Portal:Current events/2025 December 27

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)