Portal:Current events/2011 December 30

• Five fighters from the militant group al-Shabab and one Kenyan Army soldier die in a clash. (AP via Google News)
• 2011 Syrian uprising:
  • The Opposition Free Syrian Army claims to have suspended attacks on military targets pending a meeting with Arab League monitors. (Reuters)
  • Clashes take place between Syrian forces and protesters in Damascus with twelve deaths reported. (BBC) (ABC News Australia)
• An explosion reportedly occurs outside a mosque in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri with four deaths reported. However, the Nigerian military later denies it was an explosion, claiming the noise was caused by an armed robbery with two deaths. (BBC) (AFP via Yahoo7)

• The stock for McDonald's rose 31 percent in 2011, the largest gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, while Bank of America fell 59 percent, the largest loss in the Dow Jones. (CNN)
• Members of the Canadian Auto Workers vote in favour of a strike at Caterpillar Inc's locomotive manufacturing plant in London, Ontario. (Globe and Mail)

• The death toll from the 2011 Thailand floods reaches 790. (Jakarta Post)
• Cyclone Thane makes landfall near the southern Union Territory of Puducherry on India's southern coast. (Reuters via Yahoo)

• North Korea says that "foolish politicians around the world" should not expect any change in the country's policies. (Al Jazeera)
• Ecuador vows to protect the Yasuni National Park in the Amazon basin after international donors contribute $100 million to a protection fund. (Reuters via Climate Spectator)
• The international aid group Médecins Sans Frontières withdraws non-Somali workers from a hospital in Mogadishu after two of its aid workers were shot dead on Thursday. (Reuters via Chicago Tribune)

• Former Chinese fugitive Lai Changxing is indicted on bribery and smuggling charges. (New York Times)

• The opposition People's National Party wins a majority in the Jamaican general election, with former Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller set to regain office. (Bangkok Post) (Jamaica Gleaner)
• 2011 Yemeni uprising:
  • Tens of thousands of Yemenis protest against an immunity deal for former President Ali Abdullah Saleh demanding he face trial for deaths in the 2011 Yemeni uprising. (AP via Google News)
  • Supporters of Saleh also appear on the streets in a counter protest. (Reuters via Malaysia Star)
• The party of Democratic Republic of the Congo politician Étienne Tshisekedi says he has been placed under house arrest in Kinshasa since he claimed to have won the presidential election earlier this year. (AP via Washington Post)

• In yachting, the New South Wales boat Loki is declared the overall winner of the 2011 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. (Sydney Morning Herald)