The LuLac Edition #4,465, December 29th, 2020

 TOP 10 INTERNATIONAL STORIES 

1. COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the outbreak of the disease as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the sixth time that this measure has been invoked since 2009.

 2. President Donald Trump approves the targeted killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad, Iraq. Iran launches ballistic missiles at Iraqi military bases hosting American troops. More than 60 U.S. service members are eventually treated for traumatic brain injury by the end of the month. 

3.  President Trump expands his travel ban to include six new countries Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania.

 
4. The Trump administration and the Taliban sign a conditional peace agreement in Doha, Qatar as part of a process to end the war in Afghanistan.

 
5. President Donald Trump and China's Vice Premier Liu He sign the U.S.–China Phase One trade deal in Washington, D.C.

 6. The Trump administration and the Taliban sign a conditional peace agreement in Doha, Qatar as part of a process to end the war in Afghanistan.

 7. President Donald Trump approves the targeted killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad, Iraq. Iran launches ballistic missiles at Iraqi military bases hosting American troops. More than 60 U.S. service members are eventually treated for traumatic brain injury by the end of the month.

 8. The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reports that a Russian military intelligence unit offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for the killing of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and that President Trump was briefed on the findings in late March 2020, but did not authorize any response. Trump denies he was ever briefed on the matter.

 9. President Donald Trump signs the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, a North American trade agreement set to replace NAFTA.

 10. International share prices fall sharply in response to a Russo-Saudi oil price war and the impact of COVID-19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) plunges more than 2,000 points, the largest fall in its history up to that point. Oil prices also plunge by as much as 30% in early trading, the biggest fall since 1991.