December 18, 2014 (Thursday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Gumsuri kidnapping
- News emerges, after survivors reach the city of Maiduguri, that suspected Boko Haram militants stormed the remote village of Gumsuri in north-eastern Nigeria on December 14, killing at least 33 people and kidnapping about 200. (BBC)
Business and economy
- The price of Brent Crude oil rises to $61+ per barrel as companies cut upstream investments. (Reuters)
- US clothing company Gap Inc. agrees to distribute their apparels to Chinese e-commerce company JD.com. (Reuters)
International relations
- A former US intelligence officer identifies Rolando "Rollie" Sarraff Trujillo as the Cuban Interior Ministry spy for the US Central Intelligence Agency, who was swapped in exchange for members of the Cuban Five. (NBC News)
- International sanctions during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
- The European Union imposes sanctions on Russia-occupied Crimea by banning investments and tourism in the region and halting oil explorations. (Reuters)
Law and crime
- Death of Jennifer Laude
- The United States refuses to extradite a United States Marine to the Philippines where he is charged with murder. (New York Daily News)
- The Death Penalty Information Center states that thirty-five people have been executed in the United States in 2014, marking it the fewest number within two decades. (USA Today)
- The US District Court for South Carolina posthumously vacates the conviction of George Stinney, Jr. seventy years after his execution. (UPI)
- Spanish police arrest thirteen more people, bringing the total now to more than seventy since the November 30th football fan brawl, which resulted in one death, before the Atletico Madrid–Deportivo La Coruña match started in Madrid's Vicente Calderon Stadium. (AP via USA Today)
Science and technology
- India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III successfully completes its first flight, carrying the crew vehicle demonstrator CARE. (Times of India)