Tuesday,  December 30th, 2025 

After months of a high-profile legal dispute, entertainment agency ADOR terminates its contract with singer Danielle and expels her from the South Korean girl group NewJeans. (The Independent) 

High-speed rail service Eurostar temporarily suspends all trains between London and Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam due to an “overhead power supply issue” in the Channel Tunnel that caused major disruptions. (DW) 

Three people are killed and four others are injured, including one critically, in a livestreamed mass shooting when suspected Jalisco New Generation Cartel gunmen open fire on a Lamborghini in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. (BNO News) 

At least 13 people are killed and 98 others are injured, including five critically, when a Tren Interoceánico train carrying 250 people derails in Asunción Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. (Reuters) 

Two trains on a rail line between Cusco to Machu Picchu in Urubamba province, Peru, collide, killing a train driver and injuring 40 passengers.  (CBS News) 

United States federal judge Angel Kelley of Massachusetts blocks the Trump administration’s plan to end temporary protected status for South Sudanese nationals, issuing an administrative stay that prevents the expiration of deportation protections while a legal challenge proceeds. (Reuters) 

Israel announces the suspension of many international humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, the International Rescue Committee, and divisions of Oxfam and Caritas, from operating in Gaza starting January 1 for allegedly failing to pass new rules to vet the organizations and cooperating with Hamas and other militant groups. (AP) 

The Royal Saudi Air Force strikes the port of Mukalla, Yemen, targeting a ship with weapons delivered from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the Southern Transitional Council. (AP) 

Yemen ends its defense pact with the UAE, with leader Rashad al-Alimi ordering all Emirati forces to leave within 24 hours. He also declares a 90-day national state of emergency and a three-day blockade on the country’s southern and eastern regions. The UAE later announces that its remaining forces in Yemen will leave the country. (Reuters) 

Syrian authorities arrest 21 people in the Latakia Governorate and impose a curfew in the provincial capital following sectarian violence linked to unrest after a mosque bombing and protests in Alawite-majority areas. (AFP via Al Arabiya) 

Turkish police detain 357 people nationwide suspected of being Islamic State members following clashes between the two sides yesterday. (DW) 

Moody’s downgrades the credit rating of Budapest, Hungary, to Ba1 and places it on review for a further cut, citing weak liquidity, uncertainty over state transfers, rising solidarity tax obligations, and the partial suspension of European Union funds to Hungary. (Reuters) 

The search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 resumes in the southern Indian Ocean under a contingent fee agreement between Ocean Infinity, which has deployed autonomous underwater vehicles, and the Malaysian government. (AFP via France 24) 

The South African Police Service confirms at least 41 young men were killed from circumcision procedures during traditional initiation activities over the past two months in South Africa. (MSN) 

Provisional results show that incumbent leader Mamady Doumbouya is elected president. (Reuters) 

Congolese president Denis Sassou Nguesso announces his candidacy for re-election in the upcoming election. (AFP via France 24) 

Monday,  December 29th, 2025 

China conducts the largest live fire exercises to date around Taiwan, designating multiple sea and air zones for drills by naval and air units to rehearse a blockade and to signal opposition to recent United States arms sales to Taiwan. (Reuters) 

Russian president Vladimir Putin signs a law allowing the government to disregard criminal judgments issued by foreign or international courts that lack a treaty basis or a United Nations Security Council mandate. (Reuters) 

Denis Kapustin, leader of the Ukraine-aligned white-nationalist Russian Volunteer Corps, is killed in a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.  (The Moscow Times) 

Two people are killed and 32 are injured during a Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv, Ukraine. Damage to critical infrastructure leaves 40% of Kyiv’s residential areas and surrounding districts without heating. (BBC News) 

Protests erupt in Tehran, Iran, for a second day after the Iranian rial drops in value and inflation rates increase by 42.2%. The leader of the Central Bank of Iran resigns in response. (AP) 

Israel introduces new rules for aid groups, forbidding activities or criticism that “delegitimizes” Israel, without providing specific definitions. Aid groups say that the requirements are political and may hinder criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza. (ABC News) 

Three police officers and six Islamic State gunmen are killed in a shootout during a raid at a house in Elmalık, Yalova Province, Turkey. Eight other officers and a civilian are also wounded. (Al Jazeera) 

The Syrian transitional government orders the military to secure a mass grave at a former military base near Al-Dumayr, Rif Dimashq Governorate, and opens a criminal investigation into a covert operation that transferred thousands of bodies there from another site during the previous administration. (Reuters) 

Haibat al-Halbousi of the Iraqi Progress Party is elected Speaker of the Council of Representatives following the recent parliamentary election. (Reuters) 

Three people are killed and another is injured when an avalanche hits a ski resort on the Pyrenees in Panticosa, Aragon, Spain. (Daily Express) 

Two people are killed and British boxer Anthony Joshua is injured when a car crashes into a stationary truck on the Ogun–Lagos state expressway near Lagos, Nigeria. (BBC News) 

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission raids multiple companies and freezes six bank accounts while investigating alleged bribery linked to army procurement contracts, as army chief Muhammad Hafizuddeain Jantan is placed on leave pending the inquiry. (Reuters) 

Sunday, December 28th, 2025 

The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal sentences a former Ba’athist lieutenant to death for the massacre of Barzanis during the Anfal campaign against Kurds in the 1980s. (The New Region) 

At least three people are killed and dozens of others are injured after gunfire erupts during Alawite-led protests in Latakia, Syria, demanding decentralization and for the transitional government to release Assadist detainees. (Reuters) 

Six people, including a two-year-old girl, are killed and three others are injured in a mass shooting at a beach in Puerto López, Manabí Province, Ecuador.  (TRT World) 

Citizens of the Central African Republic vote to elect a president and 140 members of the National Assembly. The incumbent Faustin-Archange Touadéra seeks a third term in office. (Reuters) 

Sixteen people are killed and three others sustain burn injuries after a fire breaks out at a retirement home in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. (Reuters) 

Three people, including a toddler, are killed and three others are injured when a building collapses in Soweto, Gauteng, South Africa. (AP) 

Nine people are killed, including five children, and three others are injured, including the perpetrator and another child, in a mass stabbing spree at multiple houses in Richelieu, Commewijne District, Suriname. (AP) 

Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s Vetëvendosje party wins the election with about half of the votes and an estimated 56 of the 120 assembly seats but falls short of the 61 seats required to govern without support from minority parties. (Al Jazeera) 

Citizens of Myanmar vote in the first phase to elect the nation’s legislature, held under the supervision of a military junta amidst a civil war. (AP) 

Citizens of Kosovo vote for the second time in a year to elect the members of the Kuvendi. (AP via ABC News) 

Citizens of Guinea vote for a president as incumbent Mamady Doumbouya seeks to be elected four years after leading a coup. (Reuters) 

The End