* The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee convened a meeting on Thursday to discuss and plan the Party's efforts to improve conduct, build integrity, and combat corruption for the year 2026. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting.
* Honduras' National Electoral Council (CNE) said Wednesday that National Party candidate Nasry Asfura was elected the country's constitutional president in the general elections held on Nov. 30.
* Military delegates from Thailand and Cambodia convened a meeting at the Thai side of the border in Chanthaburi province on Wednesday to prepare for formal talks regarding a ceasefire and monitoring mechanisms along their disputed border.
* Cambodia said on Wednesday that the Thai military used fighter jets to drop cluster bombs in Banteay Meanchey province. The Thai army responded that the cluster bombs deployed are exclusively targeted at military objectives.
* The civilian death toll in Cambodia has increased to 30 amid the border conflict with Thailand, Cambodian Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra said Wednesday night. In a social media post, Pheaktra said as of the evening of Dec. 24, a total of 30 Cambodian civilians had been killed and 87 others were wounded.
* Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), guided the building of an 8,700-ton nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday.
* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) slammed the latest U.S. military moves for causing nuclear instability and vowed to consider countermeasures, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.
* U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday the upcoming start of ground strikes against drug cartel targets in Latin America. He made the remarks during Christmas greetings to the military.
* The White House has ordered the U.S. military to focus almost exclusively on enforcing a "quarantine" of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a U.S. official.
* The European Union (EU), French, German, and British senior officials on Wednesday strongly condemned a U.S. decision to impose travel restrictions on five European individuals, including former European Commissioner Thierry Breton.
* Republic of Korea's presidential office will officially return to Cheong Wa Dae, which is widely known as the Blue House, at midnight on Dec. 29, Yonhap News Agency reported on Wednesday.
* An Israeli delegation travelled to Cairo on Wednesday for talks with mediators on implementing the ceasefire with Hamas, with a focus on securing the return of the body of the last Israeli hostage believed to be held in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.
* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced a broad reform program on Wednesday intended to modernize governance and prepare for statehood, a move quickly dismissed by Hamas as a "unilateral" decision lacking national consensus.
* A group of 14 countries issued a joint statement on Wednesday, strongly condemning Israel's decision to establish 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, warning that such moves violate the international law.
* Egypt is pushing for the swift implementation of the second phase of a U.S.-backed Gaza peace plan, including the formation of an interim Palestinian governing body, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Wednesday.
* Syrian security forces arrested a senior leader of the Islamic State (IS) group during a security operation in the countryside of Damascus on Wednesday, Syrian state media reported.
* Jordan carried out a series of airstrikes in southern Syria's Sweida province late Wednesday, targeting suspected drug smuggling networks and storage sites near the border, Syrian media and a rights monitor reported.
* Yemen's internationally recognized government and the Houthi group signed an agreement on Wednesday to recover and exchange thousands of bodies from both sides of the conflict, said officials from the two warring parties.
* Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) seized a ship carrying 4 million liters of smuggled fuel in the country's southern waters and detained its 16 foreign crew members, state media reported Wednesday.
* The People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, has said it will maintain ample liquidity to ensure that the growth of aggregate financing for the real economy and the supply of money align with economic growth and price targets.
* Russia expects its steel output to decline by about 5 percent in 2025 to 67 million tons, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said Thursday. In an interview with the newspaper Vedomosti, Manturov said that the decline reflected the cooling demand for metal products in key domestic consumption sectors, including construction.
* Cambodia's total import of diesel fuel, gasoline, and combustion gas was valued at 2.23 billion USD in the first 11 months of 2025, down 10 percent from 2.48 billion dollars over the same period last year, said a Ministry of Commerce report on Wednesday.
* Slovenia's economic sentiment indicator rose to 0.6 points in December, the highest level since June 2022, the Statistical Office said on Wednesday. December also marked the first time since December 2022 that the indicator turned positive, according to official data.
* Kazakhstan exported a record 13.4 million tonnes of grain, or more than 15 million tonnes including feed flour, during the 2024-2025 marketing year, reaching record levels, Kazinform news agency reported Wednesday, citing Kazakh Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov.
* Turkish police on Wednesday seized over 46,000 illegal firearm components, enough to assemble over 2,100 pistols, and detained six suspects in the northwestern province of Duzce, authorities said.
* Afghanistan's Ministry of Education has established 6,276 literacy educational centers across the country so far this year, aiming to reduce illiteracy and improve basic reading and writing skills among youths and adults, local media Tolo news reported Thursday.
* Russia's LMS-901 (Baikal) light multipurpose aircraft completed its first test flight equipped with a domestically developed engine and propeller, Russian authorities said Wednesday.
* The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that 19 cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), including four deaths, have been reported globally so far this year, while stressing that the overall risk level remains moderate.
* Two oil storage tanks caught fire at the southern Russian port of Temryuk after a drone attack, though no casualties were reported, authorities in the Krasnodar region said Thursday, based on preliminary information. The total fire area is approximately 2,000 square meters.
* California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Wednesday for parts of Southern California hit by the most powerful holiday storm in years. The state of emergency was enforced in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Shasta counties.
