* Cambodia said on Wednesday that the Thai military forces have continued airstrikes and artillery shelling into Cambodian territory, as the civilian death toll in Cambodia has risen to 17.
* Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Tuesday reaffirmed the country's stance regarding the Thailand-Cambodia border situation, saying that Cambodia is required to be the first to declare a ceasefire, ensure the ceasefire is genuine and sustainable and cooperate in mine clearance seriously and sincerely.
* U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has ordered a total blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela, escalating a months-long pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
* Venezuela on Tuesday denounced the U.S. threat of a total blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from the country, calling the move a violation of international law and vowing to raise the issue before the United Nations.
* The Cuban government has expressed strong opposition to the naval blockade imposed by the United States against Venezuela, local media reported on Tuesday.
* Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia will not make any concessions on the Donbas region or Crimea, and these are not up for discussion, Russian media reported on Tuesday.
* The Danish government on Tuesday presented its 29th military donation package to Ukraine, valued at approximately 1.7 billion Danish kroner (267 million USD), according to the Danish Ministry of Defense.
* U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a proclamation expanding the list of countries subject to full or partial entry restrictions to cover around 40 countries, effective on Jan. 1, 2026.
* Expanding domestic demand will be the top priority of China's economic policy in 2026, according to an official from the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs.
* Japan's parliament on Tuesday enacted an 18.3 trillion yen (about 118 billion USD) supplementary budget for the current fiscal year ending March 2026 to fund Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae's massive stimulus package.
* French lawmakers on Tuesday gave final approval to the country's 2026 social security budget, with 247 votes in favor and 232 against in the National Assembly. The social security budget is one of two key financial bills that must be passed by the end of this year.
* Greece's parliament on Tuesday approved the state budget for 2026, projecting 2.4 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP), slightly above the 2.2 percent estimated for 2025.
* Leaders from eight European Union (EU) member states met in Helsinki on Tuesday to discuss security issues along the bloc's eastern flank, according to a press release from the Finnish government.
* Brazil's government on Tuesday approved a new climate plan outlining the country's roadmap to meet its Paris Agreement commitments and move toward carbon neutrality.
* The European Commission said on Tuesday that it would ease the planned 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars by shifting to a target requiring carmakers to cut tailpipe emissions by 90 percent. The remaining 10 percent would be offset by the use of low-carbon steel made in the European Union (EU), or from e-fuels and biofuels.
* Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday held a phone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, on bilateral ties and the Palestine issue.
* Thirty-two Bangladeshi migrants were rescued Tuesday after their boat capsized off the coast of the northeastern Libyan town of Al-Haniya, the Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar branch of Libya's Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency said in a statement.
* A total of 28 people were rescued, while three others remained missing, after a boat carrying irregular migrants from Türkiye sank off the Greek island of Samos on Tuesday, Greek authorities said.
* The Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) on Tuesday sent a new shipment of winter relief supplies to Gaza, including about 9,000 blankets, 53,200 items of winter clothing, 3,400 mattresses, and 11,000 tents, the organization said.
* Syrian security forces have dismantled an Islamic State (IS) cell responsible for a series of deadly attacks on security and military patrols in the country's northwest, the interior authorities said on Tuesday, amid a recent uptick in security incidents across the country.
* Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid on Tuesday called on the newly elected Council of Representatives to hold its inaugural session on Dec. 29.
* The number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in 2024 was estimated at 2.19 million, up 1.5 percent from 2.16 million in the previous year, according to data released Tuesday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Total remittances sent by OFWs reached 262 billion pesos, or about 4.46 billion USD, in 2024.
* The fifth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge, linking Bolikhamxay province in Laos to Thailand's northeastern province of Bueng Kan, will open to the public on Dec. 25, boosting trade, transport, tourism, and socio-economic cooperation between the two countries.
* Iran and Russia on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to accelerating the completion of an international transport route linking South Asia to Northern Europe, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported.
* More than 162 million tonnes of cargo have been transported through the Ukrainian Black Sea corridor over more than two years of its operation, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Tuesday, citing a senior official.
* Britain's unemployment rate for people aged 16 and over was estimated at 5.1 percent in the August-October period, rising further amid sluggish labor market conditions, data released Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.
* Japan recorded a trade surplus of 322.3 billion yen (2 billion USD) in November, government data showed Wednesday, bolstering expectations for a Bank of Japan (BOJ) rate increase later this week.
* Updated budget forecasts released by the Australian government on Wednesday showed that the federal deficit for 2025-26 will be 5.4 billion Australian dollars (about 3.6 billion USD) lower than previously projected.
* Sweden's economy has begun to recover after a weak start to 2025, with domestic demand supported by expansionary fiscal policy expected to remain the main driver of growth, the Swedish government said in a forecast released Tuesday.
* Tajikistan's GDP has grown 8.4 percent to reach 173 billion somoni (around 18.8 billion USD) in 2025, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon said Tuesday.
* Israel's exports are expected to reach nearly 160 billion USD in 2025, a 3-percent increase from 2024, the Ministry of Economy and Industry said in a statement on Tuesday.
* The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday said it has approved a 16.7-million-U.S.-dollar grant to bolster Fiji's initiatives to protect coastal communities vulnerable to storm surges, sea level rise, and coastal erosion.
* Saudi Arabia posted its strongest first-half performance in non-oil exports, reaching 307 billion riyals (about 81.87 billion USD) in the first half of 2025, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported Tuesday.
* Russia plans to launch a flight-ready prototype of a teleoperated anthropomorphic space robot, known as Teledroid, to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2026, Russia's leading space research institute announced on its website Tuesday.
* The number of people aged 65 and over in the Netherlands has surpassed those under 20 for the first time as of Jan. 1, 2025, and the gap is expected to widen in the coming decades, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on Tuesday.
* Indonesia has issued a weather alert for heavy rainfall and high seas as multiple tropical systems affect surrounding waters ahead of the peak of the rainy season early next year, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said Tuesday.
* At least 126 flights were cancelled on Tuesday as low visibility continued to hit the operations at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, the Indian capital, for the second straight day, local media reported.
