2021 Gambian presidential election Gambians go to the polls to elect their president. Approximately 960,000 people are eligible to vote.
Improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device is discovered in the personal vehicle of a Turkish police officer who was to be part of the security detail for a rally in Siirt featuring Turkish President Recep Erdoğan. The bomb was discovered before the officer had left for the rally, and was defused by bomb squads.
Pakistan–Saudi Arabia relations The Pakistani Minister of Finance announces that the country has received a $3 billion (11.3B SAR, ₨.530B) one-year loan from Saudi Arabia.
COVID-19 pandemic Zambia reports its first three cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in two citizens who travelled internationally and another citizen who had no travel history.
South Korea reports a record 5,352 new cases and 70 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 467,907 and the nationwide death toll to 3,809.
The Cook Islands reports its first case of COVID-19 in a 10-year-old boy who travelled on a repatriation flight from New Zealand with his family on December 1 and is in quarantine.
Chile reports its first case of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in a fully vaccinated foreigner who travelled from Ghana on November 25.
Romania reports its first cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in two citizens who travelled from South Africa on November 30.
Mwingi Twenty-three people drown after the bus they are travelling in plunges into the Enziu River in Mwingi, Kenya.
2021 Semeru eruption One person is killed and 41 others are injured as the Semeru volcano erupts in East Java, Indonesia.
COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes cancels the city's New Year's Eve celebrations on Copacabana Beach due to the worldwide spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.