International relations

• Syria–Germany relations, Syria–France relations
  • Germany's Annalena Baerbock and France's Jean-Noël Barrot are the first EU Foreign Ministers to travel to Damascus after the fall of Assad to discuss a new political beginning with the Syrian Transitional Government and Syrian civil society. (Der Spiegel), (France 24)

• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • Yoon Suk Yeol residence standoff
    • Corruption investigators and prosecutors raid the central Seoul residence of recently impeached President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol to arrest him for refusing to show to three court summons. The raid is unsuccessful due to the Presidential Security Service blocking further entrance, leading to a multi-hour standoff. (The Guardian)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Israeli invasion of Syria
    • Israeli warplanes carry out airstrikes on defense factories and a research center in Al-Safira, Aleppo Governorate, Syria. (Xinhua)
  • US intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, U.S. forces are deploying a new convoy to areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Kobani, Aleppo Governorate, as part of operations to establish a new US military base in north-eastern Syria. (SOHR)
• Israel–Hamas war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • Eleven people are killed, including a Hamas police chief, in an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in al-Mawasi in the Gaza Strip. (BBC News)
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announces that it has approved a delegation to Doha, Qatar for ceasefire talks. (Reuters)
• War in Somalia, War against the Islamic State
  • Puntland military offensives into ISIS
    • Puntland forces conduct airstrikes on ISIL hideouts in Bari, Puntland, Somalia, after they announced a military offensive against ISIL and Al-Shabaab. (Idil News) (VOA)

• German economic crisis
  • The Handelsblatt Research Institute reports that the German economy is in its "greatest crisis in post-war history" after projecting that the economy will enter its third year of recession in 2025 with a 0.1% contraction, following a 0.3% contraction in both 2023 and 2024. (TVP World)

• 2025 Fullerton plane crash
  • A small plane crashes through the roof of a commercial warehouse in Fullerton, California, United States, causing a fire, killing two people and injuring at least 18 others. (KABC-TV) (AP)
• Two officers were injured in an explosion of an unknown object at a police fence in Berlin-Wittenau; the reasons for this are still unclear. (tagesschau)

• Syria–Ukraine relations
  • Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Ukraine will pledge support to the Syrian transitional government. (The Press Democrat)

• 2024 Venezuelan political crisis
  • The government of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro offers a US$100,000 reward for the capture of exiled opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, who claims that he is ready to take office as the legitimate president on January 10. (El Universal) (El País)
• The Constitutional Court of Indonesia rules that the 20% electoral threshold for political parties to nominate a presidential candidate is not legally binding, potentially enabling smaller parties to participate in future presidential elections without the need to form coalition with larger parties. (Reuters)

• 2025 in paleontology, Dinosaurs of the British Isles
  • The largest site of dinosaur footprints of the Cetiosaurus and Megalosaurus dating back to the Middle Jurassic Bathonian stage 166 million years ago is discovered at a quarry in Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom. (BBC News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israel–Hamas war
  • Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip kill at least 26 Palestinians, including four children. At least ten others are missing and believed to be buried under rubble. (Al Jazeera)
• 2025 New Orleans truck attack
  • A man kills 15 people and injures 35 others, including two police officers, in a vehicle-ramming and shooting attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, before being shot dead. The FBI says that it found an Islamic State flag in the suspect's vehicle. (Reuters)
• Somali Civil War
  • The African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission, endorsed by United Nations Security Council on December 27, replaces the African Union Transition Mission as the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia. (Voice of Nigeria) (UN Press)

• Public Domain Day
  • The novel A Farewell to Arms and the cartoon characters Popeye and Tintin enter the public domain in the United States. (Rolling Stone)

• 2022–2023 Russia–European Union gas dispute
  • Russia's gas firm Gazprom suspends exports of Russian natural gas through Ukrainian pipelines after Ukraine refused to renew the transit agreement between its operator Naftogaz and Gazprom. However, Hungary will continue receiving Russian natural 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 goods from Canada and the United States under certain value thresholds. (Reuters)
• Moldova–Russia relations
  • As announced, Russia's Gazprom halts its gas supplies both to Moldova and the self-proclaimed Transnistrian republic alleging non-compliance with payment obligations. (bne IntelliNews), (Politico)

• European migrant crisis
  • Twenty-seven migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are killed, and 83 others are rescued after two boats capsize off the Kerkennah Islands near Tunisia, with searches ongoing for additional missing passengers. (France 24)
• Three people are killed and over twenty others are injured in a fireworks explosion at a house in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. (CTV News)

• Honduras–United States relations
  • Honduran President Xiomara Castro warns that she might remove all US military bases from Honduras and seek to cancel the military cooperation with the United States if President-elect Donald Trump fulfills his threat to order mass deportations of Hondurans when he takes office next January 20. (The Tico Times)

• 2024–2025 German New Year's Eve pyrotechnics incidents
  • Five people are killed, several others are injured, and at least 330 people are arrested due to mishandling of pyrotechnics during New Year's celebrations in Germany. (RNZ) (1News)
• 2025 Cetinje shootings
  • Twelve people are killed and four others are injured in a shooting spree in Cetinje, Montenegro. The perpetrator kills himself. (AP) (Al Jazeera)
• Al Jazeera controversies and criticism
  • The Palestinian Authority suspends Al Jazeera's broadcasts and operations in Palestine, accusing the network of interfering in internal affairs and spreading incitement and misinformation. (Reuters)
• Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia
  • Saudi Arabia announces the execution of six Iranian nationals convicted of smuggling hashish. In Tehran, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Saudi ambassador in protest. (AP)
• LGBTQ rights in Liechtenstein
  • Liechtenstein becomes the 39th country to legalize same-sex marriage. (GCN)
• Trump International Hotel Las Vegas Tesla Cybertruck explosion
  • A Tesla Cybertruck explodes outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada, United States, killing the driver and slightly injuring seven other people. Police are currently investigating whether the fireworks that the truck was carrying were part of a terrorist plot. (ABC News)
• Five people are killed in a familicide mass stabbing when a son kills his four sisters and mother in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. (The Hindu)
• A police officer is killed and four other people are injured in a vehicle-ramming attack during a patrol in Nelson, New Zealand. A 32-year-old suspect is arrested. (AP)
• Eleven people are injured during a mass shooting outside a nightclub in Queens, New York, United States. (The Nightly)
• FBI agents announce the seizure of more than 150 homemade pipe bombs and other explosive devices from a home in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, United States, "the largest seizure by number of finished explosive devices in FBI history". (AP)

• Bulgaria and Romania finalize the process of joining the Schengen Area and lift their land border controls. (AP)
• Karin Keller-Sutter is sworn in 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, Puntland military offensives into ISIS
    • Ten Islamic State militants are killed by Puntland forces in 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)

• One crew member is killed and two others are missing after a cargo ship sinks in the San Bernardino Strait near Samar, Philippines. (News Central)
• Puerto Rico experiences a power outage, impacting 1.3 million clients. (The New York Times) (NBC News)

• French military withdrawal from West Africa
  • 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)

• 2024 Ecuadorian conflict
  • An Ecuadorian judge issues arrest warrants for 16 soldiers accused of the disappearance and murder of four children in Guayaquil after genetic tests confirm the charred remains found near a military base belong to the missing victims. (AP)
• 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 over 14 years and three years in prison, respectively, for child neglect and abuse, and also sentences a shooting range instructor to 1 and a half years for perjury. (Reuters)
• Capital punishment in Zimbabwe
  • Zimbabwe approves a law abolishing the death penalty in the country, effective immediately. (BBC News)
• Kivu conflict, Capital punishment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • A military tribunal in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, sentences 13 soldiers to death for charges including murder, looting, and cowardice, following territorial losses attributed to desertion during the conflict. (Reuters)
• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)
• Cuba releases Salvadoran national Raúl Ernesto Cruz León after he completes a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in the 1997 hotel bombings. (BSS)
• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)
• At the conclusion of the annual year-end general meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, the appointment of Pak Thae-song to replace Kim Tok-hun in the post of Prime Minister of North Korea is announced. (Yonhap News Agency)

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)

• 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).

• 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)

• 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)

• The Afghanistan's Taliban government bans windows overlooking to places "used by women", and says that existing ones should be blocked. (RFI)

• 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)