December 31, 2011 (Saturday)
Armed conflict and attacks
- 2011 Syrian uprising: An Arab League observer witnesses snipers in the Syrian city of Deraa and calls for their immediate removal. (Al Jazeera)
- Two members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party die in a battle with Turkish police in the city of Diyarbakir. (AFP via West Australian)
- Ethiopian forces capture the central Somali town of Beledweyne from al-Shabaab Islamist militants. (BBC)
- The President of Sudan Omar Hassan al-Bashir urges members of the Darfur based Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to seek peace following the recent death of rebel leader Ibrahim Khalil. (Reuters)
- Nigerian unrest
- The President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan declares a state of emergency in the states of Borno, Yobe, Niger and Plateau due to violence by the Islamist sect Boko Haram. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
- Clashes in Ebonyi State in eastern Nigeria kill at least fifty people. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)[permanent dead link]
- Nigeria shuts borders with the countries Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. (The Nation)(The Sun)
- Six thousand people from the Lou Nuer tribe in South Sudan attack the town of Pibor as a result of a dispute over cattle rustling. (BBC)
Disasters
- Authorities in Chile close the Torres del Paine National Park, amid an ongoing forest fire in Patagonia. (euronews)
- More than 200 people are injured by illegally huge firecrackers and celebratory gunfire in the Philippines. (IOL)
- The death toll from Cyclone Thane in southern India rises to at least 33 with 21 people dead in Cuddalore. (AFP via Yahoo News)
- A Chinese bus driver dies of bird flu in the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province. (Xinhua)
- A 4.0-magnitude earthquake hits Ohio, with no immediate reports of damage. (MSNBC)
- In Hollywood, a string of 35 fires burned within 5 hours that caused at least $350,000 in damage. (CNN)
International relations
- The President of the United States Barack Obama signs a law providing for new sanctions against Iran. (AFP via Google News)
Politics
- United States President Barack Obama signs the National Defense Authorization Act into law allowing the indefinite imprisonment of any United States citizen under suspect of terrorism without need of trial. (Forbes)
- Kim Jong-un is named as the Supreme Commander of North Korea's armed forces following the death of his father Kim Jong-Il. (AP via The Australian)
Science
- NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the moon. (BBC)
Sport
- In motor sports, WilliamsF1 co-founder Patrick Head resigns as a director of the team after 34 years in Formula One. (Autosport)