December 14, 2011 (Wednesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Thirteen people are killed in Hama, Syria, during the latest violence in the ongoing uprising. (Al Jazeera)
Arts and culture
- Time names "The Protester" the magazine's 2011 Person of the Year, as a result of the Arab Spring and subsequent movements. (Forbes)
Business and economy
- United Kingdom unemployment rises to 2.64m. (BBC)
Disasters
- A state of emergency is declared in the Nelson region of New Zealand due to heavy floods. (New Zealand Herald)
- Toxic illegal alcohol kills 166 people in West Bengal, India. (BBC) (The Hindu)
International relations
- The governments of the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands protest the start of Japan's whaling season off the coast of Antarctica. (AFP via News Limited)
Law and crime
- Taiwan is to reduce the length of compulsory military service from one year to four months. (Straits Times)
- Belgian police find the body of a woman at the home of gunman Nordine Amrani responsible for the 2011 Liège attack. (Global Post)
Politics
- The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament and ally of Vladimir Putin, Boris Gryzlov, resigns. (RIA Novosti) (The New York Times)
- The population of the village of Wukan in southern China revolt over the death of a local man who led protests against a land grab; local officials and police flee. (Wall Street Journal) (Daily Telegraph)
- Democratic Republic of the Congo opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi's party calls for mass protests amid disputed elections. (IOL)