Time magazine named German Chancellor Angela Merkel its 2015 "Person of the Year" on December 9, noting her resilience and leadership when faced with the refugee crisis and turmoil in the European Union over its currency this year.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on December 8 that Russia had for the first time struck Islamic State targets in Syria with missiles fired from a submarine in the Mediterranean.

The United States is reviewing and seeking to confirm reports that Iran launched a ballistic missile last month in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said on December 8.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on December 7 called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States in the most dramatic response by a candidate yet to last week's shooting spree by two Muslims who the FBI said had been radicalized.

Cuban and US officials on December 8 will begin to untangle one of the most complex obstacles to normalization of relations between the two countries: the claims of Americans whose property was nationalized after the 1959 revolution and Cuban counterclaims for damages caused by the US trade embargo.

The United States is temporarily easing trade restrictions on Myanmar by allowing all shipments to go through its ports and airports for six months, an effort to boost the Southeast Asian country's opposition party after its landmark election win in November.

Russia's envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog said on December 7 he expected a historic nuclear deal between Iran and world powers to be implemented in January, leading to sanctions against Tehran being lifted.

Venezuela's opposition vowed on December 7 to revive the OPEC nation's troubled economy and free jailed political activists after winning control of the legislature for the first time in 16 years of Socialist rule.

Turkey said on December 6 it would halt further transfers of troops to an area near the Islamic State-controlled Iraqi city of Mosul after Baghdad threatened to appeal to the United Nations to force Turkey to withdraw its soldiers.

At least 32 Islamic State fighters were killed and 40 more wounded in Syria's Raqqa province on December 6, in a series of air strikes believed to be carried out by a US-led coalition targeting the jihadists, a monitoring group said.