December 29
Politics and elections
Disasters and accidents
Three people are killed and another is injured when an avalanche hits a popular ski resort on the Pyrenees in Panticosa, Aragon, Spain.
Source:
Daily Express 
Two people are killed and British boxer Anthony Joshua is injured when a car crashes into a stationary truck on the Ogun–Lagos state expressway near Lagos, Nigeria.
Source:
BBC News
December 28
Disasters and accidents
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.
Source:
in Spanish
Three people, including a toddler, are killed and three others are injured and hospitalized when a building collapses in Soweto, South Africa.
Source:
AP
Armed conflicts and attacks
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.
Source:
TRT World
Law and crime
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.
Source:
AP
The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal sentences a former Ba'athist lieutenant to death for the massacre of Barzanis during the Anfal campaign against Kurds.
Source:
The New Region
Politics and elections
Citizens of Myanmar vote in the first phase to elect the nation's legislature. Two further phases of voting are expected in January.
Source:
AP
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.
Source:
Reuters
Guineans vote for a president as incumbent Mamady Doumbouya seeks to be elected four years after leading a coup.
Source:
Reuters
Source:
AP via ABC News
Arts and culture
After months of a high-profile legal dispute, ADOR terminates its contract with Danielle and expels her from the girl group NewJeans, one of South Korea's most successful commercial acts.
Source:
Rolling Stone
December 27
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.
Source:
Al Jazeera
An accident involving two cars after an improper overtaking kills eleven people on the BR-101 highway near Mucuri, Bahia, Brazil.
Source:
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.
Source:
Tuổi Trẻ
A M 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.
Source:
CNN
Politics and elections
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.
Source:
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.
Source:
Reuters
Business and economy
China sanctions 20 United States defense-related companies and ten executives for providing weapons to Taiwan last week.
Source:
AP
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.
Source:
Barron's
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.
Source:
Reuters
Armed conflicts and attacks
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.
Russo-Ukrainian war (2022–present)Kyiv strikes (2022–present)Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
Source:
BBC News
Denis Kapustin, leader of the Ukraine-aligned neo-Nazi Russian Volunteer Corps, is killed in a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Source:
The Moscow Times
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.
Source:
The Express Tribune
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.
Source:
AFP via France 24
Law and crime
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.
Source:
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.
Source:
UPI
December 26
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.
Source:
The Independent
Armed conflicts and attacks
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.
Source:
The New York Times
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.
Source:
France 24
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).
Source:
Reuters
Law and crime
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.
Source:
AP
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.
Source:
Reuters
Fifteen people are injured in a mass stabbing and liquid attack at a factory in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The perpetrator is arrested.
Source:
CBS News
International relations
Israel becomes the first country to recognize Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state. Somaliland also officially recognises Israel.
Source:
Reuters