Portal:Current events

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israel–Hamas war
  • Israeli airstrikes across Gaza kill at least 28 people. (France 24)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • At least seven Ukrainian drones strike Kazan, Russia, six of which reportedly hit residential areas, including a 32-story apartment building. (Ukrainska Pravda) (Reuters)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Sixteen Pakistan Army soldiers are killed and five others are critically injured when militants launch an overnight raid on an army post in Makeen, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (Al Arabiya)
• Red Sea crisis
  • Sixteen people are injured in a Houthi missile attack on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area in Israel. (CNN)

Business and economy

• Constitutional crisis in Somalia
  • The Puntland region of Somalia announces that it will introduce a new regional currency in 2025. The region had previously shifted to use of the United States dollar in 2021, due to severe inflation of the Somali shilling. (Garowe Online) (Hiiraan Online) (Horseed Media)

Disasters and accidents

• Thirty-eight people are killed and 13 others are injured when a bus collides with a truck on a highway in Minas Gerais, Brazil. (The Guardian) (G1)
• At least ten people are killed when a bus plunges into a ravine in Lorestan, Iran. (Al Arabiya)
• Ten people are killed and many others are injured in a stampede during a distribution of food and clothes at a church in Abuja, Nigeria. (AP)

Law and crime

• The Albanian government announces a one-year ban on the social media platform TikTok beginning in 2025, following a fatal stabbing of a teenager in November in connection to a confrontation on the platform. (Al Jazeera) (Türkiye Today)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Icelandic parliamentary election
  • The Social Democratic Alliance, led by Kristrún Frostadóttir, forms a coalition government in Iceland's Althing with the Liberal Reform Party and the People's Party. Kristrún becomes Iceland's youngest prime minister at 36 years old. (CNA)
• 2025 United States federal budget, Government shutdowns in the United States
  • The United States Senate passes a funding bill, with President Joe Biden subsequently signing the bill into law, thereby averting a government shutdown. (CBS News)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Sudanese civil war
  • Darfur campaign
    • Siege of El Fasher
      • The United Nations Human Rights Office reports that the Rapid Support Forces have killed over 782 civilians and wounded over 1,143 others in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, since May, and urges the RSF to halt their incursions into the city. (Al Jazeera)
      • At least 50 people, mostly from the Zaghawa ethnic group, have been killed by the Rapid Support Forces in the past week in El Fasher, North Darfur State, Sudan. (Sudan Tribune)
• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Israeli invasion of Syria
    • Israeli soldiers injure a Syrian man protesting against the soldiers' presence in Ma'ariya, Daraa Governorate. (Al Jazeera)
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • The United States drops the $10 million terrorism bounty offered for capture of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani who ousted Assad. (AP) (Times of Israel)
  • US intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • U.S. forces kill regional ISIS leader Abu Yusif, also known as Mahmud, in an airstrike in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria. (US CENTCOM)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 2024 Kursk offensive
    • A Ukrainian missile strike kills six people and injures 10 others in Rylsk, Kursk Oblast, Russia, according to acting Kursk Oblast governor Alexander Khinshtein. Russia says that it will raise the issue of the missile strike at the United Nations Security Council. (Reuters)
  • Kryvyi Rih strikes, Kyiv strikes
    • At least one person is killed and eight others are injured in Russian missile strikes on civilian infrastructure in Kryvyi Rih and Kyiv, Ukraine. (The Kyiv Independent) (Reuters)
• Islamist insurgency in the Sahel
  • Mali War
    • At least 20 people are killed in attacks on six villages in Mali's Mopti Region by suspected jihadists linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, who also destroy property during the assaults. (Reuters)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Israel–Hamas war, Israeli settler violence
    • Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque in Marda, Salfit Governorate in the occupied West Bank and deface the building's facade with anti-Arab statements, including "Death to Arabs". (Al Jazeera) (AFP via Barron's)
• Terrorism in Germany
  • 2024 Magdeburg car attack
    • Two people are killed and 68 others are injured in a vehicle-ramming attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. The suspected perpetrator is arrested. (Al Jazeera) (Blick)
• Myanmar civil war
  • The Arakan Army claims to have captured the Tatmadaw's regional headquarters in Rakhine State. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
  • Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
    • Malaysian Minister of Transport Anthony Loke announces a new search effort for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which went missing in March 2014, to be conducted by American marine robotics company Ocean Infinity. (DW)
• Rohingya genocide
  • The Sri Lanka Navy rescues 102 Rohingya refugees, including 25 children, that were found adrift on a fishing trawler and takes them to Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. (Al Jazeera) (The Independent)
• 11 people are killed, 45 others are injured and 37 vehicles are destroyed after an LPG tank truck catches fire and explodes after a speeding truck crashed into it in Jaipur, India. (The Statesman)
• Eight people are killed and 18 others are rescued when a speedboat carrying migrants capsizes off the coast of Rhodes, Greece. (AP)

International relations

• Australia–Solomon Islands relations
  • Australia agrees to provide Solomon Islands with financing, training, and infrastructure support worth AU$190 million (US$118 million) over four years to strengthen its police force as part of a renewed security partnership between the two countries. (France 24)
• Hungary–Poland relations
  • Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summons Hungary's ambassador to protest the Hungarian government's decision to grant asylum to former Polish deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski, who is wanted under the European Arrest Warrant for alleged corruption. Poland also recalls its ambassador to Hungary Sebastian Kęciek for consultations. (AP)

Law and crime

• 2024 Zagreb school stabbing
  • A child is killed and seven other people are injured in a mass stabbing at a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia. The 19-year-old perpetrator is arrested. (BBC News)
• The Inter-American Court of Human Rights rules that El Salvador violated the human rights of a woman denied an abortion during a high-risk pregnancy in 2013 and orders the country to implement measures allowing abortions in cases where the woman's life is at risk. (The Guardian)
• Guatemalan authorities rescue 160 minors from the Lev Tahor sect in Oratorio, Santa Rosa, amid allegations of human trafficking, forced marriage, and child abuse. (Reuters)
• The United States withdraws its $10 million reward for the arrest of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Syrian group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham. (Al Jazeera)
• The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau files a lawsuit against banks JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo for failing to protect consumers against alleged widespread fraud on the built-in payment system Zelle equating over $870 million. (Al Jazeera) (Detroit Free Press)

Politics and elections

• 2025 United States federal budget
  • Government shutdowns in the United States, National debt of the United States, United States debt ceiling
    • A funding bill ensuring full operation of the U.S. federal government service with an amendment supported by President-elect Donald Trump that would enforce a two-year suspension of the federal debt ceiling is rejected in the Republican-majority House of Representatives, with multiple Republicans and nearly all Democrats opposing the bill. A government shutdown is expected to occur if no bill is passed by midnight. (BBC News)
    • House Speaker Mike Johnson reintroduces a funding bill without Trump's debt ceiling suspension, stating that "we will not have a government shutdown". The bill, which will fund the government until March 2025, passes the House by a vote of 336–34 and will now go to the Senate. (The Washington Post)
• 2025 Belarusian presidential election
  • Estonia says that it will not recognize the results of the upcoming presidential election in Belarus, which it claims has already been rigged to ensure that President Alexander Lukashenko will be re-elected. (ERR)
• In Italy, the Meloni government survives a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies on the 2025 budget. (Reuters)
• Sam Hou Fai is sworn in as Chief Executive of Macau, succeeding Ho Iat Seng. (RTHK)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • Deir ez-Zor offensive, Eastern Syria insurgency
      • Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein warns that ISIS cells in Syria have begun reorganizing and taking new land following the collapse of the Syrian Armed Forces and subsequent abandonment of weapons depots. (Asharq News)
    • The Baniyas Refinery, Syria’s largest oil refinery, stops operating after ceasing to receive the crude oil from Iran that previously made up the majority of the country’s input. (Financial Times)
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom, Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war
    • 2024 Kobani clashes
      • U.S.-backed SDF forces vow to fight Turkey and pro-Turkish rebel groups in Kobani, Aleppo Governorate. (Reuters)
  • 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
    • Ahmed al-Sharaa, the emir of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, makes an announcement claiming that the country is exhausted by perpetual warfare and is no longer a threat to its neighbors or the Western world. (BBC News)
    • The Military Operations Command forces take control of several towns in Raqqah Governorate, Syria. (SOHR)
    • Iraq announces the repatriation of members of the Syrian Armed Forces who fled after the fall of the Assad regime through the Al-Qa'im border crossing, back to Syria. (Al Arabiya)
  • Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • Satellite imagery reveals that Russian forces are mobilizing heavy planes at Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia Governorate and are also mobilizing ships at Tartus naval base, indicating a potential withdrawal. (BBC News)
    • Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the Prime Minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity of Libya, denounces the entry of Russian forces from Syria into the eastern part of Libya. (The Libya Observer)
    • Russian president Vladimir Putin says that Russia helped evacuate 4,000 Iranian fighters from Syria. (Anadolu Agency)
  • Prosecution of Syrian civil war criminals
    • The Syrian Interim Government announces that they have begun preparing lists of people from the former regime who were involved in war crimes, torture, and murder. (The Jerusalem Post)
• Red Sea crisis
  • December 2024 Israeli airstrikes in Yemen
    • Israel carries out a series of airstrikes against the Houthis in western Yemen, damaging the Ras Isa oil facility, the port of as-Salif, and several power stations, and killing at least nine people. (Al Jazeera)
  • The United States Department of the Treasury announces sanctions on the governor of the Central Bank of Yemen in Sanaa, Yemen, and several Houthi officials and associated companies and vessels, accusing them of trafficking dual-use weapon components and Iranian petroleum to the Houthis. (Al Jazeera) (JNS)
• Israel–Hamas war
  • Gaza genocide, Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
    • Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of committing "acts of genocide" in Gaza by damaging water supply infrastructure and depriving civilians of clean water. (DW) (Reuters) (Human Rights Watch)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Military aids during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, United Kingdom and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • British defence secretary John Healey announces a proposal to send military advisors to train Ukrainian forces. (BBC News)
• 2024 Parliament of Abkhazia shooting
  • A lawmaker is killed and another is injured in a shooting inside the Parliament in Sukhumi, Abkhazia. The perpetrator, identified as MP and former Sukhumi mayor Adgur Kharazia, flees the scene. (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican drug war
  • Two soldiers are killed after an explosion caused by a improvised landmine at a drug laboratory in Michoacán, Mexico. Three days ago, two other soldiers were killed and three more injured in Michoacán during a similiar incident. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • The death toll from Cyclone Chido in Mozambique increase to 73, including 66 in Cabo Delgado Province. (Al Jazeera)
• Nine people are killed during a fire at a warehouse building of PX Mart under construction in Taichung, Taiwan. (AP)

International relations

• China–India relations
  • Sino-Indian border dispute
    • Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi meet in Beijing, China, and reach a six-point consensus to maintain peace along the border, refine border management rules, resume cross-border exchanges, and work toward resolving border disputes. A follow-up meeting is planned to be held in India next year. (CNN)
• Georgia–United Kingdom relations, Georgia–United States relations, 2024 Georgian post-election protests
  • The United Kingdom and the United States impose sanctions on Georgian officials, including Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, in response to alleged violent crackdowns on pro-European protests. (EFE)
• Hungary–Poland relations
  • Hungary grants political asylum to former Polish deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski, who faces allegations of corruption in Poland. (Reuters)
• France's Directorate-General for External Security reports that four French nationals detained in Burkina Faso on allegations of being foreign intelligence agents have been released following mediation by Morocco. (ABC News)

Law and crime

• 2024 Northeastern United States drone sightings
  • The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration bans the flying of drones over multiple cities in New Jersey citing "special security reasons". (WPVI-TV)
• Deportation and removal from the United States
  • The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency reports 271,484 deportations in the past fiscal year, the most since 2014 and almost double of the previous fiscal year. (AP) (FOX News)
• Mazan rapes
  • The Judicial Court in Avignon, France, finds Dominique Pelicot guilty of the aggravated rape of his ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot, and imposes the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The 50 other defendants in the case are also convicted of crimes ranging from attempted rape to aggravated rape, and receive prison sentences ranging from three to 15 years. (Reuters)
• A Malaysian high court acquits Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, of 17 charges of money laundering and tax evasion due to insufficient evidence. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• Aleksandar Šapić, the mayor of Belgrade, Serbia, announces the city will make all public transit free on January 1, 2025. (DW) (Novinite)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • Syrian opposition
    • Hadi al-Bahra, President of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, says that the coalition will dissolve once a national conference is convened and a constituent assembly is elected, and demands that the current transitional government be "credible, inclusive and not founded on sectarian bases". (North Press Agency)
• Armenia–Azerbaijan border crisis
  • Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says that arms sent by France to Armenia pose a threat to Azerbaijan. (Trend News Agency)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024 Mumbai boat accident
  • At least 15 people are killed after an Indian Navy craft collides with a passenger ferry off the coast of Mumbai, India. (The Hindu)
• 2024 San Fernando Airport runway excursion
  • A Bombardier Challenger 300 aircraft, registration LV-GOK from Punta del Este, Uruguay, suffered an excursion and went off the runway while trying to land at the San Fernando International Airport in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, colliding with the front of a home in a neighborhood bordering the airport. (Buenos Aires Herald)
• Ibadan Christmas funfair crowd crush
  • Thirty-five children are killed and six others are injured in a crowd crush during a Christmas funfair in Ibadan, Nigeria. (BBC News)
• Twenty-five people are killed and dozens of others are missing when a boat capsizes on a river in Inongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Al Jazeera)
• Twenty people are killed and five others are rescued in a shipwreck carrying migrants sinking off the coast of Sfax, Tunisia. (AP)

Health and environment

• Russian state media agency TASS claims that the nation developed an mRNA cancer vaccine, which is planned to be distributed to patients free of charge beginning next year. However, the Russian Ministry of Health has not provided any evidence to support their claim that the vaccine treats cancer. (The Times of India) (TASS) (Newsweek)
• California, United States, declares a state of emergency over bird flu. (The New York Times)

International relations

• China–United States relations
  • Chinese espionage in the United States
    • Two Americans of Chinese descent plead guilty to running a covert secret police surveillance stations on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security to monitor, threaten and coerce ethnic Chinese in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York City, NY. At least 100 such stations have been reported worldwide across 53 countries, with human rights monitoring NGOs accusing China of using the outposts to threaten and monitor Chinese nationals abroad. (BBC)
• Indonesia–Philippines relations
  • Mary Jane Veloso, a former inmate on death row in Indonesia, is repatriated to the Philippines following negotiations between the two countries. (Reuters)
• Malaysia–United States relations
  • The U.S. Department of Defense repatriates two al-Qaeda members, Mohammed Farik Bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep, from Guantanamo Bay to Malaysia, where they will undergo a rehabilitation process before reintegration into society. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• 2024 Northeastern United States drone sightings
  • In his first direct comments on the issue, president Joe Biden states there is "nothing nefarious, apparently" and "no sense of danger so far" behind the aircraft sightings. (NBC News)
• Legal affairs of the Tate brothers
  • The Westminster Magistrates' Court rules that British police may seize £2.2 million (US$2.5 million) from influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan for allegedly failing to pay taxes on profits from their online ventures. (DW)
• The Dutch Data Protection Authority fines Netflix €4.75 million ($4.98 million) for failing to properly inform subscribers about the handling of their personal data between 2018 and 2020. (Al Arabiya)
• Eleven people are killed and two others are injured in an arson attack on a bar in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

• 2024 Georgian presidential election, 2024 Georgian parliamentary election, 2024 Georgian post-election protests
  • In an address to the European Parliament, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili urges the European Union to economically and politically pressure the current Georgian government into holding new elections, claiming that recent elections represented a "new form of invasion" by Russia. (Euronews) (AP)
• 2024 Irish general election
  • Simon Harris tenders his resignation as Taoiseach to President Michael D Higgins. (Irish Independent)
• The parliament building of Liberia catches on fire amid anti-government protests condemning the attempted removal of House Speaker Jonathan F. Koffa. (AP) (BBC)

Sports

• 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup
  • In association football, Real Madrid wins the inaugural FIFA Intercontinental Cup after defeating Pachuca 3–0 in the final in Lusail, Qatar. Vinícius Júnior is awarded the Golden Ball. (The Guardian)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • War crimes in the Syrian civil war, Fall of the Assad regime
    • Syrian mass graves
      • Several mass graves are uncovered across Syria following the fall of the Assad regime, with a site in Al-Qutayfah, Rif Dimashq Governorate, estimated to contain the remains of at least 100,000 people. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
  • 2024 Israeli invasion of Syria
    • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz visit the summit of Mount Hermon which was captured by the Israel Defense Forces last week. (The New York Times)
    • The IDF continue invading Syria beyond the 1974 buffer zone in Quneitra Governorate and take control of the Al-Wehda Dam on the Yarmouk River. (JFeed)
  • Operation Dawn of Freedom
    • Senior American officials report that Turkey is building up its forces along the Syrian border, raising fears of a possible ground invasion of territories held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the NBC Protection Troops, and his assistant are assassinated by an IED hidden inside of an e-scooter in Moscow, Russia. A Ukrainian source claims that the Security Service of Ukraine is responsible for the killings, after Kirilov was charged in absentia yesterday for the use of chemical weapons, which made him a "legitimate target". Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, says that the Ukrainian leadership would face an "imminent revenge" for the killings. (BBC News) (Deccan Herald)
  • Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Russia–NATO relations
    • NATO's Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine command center in Wiesbaden, Germany, takes over coordination of Western military support to Ukraine from the United States. (Reuters)
• Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Two police officers are killed and three others are injured in a mass shooting at a security checkpoint in Shangla district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (AP)
  • Three police officers are killed and two more are wounded by a roadside bomb targeting a vehicle carrying polio workers in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. (ABC News)
• Mexican drug war
  • Two municipal policeman were killed and three civilians were wounded in an attack near the Jerécuaro-Apaseo el Alto state highway in Jerécuaro, Guanajuato, finding about 200 bullet casing in the site. In the same day four elements of the State Public Security Forces were killed and two more were wounded after a confrontation with gunmen in the city of Uriangato. Security elements from all levels of government deployed a combined operation to try to found the responsible ot the attacks. (Milenio Noticias)

Disasters and accidents

• 2024–25 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
  • The death toll in Mozambique from Cyclone Chido increase to 34, with more than 23,000 homes destroyed. (DW)
• 2024 Port Vila earthquake
  • A 7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes Vanuatu's capital Port Vila, with at least 14 people killed and more than 200 others injured. (RNZ)

Health and environment

• 2024 Kwango province malaria outbreak
  • The Democratic Republic of the Congo's Health Ministry announces that the mystery illness that has left at least 143 people dead in Kwango is actually a severe form of malaria. The World Health Organization says more malaria vaccines are being sent to its health centres in the region. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

• 2024 Northeastern United States drone sightings
  • The U.S. House Intelligence Committee hold a closed-door classified briefing on drone sightings over the Northeastern United States. The briefing is provided by Federal Bureau of Investigation, the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, according to senior U.S. officials. (ABC News) (NBC News)
• Killing of Brian Thompson
  • A U.S. grand jury indicts Luigi Mangione for the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (NBC News)
• Murder of Sara Sharif
  • English High Court judge John Cavanagh sentences Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool to life imprisonment for the murder of Sharif's 10-year-old daughter Sara. (ABS-CBN News)
• Canadian-American anti-whaling activist Paul Watson is released from prison in Greenland after Denmark declines Japan's extradition request. (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican Drug War
  • Three foreigners were arrested and one ton of cocaine was seized by Mexican Navy elements in an operation wich took plece near the coasts of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán.(El Universal)

Politics and elections

• Second presidential transition of Donald Trump
  • The U.S. Electoral College formally certifies President-elect Donald Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election. (WNYW-TV) (CNN)
• Switzerland's Federal Assembly votes 126–20 with 41 abstentions to outlaw membership or support of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. (The New Arab)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian civil war
  • 2024 Israeli invasion of Syria
    • The Cabinet of Israel approves a plan proposing to double the occupied Golan Heights' regional Israeli settlers population. (BBC News)
    • Heavy overnight Israeli airstrikes are reported in Tartus Governorate, Syria. (The Times of Israel)
  • Fall of the Assad regime
    • Syrian mass graves
      • A recently created mass grave containing the bodies of 17 executed Syrian Army soldiers is discovered in the Syrian Desert near Deir ez-Zor. (SOHR)
    • In his first public statement since being overthrown, former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad says that he "didn't intend to leave Syria", claiming that he went to Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia Governorate to "oversee combat operations" only to find that the Syrian Army had abandoned their positions and surrendered to rebel forces. Amid "an intensified attack by drone strikes" at the air base, Assad says that Russia decided to airlift him to Moscow. (BBC News)
  • Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian civil war
    • The brother of the Imam of the Great Prophet Mosque of Masyaf is assassinated by unidentified gunmen, Hama Governorate, in a potential revenge operation, due to the Imam being associated with Hezbollah and other Iranian- and Shia-associated militias. (SOHR)
  • US intervention in the Syrian civil war
    • The US Air Force conduct strikes targeting ISIS camps and operatives, killing one dozen ISIS fighters according to the Pentagon. (US Department of Defense)
• Israel–Hamas war
  • The Gaza Health Ministry announces that the death toll in the ongoing war has surpassed 45,000. (Al Jazeera)
• Mexican Drug War
  • An improvised device exploded left two soldiers dead and five elements injuried, ocurred near Los Gallineros locality, Cotija de la Paz, Michoacán. The next day, the general of the Secretariat of National Defense, Ricardo Trevilla Trejo pointed to Cárteles Unidos to be behind the attack.(Revista Proceso)(Política Expansión)

Health and environment

• 2024 Australia heat wave
  • Walpeup, Victoria, Australia, reports a temperature of 47.1 °C (116.8 °F), the hottest temperature reported in the state since 2019. Extreme heat wave warnings and fire risk warnings are also issued for areas across Australia. (The Guardian) (ABC News Australia)

Law and crime

• 2024 Northeastern United States drone sightings
  • U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calls for state National Guards to be given the authority to shoot down unidentified drones, saying that the federal government is not able to address the issue by themselves. (The Telegraph)
  • U.S. officials say that a drone detection system is being deployed in New York following a formal request by Governor Kathy Hochul. (BBC News)
  • The United States Air Force confirms that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio had to temporarily suspend air operations for four hours on Friday and Saturday after the airbase reported sightings of unidentified "small unmanned aerial systems". (CNN)
  • President-elect Donald Trump cancels a planned visit to Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey amid drone sightings in the state. Trump also calls on outgoing President Joe Biden and the U.S. military to reveal the truth about the drones, saying that "the government knows what's happening" and that they know where the drones are coming from. (The Times of India)
• Abundant Life Christian School shooting
  • Two people are killed and six others are injured in a mass shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. The perpetrator is found dead at the scene. (CNN)
• Bolivian prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for former President Evo Morales in connection to sexual abuse allegations that he fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl, a claim he denies. (AP)

Politics and elections

• 2024 German government crisis, 2025 German federal election
  • German Chancellor Olaf Scholz loses a vote of confidence, thereby allowing for early elections to be held on February 23. (BBC News)
• Resignation of Chrystia Freeland
  • Chrystia Freeland resigns as Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance amid disagreements with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on increased government spending and how to handle possible U.S. tariffs imposed by the incoming Trump administration. (Reuters)
• President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov announces that he has dismissed Akylbek Japarov as Prime Minister. (Reuters)
• The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle expels former Indonesian President Joko Widodo, his son Vice President Gibran Rakabuming and his son-in-law, North Sumatra Governor-elect Bobby Nasution, following a rift over Rakabuming's candidacy as Prabowo Subianto's running mate during the 2024 election. (Bloomberg)