Portal:Current events/2019 December 25

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)