Portal:Current events

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Kyiv strikes
    • One person is killed and another is injured in Russian drone strikes on Dniprovskyi District, Kyiv, Ukraine. (RBC-Ukraine)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • A Palestinian is killed and another is injured when Israeli forces open fire on stone-throwers near Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, Nablus, West Bank. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Enlargement of the eurozone
  • Bulgaria and the euro
    • Bulgaria adopts the euro, replacing the lev, becoming the 21st member of the eurozone. (AFP via The Sun)
• AI boom, Economy of South Korea
  • South Korea records its highest annual export value of more than US$700 billion in 2025 after semiconductor shipments reach a record $173.4 billion driven by demand for artificial intelligence. (AFP via France 24)
• Economics of bitcoin
  • Turkmenistan legalizes the mining and exchange of cryptocurrency as digital assets, but maintains that digital currency cannot be used as legal tender. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2026 Crans-Montana bar fire
  • At least 46 people are killed and around 100 others are injured in an explosion and fire suspected to be caused by pyrotechnics at a bar in Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland. (BBC News) (The Guardian)
• At least 17 people are killed and eleven others are injured in flash floods caused by heavy rains and snowfall across Afghanistan. (AP)
• Seven people are killed, 96 others are rescued and at least 97 are reported missing when a boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsizes in The Gambia. (Reuters)
• The Vondelkerk church in Amsterdam, Netherlands, catches fire, collapsing the tower and leaving only the exterior walls standing. (NOS in Dutch)

Law and crime

• 2025–2026 Iranian protests
  • Two civilians are killed in clashes with security forces in Lordegan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran, during demonstrations over rising living costs. (AFP via The Times of Israel)

Politics and elections

• Guy Parmelin is sworn in as President of Switzerland, succeeding Karin Keller-Sutter. (Swiss Info)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War on drugs
  • United States strikes on alleged drug traffickers during Operation Southern Spear
    • Five people are killed while others escape after the United States conducts airstrikes on three alleged drug boats at an undisclosed location. (BBC News)
• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Russian authorities report at least 24 people are killed, including a child, and dozens of others are injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on a hotel and a restaurant in Khorly [uk] in Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. (The Moscow Times)
• 2025 Cambodian–Thai border crisis
  • Thailand releases 18 prisoners as part of a ceasefire agreement with Cambodia. (AP)
• Syrian conflict
  • An Islamic State suicide bomber blows himself up near a checkpoint in Aleppo, Syria, after attempting to reach an Orthodox church, killing one security force member and wounding two more. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

• Saudi Vision 2030
  • The Six Flags Qiddiya City amusement park officially opens to the public in Saudi Arabia, with the Falcons Flight attraction breaking records as the world's tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster. (Zawya) (Arab News)

Business and economy

• 2025–2026 Iranian protests
  • Iran appoints Abdolnaser Hemmati as the new leader of the Central Bank following protests over the Iranian rial's value depreciating and the previous governor's resignation. (AP)

International relations

• Serbia–United States relations, United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • The United States issues a temporary license allowing Serbia's majority-Russian-owned Naftna Industrija Srbije to resume refinery operations until January 23 despite sanctions linked to the Russo-Ukrainian war. (AFP via Barron's)
• United States–Venezuela relations, Operation Southern Spear
  • The United States imposes sanctions on four Venezuelan companies in the oil industry and four oil tankers. (AP)

Law and crime

• 2025–2026 Iranian protests
  • A Basij officer is killed and 13 others are injured in clashes in Lordegan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran, during demonstrations over rising living costs. (AP)
• 2025 deployment of federal forces in the United States
  • U.S. president Donald Trump announces the withdrawal of National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland after federal courts blocked or restricted the deployments. (AFP via France 24)
• Deportation in the second Trump administration
  • U.S. federal judge Trina Thompson of California blocks the Trump administration from ending temporary protected status for about 89,000 migrants from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, ruling that the terminations may be motivated by racial hostility. (Reuters)
• At least three informal miners are killed in a shooting in Pataz District, Department of La Libertad, Peru. Two people are arrested. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, Gaza Strip famine, Gaza genocide
    • 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)
• Yemeni civil war
  • 2025 Southern Yemen offensive, Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war, Saudi Arabia–United Arab Emirates relations
    • 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 its leader Rashad al-Alimi ordering all Emirati forces to depart within 24 hours. He also declares a 90-day national state of emergency and a three-day blockade of the country's southern and eastern regions. The UAE later announces that its remaining forces in Yemen will leave the country. (Reuters) (Morocco World News)
• Somali Civil War
  • 2025 Shabelle offensive
    • 29 al-Shabaab militants are killed by the Somali Armed Forces in Jabad Godane, Middle Shabelle, Somalia. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Economy of Hungary
  • Moody's downgrades the credit rating of the city 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)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Ollantaytambo District train collision
  • Two trains on a rail line between Cusco to Machu Picchu in Urubamba province, Peru, collide, killing a train driver and injuring 40 passengers. (Al Jazeera) (CBS News)
• Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
  • 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)

Health and environment

• 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)

International relations

• Burkina Faso–United States relations, Mali–United States relations
  • Burkina Faso and Mali impose reciprocal travel bans on Americans after the United States added them to a list of countries subject to a full U.S. entry ban. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Deportation in the second Trump administration
  • U.S. 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)
• Turkey–Islamic State conflict
  • Turkish police detain 357 people nationwide suspected of being Islamic State members following clashes between the two sides yesterday. (DW)
• Western Syria clashes
  • 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)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Guinean presidential election
  • Provisional results show that incumbent leader Mamady Doumbouya is elected president. (Reuters)
• 2026 Republic of the Congo presidential election
  • Congolese president Denis Sassou Nguesso announces his candidacy for re-election in the upcoming election. (AFP via France 24)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Turkey–Islamic State conflict
  • 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)

Disasters and accidents

• 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 Lagos–Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State, Nigeria. (BBC News) (TVC News)

International relations

• Cross-strait relations
  • Justice Mission 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)
• India–New Zealand relations
  • India and New Zealand reach a free trade agreement where India grants zero-duty access for its exports to New Zealand, and New Zealand receives phased concessions on most Indian tariff lines, while excluding dairy and selected agricultural products. (AP)

Law and crime

• Corruption in Malaysia
  • 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)
• War crimes in the Syrian civil war
  • 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)
• Mexican drug war
  • 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)
• 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)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Iranian protests
  • 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 Mohammad Reza Farzi [fa] resigns in response. (AP)
• 2025 Iraqi parliamentary election
  • Haibat al-Halbousi of the Iraqi Progress Party is elected Speaker of the Council of Representatives following the recent parliamentary election. (Reuters)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian conflict
  • Western Syria clashes
    • 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)
• Gaza war
  • 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)
• Ecuadorian security crisis
  • 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. (La Nación in Spanish) (TRT World)

Arts and culture

• 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) (Korea JoongAng Daily)

Disasters and accidents

• 2025 Oaxaca train derailment
  • 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) (Infobae in Spanish)
• 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)

Law and crime

• 2025 Richelieu stabbing
  • 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)
• Capital punishment in Iraq
  • The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal sentences a former Ba'athist lieutenant to death for the massacre of Barzanis during the Anfal campaign against Kurds. (The New Region)

Politics and elections

• 2025–26 Myanmar general election
  • Citizens of Myanmar vote in the first phase to elect the nation's legislature. Two further phases of voting are expected in January.(AP)
• 2025 Central African general election
  • Citizens of the Central African Republic vote to elect a president and 140 members of the National Assembly. Incumbent president Faustin-Archange Touadéra seeks a third term in office. (Reuters)
• 2025 Guinean presidential election
  • Guineans vote for a president as incumbent Mamady Doumbouya seeks to be elected four years after leading a coup. (Reuters)
• December 2025 Kosovan parliamentary election
  • Kosovans vote for the second time in a year to elect the members of the Kuvendi. (AP via ABC News)
  • 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)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Kyiv strikes, Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
    • 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)
  • Denis Kapustin, leader of the Ukraine-aligned neo-Nazi Russian Volunteer Corps, is reported to have been killed in a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. It is later revealed that Kapustin had faked his death in order to thwart an assassination attempt. (The Kyiv Independent) (The Moscow Times)
• Sudanese civil war
  • Darfur genocide
    • The Rapid Support Forces kill over 200 civilians in ethnically motivated attacks targeting non-Arabs in West Darfur and during advances in North Darfur, according to the Sudan Doctors Union. (The Express Tribune)
• 2023 Nigerien coup d'état, Islamist insurgency in Niger
  • The Nigerien government declares a nationwide mobilization that authorizes the conscription of citizens and the requisition of property and services to support operations against jihadist insurgent groups. (AFP via France 24)
• 2025 Cambodia–Thailand conflict
  • Cambodia and Thailand sign a new ceasefire agreement, calling for a pause in military movements and airspace encroachment for military purposes. (AP)

Business and economy

• Cross-strait relations, China–United States relations
  • China sanctions 20 United States defense-related companies and ten executives for providing weapons to Taiwan last week. (AP)
• Lithium mining in Chile
  • Chilean state-owned mining company Codelco and private miner SQM create a joint venture to develop lithium in the Atacama salt flat until 2060, with the Chilean state set to receive the majority of operating margins. (AFP via Barron's)
• Trade policy of China
  • The National People's Congress of China passes a revised trade law that will expand the government's authority to counter trade restrictions, regulate exports of strategic goods, and update provisions on digital, green, and intellectual-property trade from March 1, 2026. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Fifteen people are killed and 19 more injured as a bus plunges in to a ravine while driving on the Inter-American Highway in Sololá Department, Guatemala. (Al Jazeera)
• An accident involving two cars after an improper overtaking kills eleven people on the BR-101 highway near Mucuri, Bahia, Brazil. (UOL)
• At least nine people are killed and eight others are injured when a bus carrying 19 charity workers overturns on a mountain in Phình Hồ, Lào Cai province, Vietnam. (Reuters) (Tuổi Trẻ)
• Three of five members of a Spanish tourist family are killed after a boat carrying eleven people sinks near Padar, Indonesia. (AP)
• A M_w 7.0 earthquake, rated intensity four on the Central Weather Administration seismic intensity scale, strikes 32 km (20 mi) off the coast of Yilan, Taiwan, causing a temporary power outage for over 3,000 households. (DW) (CNN)

Law and crime

• Oil smuggling in Iran
  • The Iranian justice ministry seizes a foreign-flagged oil tanker carrying 25,000 barrels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz and detains its sixteen crew members on allegations of carrying illegal items. (AP)
• A joint operation between the Italian state police and the financial police results in the arrest of nine people for allegedly raising about €7 million (US$8.2 million) through charities and diverting most of the funds to Hamas following the 2023 attack on Israel. (UPI)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Ivorian parliamentary election
  • Citizens of the Ivory Coast vote for the 255 members of the National Assembly despite the opposition Democratic Party boycotting due to alleged election fraud by the ruling RHDP party. (DW)
• The Italian Parliament approves a reform that reduces the powers of the Court of Audit over public spending, caps financial penalties for negligent administrators at 30% of losses or two years of salary, and introduces automatic approval if the court does not respond within 30 days. (Reuters)