Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2023 Israel–Hamas war
  • 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
    • Twenty-two members of a family are killed in an Israeli air attack on the home in which they were sheltering in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. (Al Jazeera)
    • United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invokes Article 99 of the UN Charter, urging the UN Security Council to act on the war in Gaza and adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire. (Al Jazeera)
    • UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk says his "colleagues describe the situation as apocalyptic" in Gaza, with a "heightened risk of atrocity crimes". (Al Jazeera)
    • The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warns that the situation in Gaza is "getting worse each minute", and that “another wave of displacement is underway" amidst further military operations by Israel. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

• American singer Taylor Swift is named Time magazine's 2023 Person of the Year. (TIME)

Disasters and accidents

• A Guyana Defence Force helicopter goes missing while on a border operation near the Venezuelan border. (Newsday)

International relations

• Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • The United States Senate blocks a supplemental funding bill that included financial aid for Ukraine. (The Guardian)
• International sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  • Politico reports that efforts to cap Russia’s oil revenues has essentially failed, due to widespread circumvention, loopholes and the ongoing fuel business. (Politico)
  • G7 nations agree to impose trade restrictions on non-industrial diamonds from Russia. (AFP via RFI)
• Russia–Saudi Arabia relations, Russia–United Arab Emirates relations
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a state visit to the Middle East during which he visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. (Al Jazeera)
• War in Sudan
  • U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accuses the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese Armed Forces of committing war crimes during the war, with the Rapid Support Forces also being accused of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. (CNN)

Law and crime

• 2023 University of Nevada, Las Vegas shooting
  • Three people are fatally shot in a mass shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The alleged gunman is reportedly killed. (ABC News)
• Former People's Deputy of Ukraine Illia Kyva, who defected to Russia in March 2022, is found dead in Moscow Oblast. (Meduza)
• Four people are injured in a shooting on a shopping street in Brussels, Belgium. The incident is being investigated as a gang-related crime. (Politico)

Politics and elections

• 118th United States Congress
  • Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy announces that he will resign from the United States House of Representatives at the end of the year. (CBS News)
• Rwanda asylum plan
  • Robert Jenrick resigns as Minister of State for Immigration, citing disagreements with the UK government's asylum plan. (AFP via NDTV)

December 7: Feast day of Saint Ambrose (Christianity); National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in the United States (1941)

• 43 BC – Cicero, widely considered one of ancient Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists, was killed after having been proscribed as an enemy of the state.
• 1837 – British troops swiftly defeated rebels led by William Lyon Mackenzie and Anthony Van Egmond at the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern, the only major confrontation of the Upper Canada Rebellion.
• 1942 – Second World War: A small unit of Royal Marines launched Operation Frankton, in which they damaged six ships in the port of Bordeaux in German-occupied France.
• 1988 – A earthquake struck the Spitak region of Armenia, killing at least 25,000 people (aftermath pictured).
• 2011 – The United States transferred its last base in the Al Anbar Governorate to the Iraqi government, ending the Anbar campaign.

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