Portal:Current events/2024 December 31

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War against the Islamic State
  • Opération Chammal
    • The French Air Force conducts airstrikes against several Islamic State targets in Syria. (Le Parisien)
  • Somali Civil War, Puntland military offensives into ISIS
    • Ten Islamic State militants are killed by Puntland forces in an attempted attack involving suicide bombers on a military base in Dharjaale, Bari, Puntland, Somalia. This comes after the semi-autonomous region of Puntland announced a military offensive against the Islamic State and Al-Shabaab. (Garowe Online) (Reuters) (Idil News)
• Red Sea crisis
  • The United States Air Force launches at least 12 airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

• One crew member is killed and two others are missing after a cargo ship sinks in the San Bernardino Strait near Samar, Philippines. (News Central)
• Puerto Rico experiences a power outage, impacting 1.3 million clients. (The New York Times) (NBC News)

International relations

• French military withdrawal from West Africa
  • France–Ivory Coast relations
    • In his New Year's speech, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara announces that the French military base in Abidjan will be handed over to the Ivorian Government in January. (France 24)
  • France–Senegal relations
    • In his New Year's speech, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye announces the closure of French military facilities and the withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Senegal beginning in 2025. (Le Figaro)

Law and crime

• 2024 Ecuadorian conflict
  • An Ecuadorian judge issues arrest warrants for 16 soldiers accused of the disappearance and murder of four children in Guayaquil after genetic tests confirm the charred remains found near a military base belong to the missing victims. (AP)
• 2024 South Korean martial law crisis
  • The Seoul Western District Court issues an arrest warrant for impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol. (The Japan Times)
• Belgrade school shooting
  • A Serbian court sentences the parents of a boy who killed 10 people in a Belgrade primary school in 2023 to over 14 years and three years in prison, respectively, for child neglect and abuse, and also sentences a shooting range instructor to 1 and a half years for perjury. (Reuters)
• Capital punishment in Zimbabwe
  • Zimbabwe approves a law abolishing the death penalty in the country, effective immediately. (BBC News)
• Kivu conflict, Capital punishment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • A military tribunal in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, sentences 13 soldiers to death for charges including murder, looting, and cowardice, following territorial losses attributed to desertion during the conflict. (Reuters)
• Five people are wounded during a mass stabbing amid New Year's Eve celebrations in Verucchio, Province of Rimini, Italy. The perpetrator is shot dead by a soldier. The perpetrator was carrying a Koran and an Islamic prayer cap, while also possessing antipsychotic drugs at his residence. (Il Resto del Carlino)
• A man steals an excavator in Grünsfeld, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and rams the excavator against vehicles, injuring four police officers, before being shot dead. (DW)