Syrian jets bombard rebel positions in Damascus as a country-wide Internet and phone blackout enters a third day. Government officials announce the road to the airport in the capital has been secured, though rebels insist clashes are ongoing. (Reuters)
At least 8 people are killed and 36 injured when a passenger bus overturns on the highway between the cities of Sucre and Potosí in southern Bolivia. (RIA Novosti)
The Taliban launches an attack on the NATO airstrip in the eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad resulting in seven Taliban deaths and at least five Afghans are killed. (Sky News Australia) (BBC) (AP)
A 200-year-old letter dated 20 October 1812 in which Napoleon Bonaparte vows to blow up the Moscow Kremlin fetches €187,500 (£151,000, $233,800) at a French auction in Fontainebleau. (Sky News) (ITV) (ABC News)
Disasters and accidents
A section of the Sasago Tunnel in Japan collapses trapping 30 vehicles; at least 9 people are dead. (BBC) (Sky News) (CBC News)
Israel Keyes, a 34-year-old man suspected of killing Samantha Koenig and possibly as many as 7 others throughout the U.S., apparently kills himself while in custody. (AP/CBS News)
Spanish racing team HRT F1 leave Formula One after they were unable to find a buyer before the deadline of 30 November. The team was subsequently omitted from the 2013 entry list. (Autosport)
The Sambafoot Association announces their list of 30 contenders nominated as the 2012 Samba Gold, a football award given to the best Brazilian footballer in Europe. (Sambafoot)
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that North Korea has installed an Unha rocket at its Dongchang-ri launch site. Japan is threatening to shoot down the rocket if it manages to stay airborne and threaten Japanese territory. (Yonhap) (ABC News)
Singapore charges five Chinese bus drivers and deports 29 others for holding the country's first strike in 26 years. (BBC)
Dutchlinesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen dies in hospital after he was kicked and punched by three teenage players of a club from Nieuw Sloten, Amsterdam, while officiating at a match on Sunday. (BBC) (The Telegraph)
Spanishracing driverMaria de Villota is released from hospital following her latest operation at the end of November. She has had further surgery to rebuild her face after she lost an eye in a high-speed crash. (Autosport.com)
The Syrian Army clashes with rebels close to Damascus. (AAP via News Limited)
A mortar attack destroys a school in the small city of Bteeha, on the road to Homs north of the capital. According to the state news agency SANA at least 29 are killed, while activists report 9 deaths. (New York Times)
NATO sends Patriot missiles to Turkey to help it protect its citizens in case the Civil War spills over the border. (CNN)
In a setback to the movement toward banking union in the EU, Germany's finance ministerWolfgang Schäuble says he will not allow a unitary system of supervision without changes in the underlying treaties. (Financial Times).
Disasters and accidents
Typhoon Bopha makes landfall on the Philippines island of Mindanao with reports of floods and landslides. Authorities confirm at least 81 deaths amid widespread property damage. (AFP via MSN Malaysia) (ABC News Australia) (Reuters) (Bangkok Post)
The cargo ship Volgo Balt 199 sinks in the Black Sea near Istanbul with a Ukrainian and Russian crew of 12. Four crew members are rescued and one is found dead, while the rest are missing. Two rescuers are killed and two others left missing after their boat hit rocks during the search operations. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
Rescue crews head to areas of the Philippines severely affected by Typhoon Bopha. At least 283 are now believed to have died as a result of the storm, with 339 injured, hundreds more missing and over 87,000 evacuated. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (The Weather Channel) (New York Times)
Vehicle carrier Baltic Ace sinks in the North Sea after collision with a container ship with at least four people dead and seven missing. (Reuters) (AP via The Australian)
Law and crime
American businessman John McAfee is arrested in Guatemala following an alleged illegal entry after leaving Belize where he is wanted for questioning over the death of fellow American Gregory Faull. (Reuters)
At least 7 people are killed and more than 770 are injured during clashes between supporters and opponents of the President of EgyptMohamed Morsi in front of the Presidential Palace in Cairo. The Egyptian Army deploys several tanks and armoured troop carriers to secure the building. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
At least 5 people are shot dead on the third day of clashes between Alawites and Sunnis in Tripoli, Lebanon. The casualty toll of the three days is at least 10 killed and 73 injured. (Reuters)
Three people are dead and 250 others forced to evacuate after wild weather including a tornado hits the city of Auckland in New Zealand. (Daily Telegraph) (AP via The Washington Post) (BBC)
The death toll from Typhoon Bopha rises to at least 418, with 383 still missing in southern Philippines. At least 179,000 others have been left homeless after the passage of the storm. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (NDRRMC)
Possession of marijuana for personal use of people aged over 21 becomes legal according to state law in the US state of Washington. (AP)
John Burbine, a level one sex offender from Wakefield, Massachusetts (USA) is charged with Sexual assault of 13 infants and young children under his care. (Boston Globe/AP)
The U.S. Senate votes to repeal the Jackson–Vanik amendment, a long-standing trade restriction with Russia. In its place, the Magnitsky bill is adopted instead. The law requires the United States to place financial and visa restrictions on a list of officials associated with the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky three years ago. (BBC) (RT) (RIA Novosti)
Science and technology
NASA's twin GRAIL probes have revealed the surface of the Moon in unprecedented detail, showing unexpectedly-deep cracks, craters and tectonic structures. (Los Angeles Times) (BBC)
The extinct reptile Nyasasaurus is described as the possible oldest known dinosaur from 243-million-year old fossils discovered in Tanzania. (BBC) (Huffington Post) (Nature)
The United States Supreme Court grants review of California's ban on same-sex marriage (Proposition 8, which has been challenged), and also agrees to finally determine the constitutionality of the federal DOMA law, which the Obama administration has said it will not continue defending. This is the Court's most significant foray into the issue yet, though an overruling of the DOMA act would only mean the federal government would have to recognize such marriages in areas where they are already legal. (NBC News)
The grandmother of murdered teen Tia Sharp will not face charges in the UK. (Sky News)
Google launches its new platform Google+ communities. (VentureBeat)
Irish state broadcaster RTÉ is to provide staff training on what subjects are appropriate for discussion on social media sites such as Twitter following several controversies involving tweets from its employees. (Evening Herald)
The promoters of Formula Two decide not to run the series in 2013 after completing just four years of their five-year contract with the FIA. (ESPN) (Motorsport)
Bosses at Australian radio station 2Day FM suspend all advertising until Monday after several major advertisers withdrew their business in the wake of the death of Jacintha Saldanha. (BBC)
Politics and elections
The Ghanaian election is extended by one day as glitches in the electoral system cause extended delays in voting in some areas. (AFP via SBS)
Violent clashes occur in Bangladesh as protesters stage a nationwide blockade of roads to press for an independent body to oversee the next general election. At least two people were killed and about 100 injured after police fire rubber bullets and tear gas. (Reuters) (BBC)
Thirteen people are killed and 10 are injured in Hsinchu County, Taiwan, when a bus with 23 people on board rolled off a cliff and tumbled over 100 meters. (Bangkok Post)[permanent dead link] (Focus Taiwan)
Six people are killed and 41 others injured on the spot when a bus skids off the road and plunges into a 30-meter deep gorge in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. (PrensaLibre) (EFE via El Tiempo)
Hector Celaya, the suspect in the mass shooting at the Tule River Indian Reservation that resulted in four deaths and two people being wounded, dies. (Reuters) (Fox News)
Barcelona's star Lionel Messi scores twice against Real Betis, his 85th and 86th goals in a calendar year, breaking the record created by German legend Gerd Müller (85 goals) in 1972. (ESPN) (Goal.com) (BBC) (Reuters)
Rebel forces seize parts of the Sheikh Suleiman army base near Aleppo after weeks of heavy fighting. Ground clashes continue in the suburbs of Damascus as the government carries out further air raids against opposition forces. (Al Jazeera)
Mohammad Musa Rasouli, the police chief of Afghanistan's Nimroz Province, is killed by a roadside bomb while returning home from Herat Province. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Unknown gunmen assassinate Nadia Sediqqi, head of the women's affairs department in Laghman Province, Afghanistan. She was shot as she was getting into her rickshaw on her way to work in the provincial capital Mehtar Lam, according to a provincial government spokesperson. (NBC News)
Eleven people are killed and 23 injured in Minquan County, Henan province, China, after a passenger bus swerves off the road and falls in a roadside pond. (China Daily) (RIA Novosti)
At least nine people are killed and at 32 others are wounded in Tolima department, Colombia, after a bus falls of a 300-meter cliff. (Colombia Reports) (Xinhua)
International relations
Japan goes on full alert as North Korea announces it has delayed its launch of a long range Unha rocket until 29 December. (AP) (AFP via Google News) (Al Jazeera)
The UK government sets out proposals to legalise gay marriages in England and Wales. The Church of England and Church in Wales will be banned from conducting wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples, but other religious organisations will be allowed to conduct gay weddings if they wish. (BBC)
A gunman opens fire in the Clackamas Town Center mall in the U.S. state of Oregon. Three people, including the suspected shooter, are killed and another is injured. (CNN)
McKeeva Bush, the Premier of the Cayman Islands, is arrested for fraud and importation of explosives as part of a corruption investigation. (BBC)
Michigan's state government passes right to work legislation, making Michigan the 24th state and the most highly unionized state in the US to have such laws. Thousands of union employees protest outside the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. (CNN)
PopeBenedict XVI sends his first Twitter message with an assist using his personal account (Pope Benedict XVI on Twitter). (BBC) (The Guardian) (The New York Times) (The Australian)
Music project spearheaded by Joe Hawley, Miracle Musical, releases its first album "Hawaii Part II" including 11 songs
Business and economy
Ben Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve announces explicit ties between Fed policy on interest rates and economic goals, especially unemployment. (Reuters)
Sir Desmond de Silva's report into the 1989 murder of Northern Ireland solicitor Pat Finucane is published, detailing "shocking state collusion" but, it says, absence of an "overarching conspiracy". (BBC) (RTÉ)
The Finucane family renew their call for a public inquiry and describe the report as a "sham" and a "whitewash", "a report into which we have had no input." Finucane's wife says, "The British government has engineered a suppression of the truth behind the murder of my husband." (The Guardian) (Irish Independent)
Speaking in the House of Commons, UK prime minister David Cameron says he is "deeply sorry" over British involvement in Finucane's murder but opposes a public inquiry into the killing. (Irish Independent)
Ecuador's National Court of Justice issues an international arrest warrant for former PresidentJamil Mahuad on embezzlement charges and orders that all of his assets in Ecuador be seized. (AAP via News Limited)
Politics and elections
Irish politician Joan Collins names crime journalist Paul Williams and sports star Ronan O'Gara under Dáil privilege as being among those to benefit from having their penalty points for traffic offences cancelled by the Garda Síochána. Justice Minister Alan Shatter calls Collins's action a "total disgrace" and she is reported to a Leinster House watchdog called the Dáil Committee on Procedure and Privileges. (Irish Independent) (Irish Independent)
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov confirms his country is working on mobilization plans to evacuate its citizens from Syria. In the statement, the Foreign Ministry acknowledges for the first time that the rebels might win as the Syrian government is losing control of more and more territory. (Reuters)
At least 16 people are killed and 25 others injured after a car bomb strikes the city of Qatana, 25 km southwest of the capital Damascus. The attack follows a similar blast in front of the Interior Ministry building a day earlier that killed at least five. (Reuters)
Ireland's Labour Party chairman Colm Keaveney votes against the Social Welfare Bill, part of Ireland's latest austerity budget. As a result he is expelled from the parliamentary party, which is part of the governing coalition. (RTÉ) (Irish Independent)
TropicalCyclone Evan makes landfall near the Samoan capital Apia causing at least two deaths and the declaration of a state of disaster. (ABC Australia via Yahoo!) (AFP via SBS)
The death toll in the Philippines from Typhoon Bopha rises over 900 with hundreds still unaccounted for. (AAP via News Limited)
Millions of assets belonging to the former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak are located, including Marbella beach properties and luxury cars. (Al Jazeera)
A worker at the chief clerk's office (making reference to a will) at the Hugo Black U.S. Federal Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama shoots himself in the head. (CNN)
The Bangladeshi Opposition calls a general strike over restoration of a caretaker administration with reports of explosions and clashes between police and protesters in the capital Dhaka. (AP via Washington Post)
The British government pays £2.23 million to the family of Sami al-Saadi, who with his wife and young children, was abducted with the help of MI-6, forced onto a plane and secretly flown to Tripoli, where he was tortured for years by the security police of the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
A shooting at Sandy HookElementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, leaves 28 people dead, including 20 children, 6 teachers, the shooter, and his mother. (BBC) (Reuters) (CNN) (WABC) (The Boston Channel) (The Wall Street Journal) (The Washington Post)
A 36-year-old man identified as Min Yingjun attacks an elderly woman with her own knife at her home, then stabs 22 children outside the nearby Chenpeng Village Primary School in Xinyang, Guangshan County, Henan, China. The attack on the children occurred as they were arriving for classes, and most of the victims are thought to be 6–11 years old. (Xinhua) (CBC News) (Sky News) (The Indian Express)
Two incidents of shootings happened in the U.S. state of Alabama. A 38-year-old man opens fire at a hospital in Birmingham, wounding a police officer and two employees before he is fatally shot by police. In another unrelated incident, a man suspected of the fatal shooting of three people in a mobile home in Cleburne County, is shot to death near Birmingham by police after brandishing an AK-47. (CBC)
A man stood in the parking lot of the Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach, California, and fired 50 gunshots in the air, inducing a mass of panic from the shoppers and employees. No one was hit by the bullets, but one person was injured while trying to flee. A 42-year-old man was arrested for the shooting, and additional ammunition was found in his car. (CNN)
Cyclone Evan bears down on Fiji, disrupting international flights after leaving at least 4 people dead in Samoa with 8 others missing. (AAP via SBS News) (AFP via Yahoo News)[permanent dead link]
Philippine authorities announce the death toll from Typhoon Bopha has reached 1,020. Another 844 are still missing, most of them fishermen lost on boats out at sea. More than two weeks after the passage of the storm, nearly 27,000 people remain in emergency shelters. (AFP via Yahoo News)
Two police officers are fatally shot outside a supermarket in Topeka, Kansas, United States. A 22-year-old man wanted in connection with crime, David Edward Tiscareno, is at large. (Reuters via Yahoo!)
A 22-year-old physiotherapy intern is beaten, gang-raped, and tortured in a private bus in South West Delhi, India. (The Hindu)
Counting continues in the first round of the Egyptian constitutional referendum with unofficial results indicating majority support so far. (Ahram Online)
Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, leads thousands of officials in a memorial service for his father Kim Jong-il, the former leader, who died on 17 December 2011. (AAP via News Limited)
Scientists report Chinese deep-space probeChang'e 2 successfully took a series of images of the asteroid4179 Toutatis during flyby on 13 December. (The Planetary Society) (NBC News) (Xinhua) (The Guardian Express)
Rebel forces take over the YarmoukPalestinian refugee camp in Damascus, where at least 25 were killed by airstrikes the day before. Syrian troops and tanks, as well as a number of PFLP-GC fighters, gather outside the northern edge of the area. (Reuters)[permanent dead link]
Cyclone Evan hits Fiji with winds as high as 230 km/h, amid reports of flooding and structural damage at resorts and private homes. More than 8,000 people spend the storm in emergency shelters, including many foreign tourists. (Reuters) (AAP via SBS)
At least 18 people drown after an overloaded boat sinks north of Benin's commercial capital Cotonou. (Reuters)
At least 4 people are killed and 8 others injured as a gas explosion ripped through a residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Xinhua)
International relations
The Parliament of Libya orders the closure of Libya's southern borders with Chad, Sudan, Algeria and Niger while declaring seven southern regions restricted military areas to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and goods. (BBC)
Both chambers will go to a bicameral conference immediately to consolidate the two bills. (Rappler)
Voters in the Indian state of Gujarat go to the polls for a state election. (BBC)
The upper house of the Indian parliament Rajya Sabha passes a bill providing reservations for Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes in government job promotions. (The Economic Times)
NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft crash into a mile-high cliff near the Lunar North Pole to close out a successful mission to map the Moon's gravity field with unprecedented precision. (Reuters)
The Large Hadron Collider completes the first proton run and stops today for renovation until 2015. (CERN) (Science Daily)
NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and his production team are freed after 5 days of captivity in northern Syria. They were captured by what Engel claims were members of the shabiha, a plainclothes militia loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Rebel forces at a checkpoint freed the men after a firefight that killed 2 of the captors. (NBC News)
A coalition of rebel groups called Séléka take over the Central African Republic mining town of Bria, killing at least 15 government soldiers. The group is spearheaded by UFDR forces and has already taken five towns in its two-week offensive, which it claims is because of a lack of progress after a peace deal ended the 2004–2007 Bush War. Following an appeal for help from President]] François Bozizé, the President of ChadIdriss Déby sends 20 vehicles of heavily armed troops to help quell the rebellion. (ABC News) (AFP) (Reuters)
Gunmen kill six health workers engaged in a poliovaccination drive in Pakistan, highlighting resistance to a program opposed by the Taliban. (AFP via SBS)
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom attends a Cabinet meeting for the first time to receive a gift in honour of her Diamond Jubilee, including having an area of the British Antarctic Territory named for her. It is believed to be the first time that a British monarch has attended a Cabinet meeting in peace-time since Queen Victoria's reign. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Sky News)
Incumbent President of South Africa Jacob Zuma wins a landslide victory in the African National Congress leadership contest opening the way for likely reelection in 2014. (Sky News Australia)
The President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, has a stroke with his condition reported as stable. (NBC News)
Two people are injured in two blasts outside al-Amin mosque in the Somali-dominated Eastleigh district of Nairobi during the evening rush hour. (Al Jazeera)
Banking giant UBS is fined $1.5 billion for attempting to manipulate the Libor interbank lending rate, becoming the second international bank, after Barclays, to be fined over the Libor scandal. (Al Jazeera)
Following the Magnitsky bill, the U.S. sanctions designed to punish Russia for its rights record, Russia is to ban Americans from adopting their children. (Al Jazeera)
Law and crime
The gang rape of a woman on a bus in India leads to nationwide outrage; three of the four accused confess in court. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)
The Pollard report into practices at the BBC is published, and finds there was a “complete inability” to deal with the Jimmy Savile crisis. (The Independent)
Despite being criticised, the BBC Director of News Helen Boaden will return to her post in the wake of the report's publication, but her Deputy, Stephen Mitchell resigns. Peter Rippon is moved aside from his Newsnight post, with the programme having a new senior editorial team. Controller of BBC Radio Five Live Adrian Van Klaveren also resigns. (The Independent) (Radio Today)
The South Korean electoral commission declares Park Geun-hye the winner of the presidential election with 84% of the votes counted and will become South Korea's first female president. Moon Jae-in has conceded. (Yonhap) (BBC)
Julian Assange issues a statement to supporters from a balcony of London's Ecuadorean embassy, in which he refers to the U.S.Pentagon's recent description of the existence of WikiLeaks as an "ongoing crime" and suggests it is the intention of WikiLeaks to release a million more documents in 2013. (BBC)
Dozens of Michigan schools close early for holidays, sending home 80,000 students, due to rumors related to the Mayan doomsday and the Connecticut shooting. (Detroit News) (NY Times)
A U.S. soldier who urinated on the corpse of a dead Afghan combatant is sentenced to 30 days in jail after admitting his action at a court martial. Reports suggest he will not be sent to jail because of a plea deal reached with military prosecutors. (BBC)
Laos denies knowledge as to the fate of missing activist Sombath Somphone, who disappeared last week in the capital Vientiane. (AFP via Google News)
A severe cold spell kills at least 83 people in Ukraine. Across Russia, the deep freeze killed at least 45 people over the last week. (BBC) (NBC News)
Five people are killed and one injured in Zeebrugge, Belgium, when a bus rolled off into the water. (Deredactie.be)
International relations
A British court rejects an attempt by the son of a man killed in U.S. drone strike in Pakistan to force the UK government to reveal if it provided intelligence to assist US action. (BBC)
After detailed study of the Sutter's Mill meteorite found in California on 22 April 2012, scientists report it contains some of the oldest material in the Solar System. (Science News) (Nature) (Business Insider)
The NHL announces the cancellation of the 2012–13 regular-season schedule through 14 January due to the 2012 NHL lockout bringing the total to 625 games, more than 50 percent of the entire schedule. (USA Today) (ESPN) (NHL)
Further details emerge on the suicide yesterday of Irish government minister Shane McEntee; he breakfasted with his family, took his dogs for a walk and was later found dead. Friends blame the pressure he was put under by his party to vote in favour of the country's latest austeritybudget. (The Irish Times) (Irish Independent)
The Seleka rebel coalition takes over Bambari, the country's third largest town, after a string of similar successes in recent weeks. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
The governments of Chile and Argentina issue volcanic activity alerts in areas close to the Copahuevolcano after it started spewing ash. (BBC) (AFP via Google) (Al Jazeera)
A plane en route from Winnipeg to Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, crashes with nine people aboard, killing a six-month-old child. (CBC News) (The Globe and Mail)
Egypt's main opposition demands an investigation into the referendum on the Draft constitution, citing "fraud and violations" in the voting. (BBC) (AP)
Chelsea miss numerous chances, including a penalty, though still manage an 8–0 Premier League victory over Aston Villa, the team's worst defeat in their 138-year history. (The Guardian) (ESPN) (The Daily Telegraph)
A NATO adviser is shot dead by a woman in police uniform in Kabul, and at least five Afghan policemen are killed by another officer in northern Afghanistan. (BBC)
SpaceX releases video of the latest test of their Grasshopper rocket with vertical takeoff and vertical landing, where it rose 40 meters (131 feet), hovered and landed safely on the pad on 17 December. (Universe Today) (Daily Breeze) (Wacotrib.com) (Today Online)
Oleksandr Yaroslavsky resigns as president of Metalist Kharkiv and transfer the obligations regarding its financing to another investor. (Ukrainian News)
Six AQAP militants and two Yemeni soldiers are killed after clashes near a damaged oil pipeline in Ma'rib Governorate. Separately, gunmen target military officials and the home of the transport minister in the capital Sana'a, killing a brigadier general and injuring four others. (Reuters)
The Seleka rebel coalition captures Kaga-Bandoro, the fourth major city to fall since the return to hostilities on December 10. Meanwhile, President François Bozizé meets with military advisors in the capital Bangui. (France 24)
Two young brothers and a woman are killed motor car accident on the northbound carriageway of the M6 motorway in Staffordshire, England. (BBC) (The Guardian)
At least eight people have died and thousands been left homeless in the Philippines after two fires struck Manila on Christmas Day. A fire has sparked violent clashes between residents and firefighters. (SkyNews) (AFP/Reuters via ABC Australia) (BBC)
A man rams his car into a group of schoolchildren in Hebei, China, with at least 13 casualties reported. (BBC) (South China Morning Post) (RTHK) (The New York Times)
Israel greenlights the fast-track development of another 1,200 housing units around Jerusalem, including East 1. This week's total now stands at 5,500, the largest in some time. (The Guardian) (The Jerusalem Post)
A suicide bomber kills himself and three Afghans (a guard and two civilians) outside the perimeter of Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, the scene of an earlier attack in December 2009. (AP via MSN)
Arts and culture
The death is announced of Irish poet, essayist, critic and editor Dennis O'Driscoll at the age of 58. (RTÉ News)
CBB International, a financial analytics concern, releases a survey of executives indicating that China's retail sector is growing, leading a broader upswing in that nation's economy. (Reuters)
A total of nine unidentified individuals are shot to death in Sinaloa state, Mexico. (Rantburg)
Politics and election
Japan's new Prime MinisterShinzō Abe unveils his cabinet line-up as he begins the task of economic revitalisation. (BBC) (AP)
Former South AfricanPresident and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, 94, in still-fragile health, is released from the hospital in Pretoria, South Africa to receive continuing at-home care. He had had his longest period of hospitalization (more than 2 weeks) there since his 1990 release from prison, as the result of a gallstone removal operation and a lung infection. (MSN)[permanent dead link]
Former U.S. President, 88-year-old George H. W. Bush, still receiving visitors, remains hospitalized (since 23 November) at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, where he resides during the winter, with a receding bronchitis-like cough but with a now-rising and long-lasting fever, and has been put in intensive care on a liquids-only diet for unspecified reasons. (AP via Huffington Post)
Hawaii's DemocraticGovernorNeil Abercrombie appoints Lieutenant GovernorBrian Schatz (a former state legislator and nonprofit group executive) to fill the term of the recently-deceased longtime DemocraticU.S.SenatorDaniel Inouye until 2014, when a special election will be called to fill the slot until 2016. His was one of three names known to have been submitted by the state party's central committee, along with an unnamed person and U.S.DemocratColleen Hanabusa, whom Inouye had stated as his preferred successor hours before his death. (CNN)
In Pakistan, at least 22 paramilitary policemen are reported to have been kidnapped by militants. (BBC)
Business and economy
Toyota Motor Corporation, moving to put years of legal problems behind it, has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle dozens of lawsuits relating to sudden acceleration. (AP via The Washington Post) (Los Angeles Times)
Private investigator Paul Huebl claims Whitney Houston was killed by drug dealers in February 2012 after clocking up a $1.5 million debt. (The Sun) (RT) (Radar Online)
Catholic figurehead Seán Brady's intervention in Ireland's abortiondebate draws harsh criticism from legislators and more calls for the Church to transfer the rest of the compensation it promised for those abused by priests, but has not yet paid. (Irish Independent)
A bus has veers off a mountain road and plunges into a river near Dasarathpur village in western Nepal, killing at least 13 people and leaving 19 others critically injured. (AP via The Washington Post)
South Sudan’s ambassador to Moscow says the UN helicopter with Russian crew that was downed in South Sudan last week was probably mistaken for one of the Sudanese aircraft. (RIA Novosti)
The LCC report that up to 400 people have been killed across Syria on Saturday, including about 200 reported executed by the Syrian Army in the Deir Ballba neighborhood of Homs. (CNN)
France’s Constitutional Council strikes down the government’s plan to impose a 75 percent marginal income tax rate on the wealthy. (The New York Times) (The Guardian) (BBC)
GuatemalanCongresswomanCatarina Castor dies in the crash of a private plane in the northwestern Guatemalan province of Quiché, which also killed the pilot and injured the Governor Quiché Department, Heber Cabrera. (Fox News)
A tour bus crashes off Interstate 84 in northeastern Oregon in the United States, leaving 9 of its passengers dead and 26 injured. (AP via ABC News)
Law and crime
Mexican marines kill 4 gunmen who tried to steal the body of Angel Enrique Uscanga, a drug boss, in Gulf coast state of Veracruz. (Fox News) (AP via The Guardian)
Tribune Co., the publishing and broadcasting giant that declared bankruptcy in December 2008, emerges from that status with new controlling shareholders including Oaktree Capital and JPMorgan Chase. (Thomson Reuters)
The U.S. will miss the midnight deadline and head over the "fiscal cliff", after the House of Representatives announces it will not vote on the deal on Monday night. (BBC) (Reuters)
