China’s top fitness app said to lay off 15% of staff as users drop out

December 23

Armed conflicts and attacks

Somali Civil War
- Constitutional crisis in Somalia
  - Jubaland crisis
    - Violent clashes occur between Jubaland forces backed by the Ethiopian ENDF and Somali armed forces in Dolow, Gedo Region, Somalia, with Jubaland forces later taking control of the town. (Garowe Online) (Hiiraan Online)
    - The mayor of Badhadhe District, Lower Juba, Hassan Nuur Cabdi, survives an ambush attack which killed at least five of his security personnel. (Idil News) (Hiiraan Online)
Syrian civil war
- Operation Dawn of Freedom
  - Manbij offensive
    - The pro-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces launch a counter-offensive on recently captured pro-Turkish faction positions in Manbij, Aleppo Governorate, Syria, and recapture several villages. (SOHR)

Business and economy

Student loans in the United States, Economic policy of the Joe Biden administration
- The Biden administration officially withdraws two major legislative plans that would have granted student loan forgiveness to more than 30 million Americans. (Forbes) (CNBC)

Disasters and accidents

Three people are killed and another is injured in severe storms in Rome, Italy, with the storms also causing two people to be missing on the Gran Sasso d’Italia massif. (Roma Today) (Roma Today 2) (Il Messaggero)

Law and crime

Capital punishment by the United States federal government
- U.S. President Joe Biden commutes the death sentences of 37 out of the 40 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment. The exceptions are Dylann Roof, Robert Gregory Bowers, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who received death sentences for terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder-related crimes. (CBS News)
Minas Gerais road crash
- The suspected truck driver that caused a multiple-vehicle collision and killed at least 41 people in Teófilo Otoni, Minas Gerais, Brazil, turns himself in to local authorities. (R7) (G1)
A man is arrested in New York City, New York, United States, after immolating a woman yesterday aboard a subway train. It is believed that the victim was chosen at random.. (Al Jazeera)
A man is arrested and charged with animal cruelty for shooting and killing 98 kangaroos on a military base in Singleton, New South Wales, Australia. (News.com.au)