Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2021 Somali political crisis
  • Troops loyal to Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble gather outside the presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu after President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed tried to suspend the Prime Minister in what has been described as an attempted self-coup. (The National)
• War in Darfur
  • A night curfew is imposed in North Darfur, Sudan, after armed groups looted and burned a United Nations World Food Programme warehouse and UNAMID facilities in Al-Fashir, stealing around 1,900 tonnes of food. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Three people are killed and four others are injured in a fire at a candlelit vigil in Kosiv, Ukraine. (BBC News)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France
      • France reports a record for the second consecutive day of 208,099 new cases of COVID-19, which is also the highest daily total recorded in any European nation since the beginning of the pandemic. (Le Parisien)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Greece
      • Greece reports a record for the third consecutive day of 28,828 new cases of COVID-19, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1,134,713. (Greek Reporter)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
      • Despite the number of new cases caused by the Omicron variant reaching a record 98,030 cases, Italy completely lifts the mandatory quarantine for those who received COVID-19 vaccine booster shot and reduces it to five days for the vaccinated people whose most recent dose was more than 120 days before exposure. (Bloomberg)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Malta
      • Malta reports a record for the second consecutive day of 1,337 new cases of COVID-19, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 49,625. (The Malta Independent)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
      • Despite the number of cases caused by the Omicron variant reaching a record high, Spain reduces the isolation period for people who test positive for COVID-19 and the mandatory quarantine for people who had close contact with someone who tested positive to seven days due to staffing shortages and disruptions in some industries. (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
      • Spain reports for the first time more than 100,000 cases of COVID-19 in one day. (El Periódico)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • The United Kingdom reports a record for the second consecutive day of 183,037 new cases of COVID-19. (The Independent)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Oceania
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
      • Australia reports a record for the ninth consecutive day of 18,243 new cases of COVID-19, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 341,437. Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania all report record numbers of new cases. (COVID-LIVE) (ABC News Australia)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
      • New Zealand reports its first community exposure of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in a fully-vaccinated man who travelled from the United Kingdom to Auckland on December 16. (Stuff)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Tunisia
      • The Tunisian Health Ministry authorizes the use of the Russian Sputnik Light vaccine as a booster dose. (Reuters)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Zambia
      • Zambia reports a record 5,255 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 243,638. (Anadolu Agency)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina
    • Argentina surpasses 5.5 million cases of COVID-19 after reporting a record 42,032 new cases in the past 24 hours. (Ámbito)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, COVID-19 vaccination in Mexico
    • The Mexican health regulatory authority COFEPRIS approves the emergency use of the Cuban-made Abdala COVID-19 vaccine. (Le Jornada)

International relations

• Belarus–Russia relations
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announce that Belarus and Russia will hold war games early next year. (The Washington Post)
• A Russian law requiring foreign travellers and migrant workers to undergo mandatory medical checks, including blood tests and X-rays, and submit fingerprints and biometric data enters into force. (DW)

Law and crime

• Hong Kong national security law
  • Pro-democracy digital media website Stand News shuts down in Hong Kong as police raids its offices and arrest senior executives. The senior executives are later charged with sedition in the latest crackdown related to the national security law. The Hong Kong government says that the news site's assets have been frozen and that more arrests could occur. (Forbes)
• British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, is found guilty of sex trafficking by a court in New York City. (ABC News)

Science and technology

• A team of Greek divers led by Kostas Thoctarides announce the discovery of the wreck of the Italian submarine Jantina south of Mykonos in the Aegean Sea. The submarine was sunk on July 5, 1941, after being torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Torbay. (Reuters)