Oslo (AFP) – Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will not be present to accept her Nobel Peace Prize award in Oslo, and will instead be represented by her daughter. Machado, 58, lives in hiding and it was not known ahead of the ceremony whether she had managed to leave Venezuela.
Samraong (Cambodia) (AFP) – The sound of artillery fire rings out in the border town of Samraong as fighting between Cambodia and its neighbour Thailand intensifies. At least 10 soldiers and civilians have been killed on both sides in the latest spate of violence, officials say, while more than 140,000 civilians have fled the areas near where jets, tanks and drones were waging battle. IMAGES
Santiago (Chili) (AFP) – Chile’s presidential candidates Jose Antonio Kast y Jeannette Jara arrive at the headquarters of Television Nacional de Chile for their last televised debate ahead of Sunday’s [December 14] presidential election. IMAGES
Brasília (AFP) – The Brazilian deputy Glauber Braga interrupts a parliamentary session to vote for the reduction of former president Jair Bolsonaro’s sentence to 27 years in prison, as a “protest” against what he denounced as a “coup offensive.” IMAGES
Buenos Aires (Argentine) (AFP) – Argentine police raid national football headquarters and several top clubs, in a sweeping money-laundering probe just months before the world champions defend their title. IMAGES
Mendoza (Argentina) (AFP) – People protest in Mendoza as the Legislature’s Senate discusses the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the San Jorge Project, the final administrative step for an initiative seeking to extract copper from a deposit in the mountain town of Uspallata. IMAGES
Chilaw (Sri Lanka) (AFP) – Japanese aid workers help those impacted by Sri Lanka’s worst cyclone this century, which killed at least 638 people in late November. The emergency medical camp was set up in the coastal town of Chilaw, where the main hospital was flooded and put out of action. It has only just reopened, nearly two weeks after the cyclone hit. The camp has a capacity of around 150 patients per day, but Taketo Kurozumi, head of disaster medical management at Teikyo University, says his team are seeing numbers increase, with common problems including skin and respiratory problems, as well as mosquito-borne diseases.
Paris (France) (AFP) – Sixty-seven journalists have been killed this year while performing their duties or because of their profession, says media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The figure, outlined in RSF’s latest annual report, is an increase on the 66 killed in 2024. As for who is responsible for the deaths, “it is the Israeli armed forces,” explains RSF director general Thibaut Bruttin, with the report placing 43 percent of the deaths in the Gaza Strip. Bruttin also points the finger at organised crime in Mexico and Latin America.
Gaithersburg (United States) (AFP) – At a Christmas market outside the US capital, festive cheer alone can’t drive cost of living concerns out of shoppers’ minds. “Prices are terrible,” says local high school teacher James Doffermyre, as American households contend with creeping inflation. While President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs haven’t triggered a broad surge in consumer inflation, companies have noted steeper business costs and some have opted to pass these on by raising product prices.
Canberra (AFP) – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses the nation’s teenagers on the eve of a groundbreaking social media ban, which will see under-16s barred from social media. “You’ll know better than anyone what it’s like growing up with algorithms, endless feeds and the pressure that can come with that,” Albanese says in a video message, encouraging young people to make the most of the upcoming school holidays and “spend quality time with your friends and your family”, rather than “spending it scrolling on your phone.”
Bangkok (AFP) – Thailand will continue its military operations against Cambodia until Phnom Penh “changes its stance,” says Thai Defence Ministry spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri. Both sides have blamed each other for reigniting a border conflict that has seen Thailand launch air strikes and use tanks against its neighbour. Cambodia has accused Thailand of shelling positions in fighting that has killed seven civilians and one Thai soldier.
Mainz (Germany) (AFP) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says that parts of the new US national security strategy are “unnacceptable to us from a European perspective.” Speaking in Mainz, Merz adds that he sees “no need for the Americans to save democracy in Europe,” after the paper accused the continent of undermining political liberty and stifling free speech.
