An Israeli soldier is wounded after an improvised explosive device detonated east of the demarcation line in Gaza.
Source:
YNet 
December 24
Armed conflicts and attacks
Source:
BBC News
December 23
International relations
Montenegro reinstates visa-free entry for Turkish citizens but shortens the permitted stay from 90 days to 30 days after resuming cooperation with Turkey.
Source:
Reuters
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.
Source:
Reuters
Law and crime
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.
Source:
Reuters
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.
Source:
Reuters
A Croatian man was sentenced to 50 years in prison for fatally stabbing a 7-year-old student at a school in Zagreb in December 2024.
Source:
AP
Armed conflicts and attacks
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.
Source:
Los Angeles Times
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirms their withdrawal from Siversk, Donetsk Oblast.
Source:
upday
The United States Southern Command announces U.S. forces have struck an alleged drug trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person.
Source:
ABC News
The Pakistani Taliban detonates a bomb and shoots at a police van in Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, killing five officers.
Source:
Reuters
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.
Source:
AP
Politics and elections
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.
Source:
Reuters
Disasters and accidents
A Dassault Falcon 50 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.
Source:
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.
Source:
Reuters
December 22
Politics and elections
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.
Source:
Reuters
United States president Donald Trump reveals the development of the Trump Class USS , the first American battleship built since World War II.
Source:
USNI
Business and economy
The Chinese commerce ministry imposes a provisional set of 42.7% tariffs on dairy products, including milk and cheese, imported from the European Union.
Source:
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.
Source:
Barron's
Health and environment
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.
Source:
Reuters
Law and crime
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.
Source:
Reuters
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.
Source:
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.
Source:
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.
Source:
AP
Armed conflicts and attacks
Source:
Al Jazeera
Two people are killed and eight others are injured during clashes between Syrian security forces and Syrian Democratic Forces fighters in Aleppo.
Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)Syrian conflict (2024–present)SDF–Syrian transitional government clashes (2025–present)December 2025 Aleppo clashes
Source:
AP via WFMZ-TV
Ukrainian military forces launch airstrikes on several targets across Russia, hitting an oil terminal, an ammunition depot, and a drone launch site in Krasnodar.
Source:
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.
Source:
The Guardian
Turkish intelligence agents capture a senior member of the Islamic State – Khorasan Province along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border.
Source:
AP
International 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.
Source:
DW
December 21
Politics and elections
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.
Source:
RTVE
Business and economy
The Philippine agriculture department extends its import ban on sugar until December 2026.
Source:
The Rahnuma Daily
Law and crime
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.
Source:
The Guardian
Gunmen abduct 28 people after intercepting a vehicle traveling to a Maulud gathering in Bashar, Plateau State.
Source:
AFP via France 24
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.
Source:
AFP via CBS News
Armed conflicts and attacks
The Israeli cabinet approves 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite such settlements being considered illegal under international law.
Source:
AP
International 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.
Source:
Reuters