December 25, 2019 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
- Taliban militants say they have kidnapped 27 local peace activists in Farah Province as they were traveling from Herat Province. (Reuters)
- Arbinda attack
- In Burkina Faso, the government orders 48 hours of mourning after the jihadist attack yesterday in Soum Province. (Al Jazeera)
- A dozen Burkina Faso soldiers are killed in an armed attack in the night by militants responsible for the previous attack. (DW News)
- Two "wanted terrorists" are killed in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, after exchanging gunfire with security forces. (Reuters)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is briefly brought to a bomb shelter during an election rally in Ashkelon, Israel, after a rocket is fired from the Gaza Strip. The rocket is intercepted with no casualties reported. (NBCWashington) (Reuters)
Arts and culture
- Notre-Dame de Paris fire
- Notre-Dame rector Patrick Chauvet states there is "maybe a 50 percent chance that [the building] will be saved" due to deterioration of scaffolding near the vaults, and that renovations will not start until 2021 at the soonest. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
- Japanese National Diet member Tsukasa Akimoto of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is arrested for allegedly receiving up to ¥3 million in bribes from a Chinese company interested in setting up a casino in the country. (Reuters)
Politics and elections
- 2019 Iraqi protests
- The largest parliamentary bloc, Binaa Bloc, including Fatah Alliance and State of Law Coalition, nominates Basra governor Asaad Al Eidani to succeed Adil Abdul-Mahdi as Prime Minister of Iraq. Protesters reject the nomination, seeing him as part of the establishment. (Al Jazeera)