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The Balangiga bells

In field hockey, the World Cup concludes with Belgium defeating the Netherlands in the final.
The Balangiga bells (pictured), taken by US Army soldiers from the Philippines in 1901 as war trophies, are repatriated.
Nine people are killed when a high-speed train collides with a locomotive in Ankara, Turkey.
Two days after a shooting at the Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, in which five people died, French police kill the suspected perpetrator.

December 21, 2018 (Friday)

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Disasters and accidents

At least 13 miners, eleven Polish and two Czech, are killed and 10 more injured in a methane explosion in a coal mine in Karvina, Czech Republic. (BBC)
Five people were killed and dozens are injured when a train slammed into a bus carrying school students in Niš, Serbia. (BBC)

Law and crime

Carlos Ghosn, formerly the chairman of Nissan, is arrested again on suspicion of shifting personal losses to the company. (Wall Street Journal)

December 20, 2018 (Thursday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

International military intervention against ISIL, Syrian Civil War
- Reacting to yesterday's announcement by the United States on the withdrawal of their forces from Syria, France's Defense Minister Florence Parly says on Twitter that ISIL has not yet been driven out of Syria. (Reuters)
Northern Rakhine State clashes
- Myanmar's military announces it will resume "clearance operations" in Rakhine State after a recent spike in attacks by unidentified assailants. In the past week, two Rakhine fishermen and a teenager were found murdered after they were reported missing, while two Maramagyi villagers were kidnapped and stabbed but managed to escape their abductors. (AFP via South China Morning Post) (Radio Free Asia)

Business and economy

Gatwick Airport drone incident
- London's Gatwick Airport is shut down intermittently since Wednesday night, after drones are seen flying over the airfield. Police believe it is "a deliberate act to disrupt the airport". Hundreds of thousands of passengers are affected. (The Argus) (CNN)

Disasters and incidents

The annual Thomson Reuters poll among aid agencies shows that the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with its war, hunger and Ebola outbreak, is perceived as the most neglected crisis of 2018. The Central African Republic, with its civil war, is a close second. (South China Morning Post)
December 2018 British Columbia storms
- Severe windstorms in Vancouver and Vancouver Island damage houses, damage roads, and destroy a 100 year old pier in White Rock, British Columbia. One person stranded on the pier is rescued by helicopter. Several highways were closed due to trees falling. (Surrey Now)
The Mayor of Skagway, Alaska, Monica Carlson, as well as her mother, are killed after being struck by a tour bus in Washington, D.C. while preparing to visit the White House. (WTOP)

Law and crime

Ten years after the collapse of Belgian financial group Fortis in the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the prosecutor in Brussels decides to drop the case against seven former directors. The prosecution argues that it found insufficient evidence that they knowingly misled shareholders with over-optimistic company information. (Reuters)
Denmark passes a law that requires new citizens to shake hands at their naturalization ceremony. (The New York Times)
Protests break out across Sudan over rising prices of bread and fuel, resulting in at least eight deaths. (Al-Jazeera)
Abortion in the Republic of Ireland
- Irish President Michael D. Higgins signs a bill making abortion legal in the Republic of Ireland for the first time. (Irish Times)

Politics and elections

Trump administration dismissals and resignations
- U.S. Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis announces his resignation at the end of February 2019. Mattis says that his views are not well "aligned" with those of the President. (Reuters) (CNN)
2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election
- The CENI electoral commission delays the election to 30 December after 80% of the voting machines in the capital were destroyed in a suspected arson last week. (NPR)

Science and technology

Soyuz MS-09 lands safely on the steppe in Kazakhstan. (NASASpaceFlight.com)
U.S. researchers say that the Marburg virus has been found for the first time in West African bats, notably in Egyptian rousette fruit bats in Sierra Leone. Marburg is a "cousin" of the Ebola virus disease, which too may be spread by bats. (NBC News)

December 19, 2018 (Wednesday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

American intervention in Syria, Syrian Civil War
- The Pentagon reports it has begun withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, with a spokesperson saying that the coalition has liberated ISIL-held territory but also that the campaign is not over. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2018 Kivu Ebola outbreak
- Over 300 people have died of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the World Health Organization is concerned the outbreak is not being contained. (CNN)

Law and crime

Nisour Square massacre
- In a third trial, former Blackwater private military contractor Nicholas Slatten is convicted on one count of first-degree murder over the 2007 mass shooting. (NBC News)

Politics and elections

2017–18 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Carles Puigdemont calls on Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Turull to end the hunger strike they started on 1 December. (eldiario.es)

Science and technology

EnviroBuild, a sustainable building materials company, pays $US 25,000 to name a newly discovered limbless amphibian Dermophis donaldtrumpi, after U.S President Donald Trump, in disagreement with his environmental policy. (HuffPost) (Business Insider)

December 18, 2018 (Tuesday)

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Disasters and accidents

Russian cargo vessel MV Kuzma Minin runs aground and then is refloated off Gyllyngvase, Cornwall, and taken to anchor in Falmouth Bay for inspection, according to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. (BBC)
A powerful tornado touches down near Port Orchard, Washington. Several structures are severely damaged or destroyed. (Global News)

Law and crime

Legal affairs of Donald Trump
- The Donald J. Trump Foundation agrees to dissolve under judicial supervision while a lawsuit in the state of New York is ongoing. (CNN) (The Daily Beast)
Gun law in the United States
- The U.S. Department of Justice issues a final regulation banning the use of bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic rifles to be fired at a rate similar to that of automatic weapons and became infamous following the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. It is scheduled to go into effect on March 21, 2019. (The New York Times)

Politics and elections

Space policy of the Donald Trump administration
- U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive memorandum to re-establish the United States Space Command. (CNN)
Politics of Belgium
- Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel submits the resignation of his cabinet to King Philippe, after the biggest party in his coalition, the New Flemish Alliance, formally quit on 9 December over the government's support for the Global Compact for Migration. The King is withholding his decision. (ABC News (Australia))

Science and technology

Transportation in Los Angeles
- Elon Musk opens the 1.6km-long Boring Test Tunnel in Hawthorne, California, which is designed to demonstrate technology that will transport cars at high speeds below the city. (BBC)

December 17, 2018 (Monday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Somali Civil War (2009–present)
- Six U.S. air strikes over the weekend kill at least 62 Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, according to The Pentagon. (BBC)
Two Scandinavian women on a backpacking holiday were found dead in Morocco with cuts to their necks. The bodies were found in an isolated area in the Atlas mountains, near the tourist village of Imlil, Marrakesh-Safi. Four men are arrested with affiliation to the Islamic State. (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

Miss Universe 2018
- Filipina-Australian model Catriona Gray is crowned Miss Universe at the IMPACT Arena in Thailand. (CNN)

Business and economy

Tolls are scrapped for the Severn crossing bridges connecting England and South Wales, making travel across the River Severn free for all commuters for the first time in 800 years. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Politics of Poland
- Polish President Andrzej Duda signs into law the bill, passed by the Parliament of Poland three weeks ago, reinstating the Supreme Court judges who had been forced out of their jobs when legislation to lower the judges's mandatory retirement age was enacted in July. This addresses one of the issues that has been in dispute with the European Union. (The New York Times)

Science and technology

160 million-year-old fossil anurognathid pterosaurs are discovered that show feathery coverings, suggesting either deep common ancestry with theropod dinosaurs or independent coevolution. (BBC) (Nature)
Astronomers announce the discovery of trans-Neptunian object 2018 VG18, the most distant object in the Solar System ever observed at a distance of ~7013179517444840000♠120 AU. (Space.com)

December 16, 2018 (Sunday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

2018 Strasbourg attack
- A Polish national who was wounded during a terrorist attack in Strasbourg, France, dies of his injuries, raising the death toll to five. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

A gas blast in a restaurant in Sapporo, Japan, injures 42 people. (BBC)
A bus crash in Zurich, Switzerland, kills one person and injures 44 others. (Tgcom24)

Politics and elections

2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis
- Ranil Wickremesinghe is sworn in as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. (Reuters)
Georgian presidential election, 2018
- Salome Zurabishvili takes office as President of Georgia. Zurabishvili is the first woman in office and the last president to be elected by popular vote. (Deutsche Welle)

Sports

2018 Men's Hockey World Cup
- In field hockey, Belgium wins the title, defeating the Netherlands 3–2 in a sudden death shootout. After regular playing time, the score was 0–0. (Times of India)

December 15, 2018 (Saturday)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Kashmir conflict
- Indian soldiers and counterinsurgency police exchange gunfire with militants in the southern district of Pulwama, resulting in the deaths of one soldier and three militants. The soldiers then opened fire on a crowd of anti-government protesters who gathered after the battle, killing seven civilians and injuring 40 others. (The Independent)

International relations