Portal:Current events/2025 December 21

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Israeli settler colonialism
  • The Israeli cabinet approves 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite such settlements being considered illegal under international law. (BBC News) (AP)

Business and economy

• Sugar industry in the Philippines
  • The Philippine agriculture department extends its import ban on sugar until December 2026. (The Rahnuma Daily)

International relations

• Libya–Pakistan relations
  • Pakistan agrees to sell military technology to the Libyan military for over US$4 billion, violating an arms embargo imposed by the United Nations on Libya. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Kidnapping in Nigeria
  • Papiri kidnapping
    • Nigerian presidential spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale reports that all remaining 130 students and staff abducted in November from a Catholic school in Niger State have been released. (AFP via The Guardian)
  • Gunmen abduct 28 people after intercepting a vehicle traveling to a Maulud gathering in Bashar, Plateau State. (AFP via France 24)
• Nine people are killed and ten others are injured in a mass shooting when 12 gunmen open fire near a tavern in Bekkersdal, Gauteng, South Africa. (AFP via CBS News)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Extremaduran regional election
  • In Extremadura, Spain, the ruling People's Party of Extremadura of regional president María Guardiola wins the elections for its first time since 2011, while PSOE Extremadura reports its worst result ever and the far-right Vox party more than doubles its share of the vote. (RTVE)