Tuesday,  December 27th, 2022 

It is announced that a record seventy-one military vehicles from the Chinese Air Force entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in the past 24 hours. (Reuters) 

The Taiwanese government announces that it would extend the required duration for conscription from four months to one year, citing the increasing threat of China using military force to pursue Chinese unification. The reform, which will apply to men born after January 1, 2005, will take effect in 2024. (AFP via SBS World News) 

South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol pardons former president Lee Myung-bak as part of a mass pardon aimed at “national unity”. Lee had been serving a 17-year sentence for corruption. (Al Jazeera) 

Ukrainian forces claim that they are closing in on the city of Kreminna in Luhansk Oblast. According to governor Serhiy Haidai, Russian fighters in some parts of the city were forced to retreat to neighboring Rubizhne. (The Guardian) 

Russian president Vladimir Putin issues a decree to prohibit the exports of Russian oil and petroleum products to countries and organizations that adhere to the US$60-per-barrel price cap that Australia, the European Union, and the G7 member states agreed upon earlier this month. The decree will be in effect from February 1 to July 1. (AFP via NDTV) 

A federal judge in Michigan, United States, sentences a man to 16 years in prison for plotting to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. The man was also convicted of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. (CNN) 

The Supreme Court of the United States rules 5–4 to maintain Title 42 of the U.S. Code, allowing the government to remove persons who have recently been in a country where an infectious disease was present. (AFP via RFI) 

Monday,  December 26th, 2022 

Five North Korean drones cross the DMZ into South Korea, which assembles aircraft to intercept the drones. One of the South Korean FA-1 light attack aircraft crashes during takeoff and a North Korean drone crashes near the South Korean capital of Seoul. It is believed that North Korea launched the drones in response to criticism of the quality of North Korean satellite images.  (Daily NK) 

The National Health Commission announces that China will suspend their COVID-19 quarantine requirements for passengers arriving from abroad beginning on January 8. (ABC News) 

Three Russian military members are killed by debris after Russia shoots down a drone that was approaching the Engels air base in Saratov Oblast, Russia. (AFP via Times of Israel) 

Six Syrian Democratic Forces members are killed and an unknown number of others are injured during an ambush by five Islamic State gunmen in Raqqa. One of the attackers is killed and another is arrested. (Al Jazeera) 

Six Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation militants are killed during a fight with the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian Army in Aleppo. (AP) 

Seventeen people are killed and 93 more injured as heavy snow affects Japan. (AP) 

Three members of the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin have died within ten days from each other in Cambodia, prompting an increasing alarming situation. (AP) 

A French judge indicts a 69-year-old man with murder, attempted murder due to race, and the unlawful procurement and possession of a weapon for killing three people and injuring three others in the 10th arrondissement of Paris on December 23. The suspect had confessed to having been motivated by racism. (AFP via Deccan Herald) 

The End