December 20, 2016 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Assassination of Andrei Karlov
- Six people are arrested in Ankara for alleged involvement in the murder of Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
- Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
- The International Committee of the Red Cross claims that 25,000 residents of the rebel-held territories have been evacuated from Aleppo as Hezbollah warns remaining residents in the former rebel enclave to leave "as quickly as possible". (AP)
- 2016 Berlin truck attack
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility via Amaq News Agency for the truck attack in Berlin, Germany, which left at least 12 people dead and 49 injured. (BBC)
- Philippine Drug War
- A news publisher is allegedly killed in the Philippine province of Catanduanes after publishing a story about the controversial drug purge campaign. (Committee to Protect Journalists)
- Four police officers and one suspect have been killed following a raid on an apartment near Al-Karak in Jordan. Two more suspects have been arrested under suspicions of connections with Sunday's attack in the city by the Islamic State. (Al Jazeera)
- December 2016 Congolese protests
- Clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters demanding the resignation of President Joseph Kabila reportedly leave more than 20 people dead in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (BBC)
Arts and culture
- Tupac Shakur, Joan Baez, and most of the members of Pearl Jam are to receive honors in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (The New York Times)
Disasters and accidents
- 2016 San Pablito Market fireworks explosion
- An explosion at a fireworks market in the city of Tultepec near Mexico City, kills at least 29 people and injures at least 70 others. Pyrotechnics is a major industry in Tultepec. (CBS Local) (CNN) (AP and NBC News)
- 2016–17 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- The Met Office issues warnings for parts of Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland as Storm Barbara prepares to make landfall. (The Telegraph)
- An Aerosucre Boeing 727-200 Flight 4544, used as a cargo plane, crashes shortly after takeoff in Puerto Carreno's Germán Olano Airport en route to the Colombian capital Bogota killing five people and injuring one. (ABC Australia)
International relations
- China–United States relations
- The People's Republic of China returns a United States unmanned underwater drone that it seized in the South China Sea last week. (CNN)
Politics and elections
- Indonesia arrests hundreds of protesters in Indonesian Papua. (teleSur)
Science and technology
- U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau jointly ban offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean and parts of the Atlantic coast. (Washington Examiner) (Toronto Star)