Portal:Current events/2024 December 21

December 21, 2024 (Saturday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  - At least seven Ukrainian drones strike Kazan, Russia, six of which reportedly hit residential areas including a 32-story apartment building. (Ukrainska Pravda) (Reuters)
2024 Magdeburg car attack
- German authorities identify the perpetrator of yesterday's vehicle-ramming attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, which killed five people and injured over 200, as Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, a psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia known for extreme anti-Islam and far-right activism. (Blick)
Red Sea crisis
- Sixteen people are injured in a Houthi missile attack on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area in Israel. (CNN)
Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- Sixteen Pakistani soldiers are killed and five are critically injured after militants launch an overnight raid on an army post in Makeen, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near the Afghan border. (Al Arabiya)
Several bombs explode outside banks and post offices between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, in Russia. (112.ua)

Business and economy

Constitutional crisis in Somalia, Economy of Somalia
- The Puntland region of Somalia announces that it will introduce its own new regional currency in 2025. The region had previously shifted to use of the United States dollar in 2021, due to severe inflation of the Somali shilling. (Garowe Online) (Hiiraan Online) (Jorseed Media)

Disasters and accidents

Thirty-eight people are killed and 13 more are injured when a bus departing from São Paulo collides with a truck on a highway in Minas Gerais, Brazil. (The Guardian) (G1)
Ten people are killed and others are injured after a stampede at a church in Abuja, Nigeria, amid distribution of food and clothes. (AP)
At least ten people killed when a bus plunges into a ravine in Lorestan, Iran. (Al Arabiya)

International relations

Syria–United States relations
- The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act expires due to its five-year sunset clause. The Syrian transitional government has repeatedly called for the removal of all economic sanctions against Syria so that the country can start reconstruction on its infrastructure after 13 years of civil war left the country in ruins. (U.S. Congress)

Law and crime

The Albanian government announces a one-year ban on the social media platform TikTok starting in 2025, following a fatal stabbing of a teenager in November that resulted from a confrontation on the platform. (Al Jazeera) (Türkiye Today)

Politics and elections