December 31, 2013 (Tuesday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Islamist militants are suspected in an attack on a gas pipeline in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. There were no injuries Reuters
Economy and finance
- Latvia becomes the 18th EU member state to adopt the euro despite public opposition. (CNN)(The Guardian)
Politics and elections
- Russian President Vladimir Putin broke with a long tradition of Soviet and Russian heads of state and delivered two New Year’s speeches instead of one. The second New Year’s address was made from Khabarovsk, a far-eastern city hit by devastating floods in summer, instead of the Moscow Kremlin. (RIA) (The Washington Post)
Law, crime and accidents
- Thousands of protestors gather at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur to begin protests against the Malaysian government's introduction of price hikes. (Channel News Asia)
- A fire was set in the stairway of a gay nightclub in Seattle on New Year's Eve which was quickly extinguished. An empty gasoline container was found at the top of the stairway. (Huffington Post)