December 31, 2010 (Friday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- A pre-dawn bomb explodes outside a closed night club in Athens; there are no injuries. (Press Association via Google News)
- A bomb explodes in the Nigerian capital Abuja, killing four people. (Times Live South Africa)
- A protestor dies of his injuries in Tunisia as protests continue across the country over unemployment and poor living conditions. (Al Jazeera)
Arts and culture
- Arts and cultural people Annie Lennox, Herbert Kretzmer, Sheila Hancock, David Suchet, Harriet Walter, Katharine Hamnett, Alice Temperley, Sandy Powell, John Lloyd, Steve McQueen and Trevor Horn are among those to receive a New Year Honour from the Queen of the United Kingdom. (BBC)
Business and economy
- Estonia, one of the Baltic republics of the former Soviet Union, adopts the euro as its official currency, becoming the 17th country to do so. (Reuters)
Disasters
- Tornadoes touch down in midwestern and southern United States, including Washington County, Arkansas; Greater St. Louis, Sunset Hills, Missouri, Illinois and Oklahoma, with a few tornadoes in the early hours of January 1, 2011. A total 36 tornadoes touched down, resulting in the deaths of 9 people.
Law and crime
- Three Tibetan writers, detained earlier this year by Chinese authorities, are sentenced to jail terms of three to four years for "inciting activities to split the nation” (RFA)
Politics
- Ikililou Dhoinine is elected President of the Comoros, defeating rival Mohamed Said Fazul with 61% of the vote. (Reuters)
- After an official protest by German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, Iran allows access to two journalists arrested in mid-October for interviewing family members of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery. (The Jerusalem Post)
- Officials in the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology warn of a crackdown on "illegal" voice-over-Internet(VoIP) telephony services that are not licensed or approved by the country's telecoms regulator. (RFA)
- Italy bans plastic bags. (BBC)
- Sunni Muslim clerics organize strikes across Pakistan to protest against possible changes to the country’s blasphemy laws. (BBC)