Russian opposition leader sentenced to six years in prisonSergei Udaltsov, the leader of the Left Front movement that opposes Putin and is affiliated with the Communist party, was arrested last year. … Udaltsov has rejected the charges against him as fabricated. On Thursday, he denounced the verdict as “shameful” and said he was going on a hunger strike, Mediazona reported. According to the court ruling, the activist will be serving his sentence in a maximum security penal colony.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/25/sergei-udaltsov-terrorismNorthern Ireland: Two Irish Republicans Sentenced to Long Prison TermsShea Reynolds and Dee (Damian) Duffy, Irish republicans sentenced to 11 and a half and 12 and a half years in prison respectively, received their sentences on December 19, 2025, following a trial held before a court without a jury in Belfast. They were accused of installing a surveillance camera in the driveway of a retired police officer’s home in Northern Ireland to gather information for an operation against him.
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/26097/Four Palestine Action hunger strikers vow to continue as two pause protest“The remaining four will continue to refuse food on the basis of [their] demands,” the group said on Tuesday.
The hunger strikers are demanding immediate bail, the right to a fair trial, and for the UK to de-proscribe Palestine Action, which it outlawed as a “terror” group in July. For their part, the pro-Palestinian group says the UK government is complicit in Israeli war crimes committed in Gaza.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/24/four-palestine-action-hunger-strikers-vow-to-continue-as-two-pause-protesthttps://archive.ph/jTrsyRussia reportedly mediating security pact between Israel and Syria with US approvalKan quoted an Israeli security source as saying that Moscow and Damascus are working to restore and strengthen their relations. Russia previously provided critical military backing to the regime of deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad, and many Syrians still view it with suspicion. … Another Israeli security source said that gaps still remain between Israel and Syria despite Russian mediation, though he added that some limited progress has been made in recent weeks. Previous talks between Israel and Syria had been mediated by Azerbaijan.
https://www.newarab.com/news/russia-mediating-security-pact-between-israel-syria-reportIsrael strikes southern Lebanon as deadline to disarm Hezbollah nearsIsraeli media has reported that one of the topics on the agenda in an expected meeting between the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and US president, Donald Trump, is an expanded offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon. As Israeli airstrikes continue on south Lebanon, Israeli and Lebanese officials continue to meet in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura to discuss the status of the ceasefire.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/24/israel-strikes-southern-lebanon-as-deadline-to-disarm-hezbollah-nearsBangladesh leader considered PM frontrunner returns from exile ahead of pollsRahman, 60, the son of ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, has lived in London since 2008 and led the BNP as acting chairman since 2018. His return comes as Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of nearly 175 million people, enters a sensitive election period under an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bangladesh-leader-considered-top-pm-candidate-returns-exile-ahead-polls-2025-12-25/China axes 8 from top advisory body CPPCC, including 4 defence firm chiefsThose removed from the advisory body include four former senior executives of military-related state-owned enterprises (SOEs). There has been no official statement about any corruption investigations into these individuals yet, though some of them have not been seen in public for months.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3337707/china-axes-8-top-advisory-body-cppcc-including-4-defence-firm-chiefs?module=top_story&pgtype=subsection‘No negotiation, no truce’ with RSF, says senior Sudan officialSpeaking to ministers and state officials in Port Sudan, the eastern city where the government is based, he dismissed the narrative that the war is aimed at achieving “democracy”. Instead, he described the war as a “conflict over resources and a desire to change Sudan’s demographics” and emphasised an opportunity to strengthen national unity. This comes days after Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris presented a plan to end the country’s nearly three-year war before the United Nations Security Council.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/25/no-negotiation-no-truce-with-rsf-says-senior-sudan-officialhttps://archive.ph/DIo1fTrump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura declared winner of Honduras’ presidential voteThe election is continuing Latin America’s swing to the right, coming just a week after Chile chose the far-right politician José Antonio Kast as its next president. Asfura, of the conservative National Party, received 40.27% of the vote in the Nov. 30 vote, edging out four-time candidate Salvador Nasralla of the conservative Liberal Party, who finished with 39.53% of the vote.
https://apnews.com/article/honduras-election-trump-nasry-asfura-7ebbae3330cba08e0fbb62eaadc71bcbReport: Sharp drop in employees, employers in Milei’s first two yearsThe CEPA report, based on the government data tracked by Superintendencia de Riesgos del Trabajo work inspectors, concludes that the fall in registered employment was 2.85 percent in the first 22 months of the Milei administration – equivalent to 419 less workers a day. In parallel, the number of employers with registered staff decreased from 512,357 to 492,223 over the period – a contraction of 3.9 percent.
https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/economy/report-sharp-drop-in-employees-employers-in-mileis-first-two-years.phtmlhttps://archive.ph/iq2iM