Sunday, December 25th, 2022 

An attack on an electrical substation in Pierce County, Washington, United States, cuts off power to 14,000 people. The perpetrators and motive of the attack are unknown. (Seattle Times) 

Fourteen Iranian fishermen are returned to Iran after eight years of captivity in Somalia. The men were found in Somalia by police last month and freed from al-Shabaab jihadists after negotiations between the captors, tribal chiefs and Somali elders. (AFP via Al Arabiya) 

At least four people are injured, one of them seriously, when an avalanche hits the ski resort Zürs/Lech in Vorarlberg, Austria. Emergency services rescue all of the ten people who had been buried alive. (RTL News in German) 

Catalonia in Spain registers the highest December temperature ever for the autonomous community in Anglès, which reached 26.3 °C (79.3 °F). Several other stations, including in the regional capital of Barcelona, also break records. (Catalan News) 

A court in the Maldives sentences former president Abdulla Yameen to 11 years in prison on money laundering and bribery charges. (ABC News) 

Saturday, December 24th, 2022 

The Taliban issues a decree banning female employees from all non-governmental organizations in Afghanistan. (CNN) 

Russian forces shell the city of Kherson, killing at least ten civilians and injuring 58 others. (Daily Express) 

Kurds riot near the Place de la République in Paris, France, damaging shops and setting fires. The Paris Police Prefecture reports 11 arrests and at least 30 minor injuries in relation to the violence. The riot followed a peaceful protest in response to yesterday’s mass shooting at a Kurdish cultural center that killed three people. (Reuters) 

Six people are killed and two others are rescued after a bus falls off a bridge into the Lérez river in Galicia, Spain. (The Guardian) 

The Nara District Public Prosecutors Office in Nara Prefecture, Japan, says that the accused assassin of former prime minister Shinzo Abe is competent to stand trial for the killing. Prosecutors say that Tetsuya Yamagami “does not suffer from any mental illness that could greatly affect his ability to judge right from wrong”. According to sources, prosecutors plan to indict Yamagami on murder charges. (Yomiuri) 

Sitiveni Rabuka is confirmed as the new prime minister. Rabuka will hold the office again more than two decades after first leading the country as prime minister. (AP via VOA) 

The End