Portal:Current events/2025 December 4

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gaza war
  • 2025 Rafah ambush
    • Yasser Abu Shabab, leader of the Israeli-backed and anti-Hamas Popular Forces, is fatally shot in Rafah, Gaza, by unidentified gunmen. (Middle East Eye)
• Yemeni civil war
  • 2025 Hadhramaut offensive
    • The Southern Transitional Council announces the capture of the al-Mahrah Governorate from the Yemeni government forces. (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)
• War on drugs
  • 2025 United States military strikes on alleged drug traffickers
    • The United States Navy strikes a boat in the Pacific Ocean alleged to have been carrying illegal narcotics, killing four people onboard the vessel, according to the United States Southern Command. (The Guardian)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict
  • Presidents Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda formally sign a peace agreement in Washington, D.C., hosted by U.S. president Donald Trump. (Newsweek)

Arts and culture

• Eurovision Song Contest 2026
  • Ireland, Slovenia, Spain, and the Netherlands announce they will boycott next year's Eurovision Song Contest after the European Broadcasting Union confirmed Israel's participation. (BBC News)
• Pantone names "Cloud Dancer", a shade of white, as its Color of the Year. (CNN)

International relations

• Russia–United Kingdom relations
  • Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
    • The United Kingdom imposes sanctions against Russia's GRU and several military intelligence officers after a public inquiry concludes that Russian operatives carried out the 2018 Novichok attack in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, under orders from President Vladimir Putin. The UK also summons Russian ambassador Andrey Kelin. (Reuters)
• Kenya–United States relations
  • The United States signs a five-year agreement to provide over $1.6 billion to Kenya's health system under its new global health strategy, with Kenya committing to increase domestic health spending by US$850 million. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Human trafficking in Spain
  • Spanish police arrest eleven people linked to a criminal network that smuggled over 300 workers into the country on tourist visas, mostly from Nepal, and placed them on farms. (AP)
• Planning of the January 6 United States Capitol attack
  • A 30-year-old man is arrested and charged with transporting an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials after planting pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic parties' headquarters in Washington, D.C., United States, a day before the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack in 2021. (NBC News)

Politics and elections

• 2025 Texas redistricting
  • The U.S. Supreme Court permits Texas to use its redrawn congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, staying a lower court ruling that found the plan relied on racial considerations. (AFP via France 24)
• Abortion in Denmark
  • The Faroe Islands Løgting votes 17–16 to legalize abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. (AFP via NAMPA)
• Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif confirms Asim Munir to a five-year term as the country's first Chief of the Armed Forces. (AP)