in Singleton, New South Wales, Australia. (news.com.au)
• Guatemalan police rescue at least 160 children and 40 women held by the Lev Tahor Jewish sect and accuse the group of child sexual abuse, forced marriage, and human trafficking. Members of Lev Tahor broke into the care center in Oratorio, Santa Rosa Department, where the children were being held on Sunday. (Al Jazeera) (The Times of Israel) (The Independent)

Politics and elections

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