In today's newsletter we take a look at Japan's pivot back to nuclear energy, new details from the Bondi Beach shooting and gold's new record prices.
Plus, Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni joins the On Assignment podcast to discuss the year in news.
The Daily Briefing will be on a short beak for Christmas. We will return on December 29 with this year's final edition, featuring a roundup of the 2025 news cycle and highlights from some of our best reporting. Stay tuned!
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An aerial view of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, in Kashiwazaki, Japan, November 7, 2025. Kyodo/via REUTERS/File Photo
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Japan took the final step to allow the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's largest, to resume operations with a regional vote, a watershed moment in the country's return to nuclear energy nearly 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.
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Australian police said that homemade pipe and tennis ball bombs were thrown at a crowd at Bondi Beach before a mass shooting but failed to detonate, according to court documents.
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A Russian general was killed by a car bomb in southern Moscow, Russian investigators said, adding that they suspected Ukrainian special services could have been behind the attack. Plus, US intelligence indicates Russian President Vladimir Putin's war aims in Ukraine remain unchanged.
- The US Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, officials told Reuters, in what would be the the third such operation in less than two weeks if successful.
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Thailand and Cambodia agreed to hold a December 24 meeting of defence officials towards resuming a months-old ceasefire, as fierce border fighting between them entered a third week with at least 80 people killed so far.
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A Malaysian court denied a bid by jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, in the first of two key rulings the ex-premier faces this week over his role in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal.
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President Donald Trump is preparing for a more aggressive immigration crackdown in 2026 by raiding more workplaces — even as backlash builds ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Our immigration repoter Ted Hesson tells today's Reuters World News podcast that the ICE and Border Patrol budget will double over the next four years, making way for an enforcement scale-up.
- Trump named Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as his special envoy to Greenland, reigniting Danish and Greenlandic alarm over Washington's plans for the vast, mineral-rich Arctic island.
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A photo of Donald Trump that had been removed from the cache of Jeffrey Epstein files released by the Department of Justice was restored after officials determined none of Epstein's victims were in the image, the department said.
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- Gold jumped past the $4,400-per-ounce level for the first time on Monday, riding on growing expectations of further US rate cuts and strong safe-haven demand, with silver also joining the rally to hit an all-time high.
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A dismal year for the US dollar is ending with signs of stabilization, but many investors believe the currency's decline will resume next year as global growth picks up and the Fed eases further. Read our report.
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Trump's return to the White House in 2025 kicked off a frenetic year for global trade roiling financial markets and sparking rounds of negotiations over trade and investment deals. His trade policies will remain front and center in 2026, but face some hefty challenges. Here's our analysis.
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Italy's competition authority said it had fined Apple and two of its divisions 98.6 million euros ($115.53 million) over alleged abuse of their dominant position in the mobile app market.
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The UK economy has slowed sharply from earlier in 2025, with GDP growing only 0.1% in the third quarter, as consumers felt the hit from higher taxes but still increased their spending.
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Uber and Lyft said they were teaming up with Chinese tech giant Baidu to launch driverless taxi trials in the UK next year, reinforcing the country's role as Europe's leading testbed for commercializing robotaxis.
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China will impose provisional duties of up to 42.7% on certain dairy products imported from the European Union after concluding the first phase of an anti-subsidy probe widely seen as retaliation for the bloc's electric vehicle tariffs.
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New Zealand and India said they had concluded talks on a free trade deal that would help to double bilateral trade over the next five years.
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Syrians emptied Assad’s prisons. They’re filling up again, and abuse is rife
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A member of the Syrian security forces walks near beds at one of the empty cells of Homs prison in Syria, December 21, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky/File Photo
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A year ago, Syria’s new leader President Ahmed al-Sharaa pledged to 'close the notorious prisons' run by Bashar al-Assad. But prisons and detention centers are operating again. And beatings, extortion and other abuses have reappeared.
Reuters compiled the names of at least 829 people who have been detained on security grounds since Assad’s demise a year ago.
The reopening of the Assad-era facilities underscores the country’s struggle to build a stable new order.
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Alessandra Galloni on the On Assignment podcast, December 20, 2025.
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In this special year-end edition of On Assignment, Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni sits down with host Jonah Green to reflect on the tumultuous 2025 news cycle.
She discusses the challenges of covering Trump’s second term, keeping journalists safe in war zones, and how AI-generated misinformation complicates the pursuit of truth. Plus, we look ahead on what to expect and how to prepare for the coming news cycle.
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