Portal:Current events

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian War
  • Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Bombing of Kharkiv
      • Russian forces attack Kharkiv with missiles, injuring at least 16 people, including a foreign journalist, and damaging civilian infrastructure. (The Kyiv Independent)
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • 30 December 2023 Belgorod shelling
      • Ukraine launches drone and missile strikes against the city of Belgorod, Russia, killing 21 people, and injuring 110 others, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. (AP)
• 2023 attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria
  • Four Hezbollah members and two other militants are killed during three airstrikes at Syria's border with Iraq. (AP)
• 2023 Israel–Hamas war
  • The Israel Defense Forces says that dozens of militants have been killed in Gaza amid continued tank and aerial assaults on Khan Yunis. (Times of Israel)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 South Africa floods
  • Flash flooding kills 21 people in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. (ABC News)
• Three people are killed and three are injured in a house explosion in Northfield Township, Michigan, United States. (NBC)

Law and crime

• Corruption in Albania
  • A court in Albania orders that former president and prime minister Sali Berisha be placed under house arrest following accusations of corruption. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russian strikes against infrastructure
    • 29 December 2023 Russian strikes on Ukraine
      • Russia launches the largest wave of drones and missiles on Ukrainian cities since the start of the war in a widespread overnight assault on cities across the country, killing at least 39 people and injuring at least 160 others. (AP) (Ukrainian Pravda)
      • One of the Russian cruise missiles enters NATO airspace as it travels over Polish territory, prompting the Polish government to summon the Russian charge d'affaires for an explanation. (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
• Mexican drug war
  • Six people are killed and 26 others are injured in a mass shooting at a party in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico. The shooting's target, a cartel member, is among those killed. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 Africa floods
  • At least 20 people are killed by landslides caused by torrential rains in Mwenga, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (AP)
• Around 120 people are rescued from a breakaway ice floe on Upper Red Lake near Bemidji, Minnesota. (CNN)

International relations

• Foreign relations of Argentina
  • Argentine president Javier Milei sends a letter to BRICS, rejecting the bloc's invitation for Argentina to join the organization. (La Nación) (BBC News)

Law and crime

• Capital punishment in Iran, Iran–Israel proxy conflict
  • Four people are executed by hanging in West Azerbaijan province, Iran, after being convicted of links to Israel's Mossad spy agency. (Al Jazeera)
• International reactions to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Israel–South Africa relations
  • South Africa files a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• The National People's Congress of China appoints Commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy Dong Jun as Minister of National Defense, succeeding Li Shangfu. (CNA)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Southern Ukraine campaign
    • Greek-owned cargo ship Vyssos travelling to Ukraine hits a Russian naval mine in the Black Sea, injuring three crew members, Ukraine says. (BBC News) (Xinhua)
• Mexican drug war
  • La Familia Michoacana drug cartel kidnap 14 people from Texcaltitlán, state of Mexico, in retaliation for a previous incident in which 10 cartel members were killed by residents of the town. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• At least 13 people are killed when a bus catches fire after colliding head-on with a truck on a highway in Guna district, Madhya Pradesh, India. (India Today)
• At least 10 people are killed and 57 others are injured in a multiple-vehicle collision on motorway Otoyol 7 in Sakarya Province, Turkey. (AP via New Haven Register)

International relations

• Bulgaria and Romania reach an agreement with Austria to become members of the Schengen Area through sea and air routes in March, with discussions regarding the opening of land borders scheduled to begin next year. (AFP via Le Monde)

Law and crime

• Capital punishment in Qatar
  • A court in Qatar reduces the sentences of eight retired Indian Navy officers who had been sentenced to death for spying. (AP)
• Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a victim of her mother's Munchausen syndrome by proxy, is released early from prison after serving seven years of a ten-year sentence for conspiring to murder her mother Dee Dee Blanchard in the U.S. state of Missouri in 2015. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2024 United States presidential election
  • Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign, 2024 presidential eligibility of Donald Trump
    • Former President Donald Trump is returned to the primary ballot in Colorado, after the Colorado Republican Party appealed Trump's removal under the 14th Amendment earlier this month. Separately, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows removes Trump from the state's primary ballot under the 14th Amendment. (CBS) (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Russian strikes against infrastructure
    • Russian drone and artillery strikes kill at least five people and cause power outages for around 70% of households in Kherson, according to Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin. (AP)

Business and economy

• Renewable energy in Colombia
  • Colombia approves regulations that encourage local communities and indigenous groups to produce energy using renewable sources and sell the energy to the national grid. (BBC News)
• Thousands of union members and activists in Argentina protest a decree from President Javier Milei imposing deregulation and austerity measures meant to revive the country's economy. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• Death of Ana Clara Benevides
  • A forensics report by Rio de Janeiro's Forensic Medical Institute in Brazil finds that hyperthermia led to cardiorespiratory arrest that killed Swiftie Benevides. It says she did not have preexisting conditions or substance abuse that could have led to her death. (Reuters)
• At least 10 people are killed by thunderstorms and strong winds in the eastern Australian states of Queensland and Victoria. (ABC News Australia)
• A Hellenic Air Force T-2 Buckeye trainer jet crashes in a rural area near Kalamata, Greece, killing the pilot. (AP)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Eastern Ukraine campaign
    • Battle of Marinka
      • Ukraine's commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi confirms the loss of the city of Marinka to Russian forces. (BBC News) (The New York Times)
  • Crimea attacks
    • The Russian Ropucha-class landing ship Novocherkassk is destroyed by a Ukrainian airstrike in Feodosia, Crimea, killing at least one person and injuring four others. (Al Jazeera) (AP)
• Herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria
  • Nigerian bandit conflict
    • 2023 Plateau State massacres
      • Armed bandits kill about 140 people in Plateau State, Nigeria. Many houses are burned down. (AP)
• 2023 Israel–Hamas war
  • Houthi involvement in the Israel–Hamas war
    • A drone launched from the direction of the Red Sea is shot down near the Egyptian resort town of Dahab, according to the Egyptian military. The drone fell into the sea with no casualties or damage reported. (Reuters)
• Iraqi conflict
  • Islamic State insurgency in Iraq
    • Two men from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on a hunting trip in Iraq are killed when their vehicle hits a roadside bomb planted by Islamic State insurgents in Al Anbar Governorate. (AP)

Business and economy

• Daihatsu, a subsidiary of Japanese automaker Toyota, suspends all production at its four factories in Japan amid a transport ministry investigation into improper tests for safety certifications. (AP)
• The administration of Argentina's new president Javier Milei says the government will not renew contracts for more than 5,000 employees hired this year before he took office, as part of plans for cutbacks to the government. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2023 Africa floods
  • Twenty-two people are killed by floods in Kasaï-Central, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Several houses and structures are damaged, with a major road being cut off. (AP)
• At least 40 people are killed during the explosion of a gas tanker in Totota, Liberia. (Al Jazeera)
• A fire at a guest house in Prahova, Romania leaves six people dead, two others injured, and several others missing. (Euronews) (AP)

International relations

• Nuclear program of Iran
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency says that Iran has reversed a slowdown of its enrichment of uranium, and is now enriching uranium at up to 60%, bringing the country closer to reaching the enrichment level required to make a nuclear weapon. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Fukushima nuclear accident
  • The Tokyo High Court rules that TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, will be solely responsible for compensating evacuees and reduced the amount to half the amount a lower court initially ordered, while also absolving the government of any liability. (AP)
• A man is arrested in Sevres, Île-de-France, France, for killing his four children and their Haitian mother at their flat in Meaux the day before. (AP)

Sports

• 2023–24 NBA season
  • In basketball, the Detroit Pistons lose their 27th consecutive game and break the single-season record for the most consecutive losses in a National Basketball Association regular season, surpassing the records set by the 2010–11 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2013–14 Philadelphia 76ers, who both lost 26 straight games. (The Detroit News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Myanmar civil war
  • Operation 1027
    • The Ta'ang National Liberation Army of the Three Brotherhood Alliance captures the town of Mantong in northern Shan State. (The Irrawaddy)
• Syrian civil war
  • Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war
    • High-ranking Iranian general Sayyed Razi Mousavi is killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria. (BBC News)
• New People's Army rebellion
  • Nine New People's Army rebels are killed by the Philippine Armed Forces during clashes near Malaybalay, Bukidnon, amid a unilateral truce declared by the communist rebels. (AFP via SCMP)
• Turkish–Kurdish conflict
  • Twenty-six Kurdish separatist militants and eight civilians are killed by airstrikes launched by Turkey in the autonomous region of Rojava in Syria. (AP)
• War in Sudan
  • Local leaders and government officials in eastern Sudan call on the general population to mobilize and prepare for potential Rapid Support Forces attacks. The Sudanese Armed Forces is reportedly arming civilians amid fears that they will not be able to stop the militia. (Sudan Tribune)

Disasters and accidents

• Two people are killed and 29 others are injured in a fire at a residential building in Seoul, South Korea. (Xinhua via The Star)

Law and crime

• Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe grants amnesty to more than 1,000 convicts and releases them from jails across the country to mark Christmas. (Al Jazeera)