Portal:Current events/December 2010

• Two villagers and 10 Naxalites are killed in firing between a group of criminals and Maoists in Munger, India. (PTI)

• Two walls collapse at the ancient Roman city of Pompeii during heavy rains, the third such incident in a month. (BBC) (Adnkronos)

• Russia’s Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftogaz Ukrainy have agreed to set up two joint ventures, the Russian company said after a meeting between its CEO Alexei Miller and Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yuri Boiko. (ITAR)

• 21 people are killed and several states declare a state of emergency after torrential rains in Venezuela. (El Universal) (AP)
• At the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Google unveils an initiative using Google Earth allowing users to view the effects of deforestation, impacts and videos on global warming and climate change. (Voice of America) (Reuters) (The Huffington Post)

• Kazakhstan hosts its first OSCE summit in a decade. (AFP) (euronews)
• South Korea states that it will hold more military exercises with the United States following the conclusion of a naval exercise in the Yellow Sea, despite threats from North Korea. (BBC)
• Israel reveals plans to build 625 more homes in the Palestinian territories, close to East Jerusalem. (Reuters)

• Japanese police arrest a leading mob figure, Tadashi Irie, third-in-command of the Yamaguchi-gumi. (UPI)
• Iran executes Shahla Jahed by hanging eight years after she was sentenced to death for murdering the wife of footballer Nasser Mohammadkhani, her husband under a temporary marriage. (BBC)
• A US army medic receives 9 months in jail after pleading guilty to shooting two unarmed Afghan farmers for "no apparent reason". (Reuters)

• The opposition Muslim Brotherhood and Wafd parties withdraw from the Egyptian parliamentary election, after the ruling National Democratic Party wins 97% of the seats in the first round last weekend. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)
• The results of the Afghan parliamentary election are finally announced. (New York Times)
• Rob Ford becomes mayor of Toronto. (Toronto Sun) (CBC)

• The Football Association will investigate crowd violence at an English League Cup quarter-final fixture between Birmingham City FC and local rivals Aston Villa FC. (The Telegraph)

• About 8,000 African Union troops from Burundi and Uganda are deployed to the Somali capital Mogadishu, the scene of heavy fighting this week. (Reuters)
• Representatives of the Philippines government and the National Democratic Front resume peace talks in Hong Kong. (BBC) (RTHK)
• A joint investigation by the United Kingdom and the United States finds that aid worker Linda Norgrove was killed by a grenade thrown by an American soldier during an operation to rescue her. (BBC)
• One of 12 American soldiers admits acting on orders and shooting unarmed Afghan farmers. He is sentenced to nine months imprisonment and demotion, but allowed to stay in the military. (Al Jazeera)
• At least 4 people are killed during an attack on an Abidjan office belonging to Côte d'Ivoire opposition leader Alassane Ouattara. (BBC)

• 1 million free books are to be made available in the UK and Ireland on 5 March 2011; some booksellers object due to falling sales. (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph)

• Norway investigates whether Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus diverted millions of dollars of aid money from the Grameen Bank but expresses certainty that nothing criminal has occurred. (BBC)

• Thousands of New Zealanders gather at the Omoto racecourse to commemorate the victims of the Pike River Mine disaster. (BBC)
• More than 55,000 animals are being culled after a breakout of foot-and-mouth disease at pig farms in South Korea. (Al Jazeera)
• UK and Irish snow
  • Heavy snowfall in the United Kingdom disrupting travel, with Gatwick Airport remaining closed. (The Telegraph)
  • In Ireland court cases are affected, Dublin Airport is closed and traffic is disrupted across the country due to the poor weather. (RTÉ) (BBC) (The Irish Times) (TV3)
• Dublin's main thoroughfare O'Connell Street is shut following an explosion from a gas leak. (The Irish Times)
• At least 40 people are killed during a forest fire near Haifa in Israel. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• United States diplomatic cables leak:
  • Amazon.com cuts off its access to the WikiLeaks website following "heavy political pressure" applied by Joe Lieberman, a senator in the United States. The move is compared to the censorship of Google by China. (The Guardian) (AFP via France24)
  • The United States thinks President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa was involved in a massacre of Tamils according to a leaked cable. (Al Jazeera)
  • The Irish foreign ministry objected to America's sending of Apache helicopters to Israel via Ireland during the Israel-Lebanon war in February 2006 without informing local authorities but Irish officials were warned that the U.S. would use facilities elsewhere, depriving the Irish economy of tens of millions of dollars. (Al Jazeera)
  • Specialists in espionage law say U.S. authorities would encounter "insurmountable legal hurdles" during any attempt to prosecute Julian Assange, even if he were to appear in the country. (Reuters via National Post)
• WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange calls for the resignation of Hillary Clinton "if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering U.S. diplomatic figures to engage in espionage in the United Nations, in violation of the international covenants to which the U.S. has signed up". (TIME)
• Julian Assange grants an interview to TIME in which he talks about secrecy, saying "we keep secret the identity of our sources" but that secrecy "shouldn't be used to cover up abuses". (TIME)
• Iran completes the fueling of its nuclear reactor at Bushehr. (RIA Novosti) (Tehran Times)

• Dick Cheney faces charges in Nigeria over $180 million dollars in bribes a subsidiary of Halliburton, of which Cheney was chief executive, paid to Nigerian officials. (BBC)
• Police in Iran make several arrests of suspects in relation to an attack on two nuclear physicists that it claims are connected to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, Mossad from Israel, and MI6 in the United Kingdom. (CNN)
• Former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian enters prison on being convicted of corruption charges. (Taipei Times)

• Ivory Coasts' election commission in Côte d'Ivoire declares Alassane Ouattara the winner of the Ivorian presidential election but the Constitutional Council declares the announcement invalid as it missed the deadline to announce the results. (Al Jazeera), (CNN)
• Vanuatu Prime Minister Edward Natapei is ousted in a vote of no confidence while traveling en route to Cancun, Mexico. Sato Kilman becomes Prime Minister. (BBC News)
• All Russian state media is to be put up for sale by the government. (The Guardian)
• The United States House of Representatives votes to censure New York Democratic Party member Charlie Rangel. (New York Times)

• 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids:
  • The results of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids are announced. (Al Jazeera)
  • Russia wins the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. (The Sofia Echo) (RIA Novosti) (The Daily Telegraph)
  • Qatar wins the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. (The Sofia Echo) (Al Jazeera)

• Two Lebanese labourers are injured after the Israeli army detonates two of its espionage devices by remote control in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. (AFP via Google News) (Daily Star - Lebanon)
• Attacks against WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and The Guardian website:
  • As "massive" cyberwarfare against the WikiLeaks website continue, the website is forced to change its web address after EveryDNS kills its domain due to the disruption caused to its other customers by the attacks. United States authorities are accused of carrying out the cyber attacks against the website. (The Guardian) (BBC)
  • Spokesperson Julian Assange calls for Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper's former chief of staff Tom Flanagan to be charged with "incitement to commit murder" after Flanagan urged Barack Obama to "put out a contract" and "assassinate" Assange. Assange speaks of the precautions he has to take against such threats of death, with American politician Mike Huckabee also calling for executions to be carried out. (Toronto Star) (Al Jazeera)
  • Julian Assange gives a live question and answer session on the website of The Guardian newspaper. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
  • The Guardian's web servers are "crippled" as the session is going live. (The Wall Street Journal)
  • The French Government places political pressure on its internet use governing body, warning of "consequences" for anyone assisting WikiLeaks in the country. OVH responds, saying "it's not up to politicians or OVH to decide the site's closure" and seeks legal advice from a judge. (The Guardian) (AFP via France24)
  • A court in Lahore dismisses a petition seeking a ban on the WikiLeaks website, with the judge ruling such a ban to be "unmaintainable" and that "We must bear the truth, no matter how harmful it is". (DAWN)
  • U.S. Congressman Ron Paul of Texas calls for WikiLeaks to receive similar protections to mainstream media, saying when "truth becomes treason, then we're in big trouble". (CBS News)
• President Barack Obama makes a surprise visit to United States armed forces based in Afghanistan. (Reuters)

• Ai Weiwei is prevented from travelling to South Korea by Chinese authorities and is warned his trip could "threaten national security", with imprisoned Liu Xiaobo due to receive the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize next week. (BBC)
• Italy poises itself to return to the Eurovision Song Contest after 13 years. Eurovision Song Contest 2011 is scheduled for May in Düsseldorf. (BBC)

• Spain closes four airports saying there is a shortage of air traffic controllers who are concerned about their pay and working conditions. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• The Spanish government holds an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss plans to raise the pension age and to sell off its stakes in the lottery and airports. (Al Jazeera)
• Nissan starts selling the Leaf, one of the first mass market electric cars. (AP via Yahoo! News)

• 1984 Bhopal disaster: The Indian government launches a court case to more than double the compensation paid by U.S. chemical corporation Union Carbide on the anniversary of the leak from a Madhya Pradesh plant that killed thousands of people. (BBC)
• The United Nations warns that the Haitian cholera epidemic could get worse. (BBC)
• Up to 28 people die in northern and eastern Europe as a result of a cold spell with thousands stranded due to road and rail disruptions and airport closures. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• At least 17 mainly Iranian people are killed in a collision of two buses on a highway near the holy site of Najaf, Iraq. (Al Jazeera)
• Heavy floods in the Balkans forces more than a thousand people to evacuate from their homes. (BBC)
• A Queensland man is missing presumed dead in floodwaters in Bajool while parts of central New South Wales are declared disaster zones after a week of heavy rains in eastern Australia. (ABC News Australia)

• United States diplomatic cables leak:
  • Newly released cables reveal United States worries about Afghan President Hamid Karzai's character and corruption in Afghanistan, with one U.S. diplomat describing Karzai as "insecure" and a "paranoid and weak individual". (Al Jazeera)
  • Newly released cables reveal U.S. spy planes flew over Lebanese airspace via a British air base in Cyprus in 2008. (Reuters)
• South Korea's defence minister-designate Kim Kwan-jin threatens North Korea with air strikes if the shelling of Yeonpyeong is repeated. The shelling was in response to South Korean naval exercises. (BBC)

• The Supreme Court of Guinea confirms Alpha Condé as winner of November's presidential poll following a state of emergency and fraud allegations made by ex-president Cellou Dalein Diallo. (Al Jazeera)
• Incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo is ruled as the election winner in the Côte d'Ivoire after the constitutional court overturns provisional results which favoured opposition candidate, former prime minister Alassane Ouattara. (Al Jazeera)
• Politics in the United Kingdom:
  • Former British Labour MP Phil Woolas loses his appeal to overturn an election court ruling that stripped him of his Parliamentary seat, thus triggering a by-election in his constituency. (BBC)
  • Former Labour MP David Chaytor pleads guilty to three charges relating to expenses claims during his time in office. (BBC)

• The Boeing X-37B, a United States Air Force unmanned spaceplane, lands autonomously at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at 1:16am PST (0916 UTC) after 7 1/2 months in space. (AP via MyWay) (Space.com)

• There are mass celebrations on the streets of Doha, Qatar, following FIFA's announcement that the country of 1,696,563 people is to present the 2022 FIFA World Cup. (Al Jazeera)

• Dozens of Easter Islanders are injured in conflict over ownership as riot police evict islanders from their ancestral home. (Al Jazeera)

• The Spanish government imposes emergency measures unused since the end of military rule in 1975, threatening workers seeking better pay and working conditions with prosecution if they do not return to work. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Xinhua)

• Authorities in Ecuador order the evacuation of people from the slopes of the Tungurahua volcano after it begins spewing ash. (BBC) (AFP via Google News)
• An aircraft crashes at Domodedovo airport in Moscow after undergoing multiple engine failure, with at least 2 deaths and 80 injuries. (RIA Novosti) (The Guardian) (The Hindu) (Xinhua) (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
• 10 Chinese sailors are missing and 14 others are rescued after the cargo ship MV Hong Wei founders off the southeast coast of China. (CNN)
• Israeli police say negligence caused a large forest fire burning out of control in the north of the country that killed at least 40 people. (CBC)

• United States diplomatic cables leak:
  • Reporters Without Borders condemns "the blocking, cyber-attacks and political pressure" against the WikiLeaks website, describing it as the first "attempt at the international community level to censor a website dedicated to the principle of transparency" and comparing the behaviour of France and the United States to that of China. American payment service provider PayPal cuts off the account the WikiLeaks website uses to collect donations. (Al Jazeera)
  • Wikileaks Facebook's fan page recently grew by about 100,000 fans daily, going from 300,000 to 700,000 fans in 4 days.(Beehivecity.com)
  • Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi flies to Sochi for unscheduled talks with Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin. This occurs hours after the release of U.S. cables focusing on the pair's relationship. (The Age)
  • New cables say Yemen allowed the United States access to its soil. (Al Jazeera)
  • New cables discuss "paranoia" concerning the UK's alleged "special relationship" with the United States. (BBC)
  • New cables allege that the Communist Party of China was paranoid about the Internet with Li Changchun, the party's propaganda chief, stepping up pressure on Google after finding material critical of him in a search. The same source also claims that CCP is active in hacking against its rivals, especially the United States. (The New York Times)
• President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas speaks of the possibility of dissolving the Authority if Israel continues its construction on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, saying there is little point remaining "the president of an authority that doesn't exist". (Al Jazeera)
• The Iranian government says the International Atomic Energy Agency spies on its nuclear program and reiterates its belief that the CIA, Mossad and MI6 murdered Majid Shahriari earlier this week. (BBC)

• A proposed law in South Korea is to ban online gaming after midnight for young people amid concerns over Internet addiction. (Times of India)
• The China Academy of Telecommunication Research tells China Daily that China should merge identity management systems, currently run by different ministries, in order to fight online fraud and hacking. (People's Daily)
• Three people are arrested in China's Guangdong Province in relation to a $90 million gold heist, the biggest in Hong Kong history. (Radio Australia)

• Ivorian political crisis:
  • A swearing-in ceremony for Laurent Gbagbo takes place in Côte d'Ivoire, although world leaders and the election commission back Alassane Ouattara as winner of the presidential election. (BBC) (The Times of India) (AP via Yahoo! News)
  • Côte d'Ivoire experiences a major political crisis. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• FIFA executive committee member Franz Beckenbauer says Qatar ought to be allowed to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first in the Middle East and in an Arab country, during winter in an unusual move. The event is usually held during summer months. (Al Jazeera)

• Attacks against WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and his lawyers:
  • The WikiLeaks website is forced offline again. (OneIndia News)
  • Lawyers representing WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange speak of being surveilled by members of the security services outside their own homes and say the United States Department of State is behaving "inappropriately" in its failure to respect attorney-client protocol. (The Guardian)
  • Bank officials attempt to shut down an account opened by Assange in Switzerland. (The Times of India)
  • Political science students at one American university are warned that their possibility of receiving state department jobs is under threat if they access the WikiLeaks website. (The Guardian)
  • Newly released cables quote President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy's belief that American and NATO forces are destined to ultimately fail in the War in Afghanistan and that European troops are deployed there only in "deference" to the United States - "And if a Belgian gets killed, it would be over for Belgium right then". (Al Jazeera)
• A blast at an army base in eastern Afghanistan kills at least two soldiers and two civilians. (rferl)
• The Nigerian military acknowledges that raids to root out armed gangs in the Niger Delta may have killed civilians. (CNN) (AFP)
• Over 100 people are killed in battles throughout Somalia between Islamist rebels and African Union forces over the past three days. (Press TV)

• Festivities are held for the 83rd birthday of King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej, the longest reigning monarch in the world. (Al Jazeera)
• An unpublished poem by Philip Larkin is found. (BBC)
• Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer wins six prizes at the European Film Awards in Estonia, with the director appearing from Paris via Skype. (BBC)
• 20-year-old Nicole Faria from Bangalore, Miss India, wins the Miss Earth 2010 crown in Vinpearl Land, Nha Trang, Vietnam. (Tuoitre) (OneIndia)

• The International Labour Organisation asks Gulf states to reform labour laws related to millions of foreign workers and urges the introduction of a minimum wage. (Al Jazeera)

• At least 174 people are dead and 1.5 million homeless following floods in Colombia. (ABC)
• 22 people are killed in a prairie fire in Daofu County, Sichuan, China. (China Daily)
• At least 6 people are killed and 36 wounded after an explosion in the city of Kaili, Guizhou province, China. (BBC) (IOL) (China Daily)
• 8 people are killed after a car collides with a group of cyclists in Italy. (BBC)
• Hundreds of people evacuate the Australian town of Wagga Wagga as flood waters rise throughout New South Wales. (AAP via The Australian)
• 7 people are rescued after becoming stranded for 8 days in a pub in England. (BBC)
• Israeli and Palestinian firefighters say they have brought the 2010 Israel forest fire "under control". (Al Jazeera)
• The corpse of a partially eaten 70-year-old female German tourist washes up on Sharm el-Sheikh, believed to have been killed by sharks in the fifth attack this week. (Al Jazeera)

• Brazil recognizes the State of Palestine based on borders at the time of Israel's 1967 conquest of the West Bank. (Al Jazeera) (Haaretz)
• United States diplomatic cables leak:
  • Newly released cables show the United States lobbied Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, causing Rolls-Royce to lose an important contract. (BBC)

• Hundreds of people march in Hong Kong to demand the release of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo ahead of the Nobel Prize ceremony on Friday. (RTHK) (IOL South Africa) (Sify India)
• Former South African President Thabo Mbeki begins mediation efforts in the Ivory Coast following the disputed presidential election. (France 24) (Times Live South Africa) (Al Jazeera)
• Egypt holds parliamentary runoff elections following alleged electoral fraud in last week's first round. (Al Jazeera) (Associated Press)
• Thousands of supporters of the Opposition Social Democratic Union of Macedonia protest against the government in Skopje and demand early elections. (Al-Jazeera)

• Three Russian satellites fail to achieve orbit after launch from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome; experts suggest they probably crashed into the Pacific Ocean. (BBC) (RIA Novosti)

• Serbia wins the 2010 Davis Cup, beating France, after Viktor Troicki beats Michaël Llodra in the decisive match, the first time Serbia has won the cup. (BBC) (Daily Mail)
• Mayor of London Boris Johnson withdraws his offer to FIFA executives, including Sepp Blatter, of free accommodation in London's exclusive Dorchester Hotel during the 2012 Summer Olympics in the city, as the fallout from the failed England 2018 FIFA World Cup bid continues. (BBC News) (Daily Mail)
• UEFA Champions League debutants Tottenham Hotspur become the first ever club to score more than two goals in all group stage matches. They are also the only competition debutants through to the last 16.

• Somali pirates hijack a Bangladeshi cargo ship off the coast of India. (BBC) (Straits Times) (Capital FM Kenya)
• The Washington Post reports that an FBI informant so frightened Muslim worshippers by referring to violent jihad while spying on an Islamic community centre in Irvine, California, that they reported him to the authorities. The FBI spy, a convicted fraudster, sues the FBI. (Washington Post)

• Egypt calls in international shark experts following recent attacks, one fatal, on tourists in Sharm el-Sheikh in the past week. (The Guardian)
• Israeli firefighters douse the Mount Carmel forest fire which killed at least 41 people in the north of the country. (CNN)
• Officials in Haiti say more than 2,000 people have died in the cholera outbreak. (USA Today)

• Iran meets with six world powers in Geneva for talks concerning its nuclear program. (BBC)
• United States diplomatic cables leak:
  • Newly released cables from the United States indicate former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd suggested the use of force against China if it could not be "successfully integrated" into the international community. The Australian government refuses to respond to the release. (ABC News)
  • A newly released cable from Hillary Clinton accuses rich people in Saudi Arabia of being "the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide" and that "it has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority". (The Independent)
  • Newly released cables reveal American distrust both of Qatar and the country's Al Jazeera international news network, prompting Al Jazeera to release a statement saying that it has resisted pressure from both regional and international governments and "has never changed its bold editorial policies which remain guided by the principles of a free press". (Al Jazeera) (The Independent)
  • The cables also reveal that foreign envoys to China from India, Japan, the EU and some African countries complained about the country's "aggressive" nature and that it was "losing friends worldwide". (Indian Express)
• Senior officials from Turkey and Israel meet in Geneva to resolve their differences following the Gaza flotilla raid in May. (BBC)

• A French court finds Continental Airlines criminally responsible for the crash of Air France Flight 4590 in July 2000. (France 24)

• The President of the United States Barack Obama says that a deal has been reached with the Republican Party to extend the Bush era tax cuts. (BBC)

• One child is killed and 20 people are injured in a bomb blast at a temple in Varanasi, northern India. (Hindustan Times) (Reuters)

• A copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America is sold at auction in London for a record £7.3 million ($10.3 million). (AP via Yahoo! News) (AFP via The Straits Times) (The Guardian) (The Independent)

• Irish financial crisis:
  • Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, Jnr hands down the hardest budget in the country's history. (AP via Yahoo) (The Guardian) (The Irish Times) (BBC)
  • Ahead of the budget a man drives a small crane laden with demonstrative slogans to the gates of Leinster House and broadcasts Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" to witnesses. He is arrested, charged with dangerous driving and the slogans are torn down by authorities. (RTÉ) (Evening Herald) (Newstalk)
  • Noisy but peaceful protesters gather outside Dáil Éireann and Government Buildings. (The Irish Times)
  • The budget overcomes its first hurdle. (The Irish Times) (Al Jazeera)
  • Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm is questioned under oath in Boston. (The Irish Times)
• U.S. authorities expand their investigation into insider trading among hedge funds and their service providers. John Kinnucan, an independent researcher for hedge funds, told Reuters that he expects the Federal Bureau of Investigation will at some point arrest him, "That's just how they operate." (Reuters)

• French epidemiologist Renaud Piarroux, working on behalf of the French and Haitian governments, points to "strong evidence" linking United Nations peacekeepers to Haiti's cholera outbreak. (Al Jazeera) (The Straits Times)
• More than 76,000 people are left marooned following floods in Sri Lanka. (Xinhua)
• A state of emergency is declared after a landslide in Colombia, with 37 corpses retrieved so far. (The Straits Times)
• Hundreds of people are stranded in the United Kingdom as a cold spell continues. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• Severe weather also continues in Ireland with water shortages in parts and public anger over incorrect weather forecasts. (Evening Herald) (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)

• Côte d'Ivoire is expelled from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). (Al Jazeera)
• 19 countries are to miss the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo; 44 are to attend. China described supporters of Liu as "clowns". (CBC) (MSN India) (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• War on WikiLeaks and arrest of Julian Assange:
  • The U.S. government "declares war" on the WikiLeaks website. (CBS News)
  • Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is arrested in London for alleged sexual misconduct in Sweden. (BBC) (Reuters)
  • The WikiLeaks website continues to release cables despite the arrest of Assange. (The Guardian)
  • District Judge Howard Riddle refuses to grant bail to Assange despite interventions from Jemima Khan, Ken Loach and John Pilger before a packed court No 1 at Westminster Magistrates Court. Another hearing is scheduled for 14 December. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
  • U.S. senator Joe Lieberman tells Fox News that The New York Times and other news organisations may be investigated. (The Guardian)
  • The website of the Swedish prosecutor's office pursuing Assange is brought down by the Anonymous group. (The Straits Times)
• A U.S. judge dismisses a lawsuit over the U.S. government putting American citizens on "capture or kill" lists. (BBC)

• Results from the parliamentary election in Egypt indicate the ruling National Democratic Party has won 80% of seats. (Al Jazeera)
• The Haitian presidential election will go to the second round run-off between former first lady Mirlande Manigat and Jude Celestin from the governing Unity Party. (Reuters)
• Attorney, author, and activist Elizabeth Edwards dies of cancer. (ABC News)

• Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev instructs scientists to find methods of age reversal. (CBS News)

• Clashes between rival clans in northern Somalia kill around 35 people and injure 40 others. (Press TV)
• North Korea launches apparent artillery drills as South Korean and American military officials hold talks. (Al Jazeera)
• At least 18 people are killed during a bomb at a bus terminal in Kohat's main bazaar kills in Pakistan. (Al Jazeera) (CNN)

• John Lennon is celebrated on the 30th anniversary of his murder. (BBC)
• The retired French electrician who recently revealed he had hundreds of Picassos in his possession announces another trove of his art is also in his possession. (AFP via ABC News)
• Soul singer Aretha Franklin is reported to have pancreatic cancer. (Reuters via ABC News)

• The Panama Canal is shut to traffic due to heavy rain, the first time it has been shut since the United States invaded in 1989. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (CNN)
• 30 corpses have now been retrieved from the recent massive landslide in Colombia. (Al Jazeera)
• 83 prisoners die as a fire breaks out in a prison in Santiago, Chile. (The Guardian) (The Straits Times)
• 26 people are confirmed dead after a gas explosion at a coal mine in Henan Province in central China. (Al Jazeera) (CNN) (China Daily)
• At least 10 people are killed in crash involving two trains in eastern Bangladesh. (Al Jazeera) (BD News 24)
• 20 per cent of flights at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport are cancelled due to extreme weather. (The Straits Times)
• The Eiffel Tower is closed due to snow. (BBC)

• United States diplomatic cables leak:
  • Newly released cables report that the British government feared Libya might reduce political relations if Abdelbaset al-Megrahi were to die in jail in Scotland. (AP via Herald Sun)
  • Newly released cables reveal America lobbied Russia in an attempt to ensure Visa and MasterCard were not "adversely affected" by new legislation earlier this year. Both companies recently suspended all payments to the WikiLeaks website, reportedly after coming under intense pressure from the U.S. government. (The Guardian)
  • Online group Anonymous announces the success of Operation Payback, bringing the website of American multinational corporation MasterCard into a state of paralysis after it shuts off donations to the WikiLeaks website. (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
  • Former Australian prime minister and current foreign minister Kevin Rudd questions U.S. security and holds America responsible for documents made public by the WikiLeaks website. These comments by Rudd, a "control freak" according to U.S. diplomats, are a departure from current prime minister Julia Gillard, who has previously blamed Julian Assange. (The Daily Telegraph)
  • An open letter is sent to Gillard requesting that she make a"strong statement" supporting Assange: signatories include renowned American scholar Noam Chomsky, Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown, army whistleblower Lance Collins and numerous Australian authors including Raimond Gaita, Christos Tsiolkas and Helen Garner. (Herald Sun)
  • The Washington Post reports that the WikiLeaks website is stronger than ever and has increased support among netizens despite widespread attempts to shut it down. (The Washington Post)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict:
  • Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says Middle East peace talks are in crisis following Israel's refusal to stop building in settlements. (BBC)
  • Following increasing demands from the international community Israel's security cabinet approves a two-phase move it says will allow exports from the Gaza Strip, though construction materials are to remain banned. (The Guardian)
• Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf warns former rebel fighters not to get involved in the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire. (BBC)

• Former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney is charged over a bribery scheme involving oil services company Halliburton by Nigeria's anti-corruption agency. The charges relate to when he was the company's top executive. (Al Jazeera) (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Around 1,000 protesters block a key road in Moscow, Russia, following the killing of a fellow football fan blamed on a group from the North Caucasus. (The Moscow News) (BBC)
• Tony Blair is recalled to give further evidence before the Iraq Inquiry after "gaps" concerning the legality of the Iraq War are identified in his evidence. Jack Straw and Lord Goldsmith are to return too. (Irish Examiner) (Daily Mail)
• The International Criminal Court is to begin a preliminary investigation into war crimes by North Korea. (Herald Sun) (Yonhap)
• India's Central Bureau of Investigation raids the homes of former telecommunications minister A. Raja, his family and associates in connection with a corruption scandal. (The Hindu) (BBC)

• Haiti election protests:
  • Thousands of Haitians riot in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti to protest the exclusion of Michel Martelly from the second round of voting in the Haitian presidential election. (CNN)
  • 4 people are declared dead. (AFP via ABC News)

• SpaceX Dragon — COTS Demo Flight 1
  • SpaceX launched the first working Dragon spacecraft on a test flight at 10:43am EST (15:43 UTC) from Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (CNN.com), (Al-Jazeera)
  • The spacecraft splashed down after two orbits 500 miles (800 km) west of Baja California at 2:03pm EST (19:03 UTC), becoming the first commercially-developed spacecraft to return to Earth after being launched into orbit. (Spaceflight Now)(CNN.com)
• The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency says its probe Akatsuki has failed to enter the orbit around Venus. (Japan Today) (BBC)
• A cheetah is captured roaming the streets in the emirate of Sharjah. (The Straits Times)
• A rare sighting of a meteor fireball is seen over large parts of the United Kingdom. (BBC)
• A joint team of British and US astronomers announce the discovery of Wasp 12b, a planet (1200 light years away) with an ultra-high concentration of carbon, and the first of its type. (BBC)
• Reproduction scientists in University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center create mice with nuclear DNA solely from two fathers, using iPStechnology. (Medical Daily)

• Dame Helen Mirren, speaking as she received an award in Beverly Hills, USA, criticises the intentions of Hollywood filmmakers who "worship at the altar of the 18- to 25-year-old male and his penis". (BBC) (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph)
• Governor of the U.S. state of Florida Charlie Crist posthumously pardons Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors, for indecent exposure. (BBC)
• An hour-long live episode of Coronation Street is broadcast on the soap opera's 50th anniversary. (Daily Mail) (The Guardian) (BBC)

• Calisto Tanzi, the founder and former chief executive of multinational food corporation Parmalat, is sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for fraud. (BBC), (Dow Jones via the Australian)
• Long-term unemployment sharply rises in Ireland. (RTÉ) (The Belfast Telegraph)

• A stretch of beach in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, re-opens after a series of shark attacks. (AP)
• Floods across South America: Panama experiences its heaviest ever rains, with the Panama Canal shut for the first time due to weather. Millions of people are affected across the region, and there are deaths, including in Colombia and Venezuela. (Al Jazeera)
• Residents are ordered to evacuate from the Australian city of Queanbeyan with Steve Whan, the New South Wales Minister for Emergency Services, declaring it a natural disaster area due to flooding. (ABC News)

• The African Union suspends Côte d'Ivoire following the disputed presidential election. (African Press Agency) (BBC)
• India is to complain to the United States after its ambassador, Meera Shankar, was pulled from a security line and patted down at an airport. (Indian Express) (BBC)
• United States diplomatic cables leak:
  • Thousands of WikiLeaks supporters launch further and more intense denial-of-service attack against companies who have blacklisted the website. (PA via Google News) (Al Jazeera) (The Daily Telegraph) (The Guardian)
  • Newly released cables report that oil giant Royal Dutch Shell had "access to everything" inside "all relevant ministries" of the Nigerian government. (Al Jazeera) (The Hindu) (IOL) (Brisbane Times) (The Daily Telegraph)
  • Newly released cables reveal close U.S. monitoring of Chinese ties with Africa and the American belief that the Chinese are "a very aggressive and pernicious economic competitor with no morals" in their dealings with the Africans. (Al Jazeera) (AFP via iafrica) (BBC) (Times LIVE)
  • Australia – United States relations:
    • Australian Sports Minister Mark Arbib is named as a confidential source for the U.S. embassy, passing on information on the Australian Government. Melbourne Ports MP Michael Danby and former MP Bob McMullan have also contacted the embassy. (Herald Sun) (The Age) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
    • Arbib warned the United States about a possible challenge to Kevin Rudd's prime ministership as early as last year. (ABC News)
    • U.S. diplomats are reported to have observed in detail the rise of Julia Gillard, praising her for losing Labor Left allegiances and expressing the confident belief she would become Prime Minister of Australia over 8 months before she deposed Kevin Rudd. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
    • Gillard hardens her stance against the WikiLeaks website. (The Australian)
  • World media reaction to the diplomatic cables:
    • European media express disagreement with the fierce U.S. response to the release of the cables. (The New York Times)
    • The Pakistani media publish fake WikiLeaks cables which attack India. (The Guardian)
• 2010 Nobel Peace Prize:
  • China blocks access to international news sites ahead of the ceremony for Liu Xiaobo on Friday. (BBC)
  • China issues its new "Confucius peace prize" to former Taiwanese Vice President Lien Chan, though he refused to collect it, adding he knew nothing of the award. (Malaysia Star) (Taipei Times) (Hindustan Times)
  • Colombia, Ukraine and the Philippines, who initially declined invitations to attend the ceremony, reverse their decision. (Times of India) (Colombia Reports)
• A report by Transparency International suggests that corruption has worsened over the past three years worldwide. (Transparency International) (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Deutsche Welle)

• Detention of Julian Assange:
  • It is reported that the two Swedish women who have accused WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange of committing "sex crimes" boasted about their "conquest" of him before calling police. (The Times of India)
  • People brandishing Julian Assange masks gather in central Brisbane, Australia, to protest his detention by British police, with a message of support being read from journalist John Pilger. (Nine News)
  • Assange's mother and son express concerns that he will not be afforded a fair trial. His mother says he had "come forward of his own free will but they have put him in the ring with his hands tied behind his back". (Daily Nation)
• A national high-tech crime team in The Hague arrests a 16-year-old male they accuse of disrupting MasterCard and PayPal websites. Both companies previously cut off donations to the WikiLeaks website. (Financial Times) (AP via Toronto Star) (Herald Sun)
• U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announces that his country's justice department is "looking into" incidents which have disrupted websites opposed to WikiLeaks. (Bloomberg)

• After popular demonstrations Haiti orders an immediate recount of the disputed result of its presidential election. (BBC)
• Crowds gather in the South Sudan capital Juba to mark one month until the referendum on independence. (AFP)
• Protests in London:
  • Thousands of British students demonstrate as MPs vote to triple university tuition fees. (The Guardian) (Channel 4) (Al Jazeera)
  • Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes vows to "definitely abstain" and possibly even oppose the government, while MP Mike Crockart quits. (Sky News)
  • A siege is underway at the Houses of Parliament ahead of the vote. (The Hindu) (BBC)
  • The coalition government passes legislation to raise the cap on university tuition fees to £9,000 with a majority of 21. (BBC)
  • As it makes its way towards the London Palladium for a performance a car in which Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall are contained is reportedly attacked. (The Northern Echo) (BBC)

• South Korea reports its first two cases of the superbug New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase. (CTV) (Xinhua)

• Somali pirates hijack a Liberian ship 80 nautical miles east of the border between Tanzania and Mozambique, in their most southerly attack yet. (CNN)
• At least 15 people are killed and several dozen others sustain wounds during a suicide attack at a Shia hospital in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (Al Jazeera)
• Thai soldiers killed people at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok during demonstrations in May, leaked government documents demonstrate. (The Guardian)
• 2010 UK student protests:
  • Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron criticises the "mob" which launched an attack upon the car of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall as the couple were driven down Regent Street towards a Royal Variety performance in London last night. Protesters indicate the use of police brutality. (The Guardian) (CNN)
  • 20-year-old Alfie Meadows undergoes brain surgery after being beaten by a policeman wielding a truncheon while leaving an area outside Westminster Abbey as a demonstration against an increase in student fees was underway. (The Guardian) (Sky News) (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (Daily Mail)
  • A British mother questions why anti-terrorist officers removed her 12-year-old son from school to warn him against his own planned protest outside David Cameron's constituency office. (The Guardian)
• An English exam questioning Indian crackdown on demonstrations in the disputed region of Kashmir leads to police arresting a college lecturer. (AP via The Guardian)

• An auction of Picasso paintings is postponed in Paris. (BBC)
• Traces of cocaine "likely" triggered the death of Gerry Ryan in April. (BBC) (RTÉ) (The Irish Times)

• The United States "loses track" of 119,000 private planes, with uncertainty over who has access to them. (Al Jazeera) (The Hindu) (CNN)
• A new archive of the genocide in Rwanda is unveiled in the capital Kigali. (Rwanda News Agency) (BBC)

• A group of 26 ex-EU leaders has urged the union to impose sanctions on Israel for continuing to build settlements on occupied Palestinian territory. (BBC) (EUobserver) (The Guardian)
• A ceremony is held in Norway to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in absentia. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• United States diplomatic cables leak: (Day 12 summary: The Guardian)
  • Newly released cables show American pharmaceutical company Pfizer hired investigators in a search for evidence of corruption allegedly committed by Michael Aondoakaa, then attorney-general of Nigeria. This occurred as Aondoakaa was engaged in legal action against Pfizer over a drug trial. (Al Jazeera)
  • Newly released cables suggest Burma may be building missile and nuclear sites with the help of North Korea. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
  • It is reported that the U.S. military has issued a "Cyber Control Order" instructing its airmen to "immediately cease use of removable media on all systems, servers, and stand alone machines residing on SIPRNET". (CBS News)
  • The U.S. state of Virginia is reported to be Googling "WikiLeaks" more than any part of the country. (The Huffington Post)
  • Attacks against companies opposed to WikiLeaks:
    • The websites of the Dutch prosecutor's office and police come under denial-of-service attacks, with officials "probably" linking the incidents to yesterday's arrest in the country of a 16-year-old supporter of the WikiLeaks website. (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
    • Supporters of the WikiLeaks website explain that they are not hackers but "average internet citizens" acting in response to perceived injustices against the website and that they "do not want to steal your personal information or credit card numbers". (BBC)
• For the first time since World War II, German troops are stationed in France. (Yahoo! News)

• Detention of Julian Assange:
  • Christine Assange, mother of the imprisoned WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange, expresses her anger with the Australian government, especially Julia Gillard, on the Seven Network. (Sky News)
  • Assange is reported to have been denied the use of his own laptop and has to make do with daytime television which he objects to. (Sify)
  • Lawyers for Assange prepare for possible charges under America's Espionage Act. (The Guardian) (The Daily Telegraph)
• Prosecutors in Italy open an investigation into allegations that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi bought MPs before important votes. (The Guardian)
• Prosecutors in Croatia issue an arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on suspected corruption charges. He is then arrested. (Al Jazeera) (AP) (Sify India)
• Human rights campaigners object to a TV programme showing imprisoned Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani returning home. (The Guardian)

• Demonstrations in favour of the WikiLeaks website and its spokesperson Julian Assange are held across Australia. The Australian government is accused of opposing freedom of speech. (Al Jazeera) (Xinhua) (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• The Congress of the Republic of Peru applauds the Peruvian 2010 Nobel Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. (Living in Peru)
• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is to seek a second term, according to aide Arkady Dvorkovich. (BBC) (RIA Novosti) (China Daily)
• A school in Dublin threatens to expel a student who led a protest march against education cuts outlined by the Irish government. (Evening Herald)

• Association football team FC Barcelona ends its 111-year history of refusing commercial shirt sponsorship as it signs a record £125 million deal with the Qatar Foundation. (BBC Sport) (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)
• At least 250 people are injured due to a fence collapse at a game between Al-Wahdat and Al-Faisaly. (Al Jazeera)

• Leftist New People's Army rebels capture a village official and tribal chieftain during an attack on a militia outpost in Davao City, southern Philippines. (Xinhua)
• Nazario Moreno González, the leader of the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel, is killed in a shootout with police in Michoacán, Mexico. (Reuters)
• At least two car bombs explode in Stockholm, Sweden, killing at least one person and injuring two more. (BBC)

• Inflation in China reaches a 28-month high, at 5.1%. (China Daily) (BBC)
• Bolivia lowers its retirement age from 65 to 58 as other countries raise their retirement ages. (Al Jazeera)

• A house fire in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, kills five children. (Xinhua) (Sify India)
• Due to recent floods in Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez announces the erection in his garden of a Bedouin tent given as a gift by Muammar al-Gaddafi from which he is to live and govern to make room for more homeless families in his presidential palace at Miraflores. 25 families made homeless by the disaster had already sought shelter there and Chávez has been personally supervising the provision of relief in the country. (BBC)
• Eight fatal cases of A/H1N1 swine flu and two from seasonal flu are confirmed within six weeks in the United Kingdom. (AFP) (Daily Mail)

• Delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancún, Mexico, agree to a compromise on slowing climate change, though overall failing to reach a "deal that many activists and governments want." (BBC)
• U.S. attorney-general Eric Holder tells a Muslim community group near San Francisco that FBI sting operations are "an essential law enforcement tool". (Al Jazeera)
• U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke is hospitalised in a critically ill state in Washington, D.C., after gasping at a meeting with Hillary Clinton. (BBC) (The Hindu)
• United States diplomatic cables leak:
  • Newly released cables show the Vatican's refusal to co-operate with the Murphy Report child sexual abuse inquiry in Ireland which "offended many" of them when they were summoned to Ireland from Rome. (The Guardian) (The Irish Times) (Al Jazeera) (RTÉ)
  • Newly released cables indicate the British ambassador to the Vatican was afraid after Pope Benedict XVI approved conversions to Catholicism of Anglicans who opposed the ordination of women priests. Francis Campbell thought it so inflammatory as to cause discrimination and violence against British Catholics. (The Guardian) (BBC)
  • A large group of hacktivists plans to bring down British government websites if the extradition of WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange to Sweden is carried out. (TODAYonline)

• Hundreds of Spartak Moscow fans and Russian nationalists clash with riot police in central Moscow over the death of a football fan earlier this week. (BBC) (RIA Novosti)
• Detention of Julian Assange:
  • WikiLeaks spokesperson Julian Assange is moved to the segregation unit of London's Wandsworth Prison "for his own safety, presumably", says his lawyer. (AFP via The Age)
  • A lawyer in Melbourne who formerly bossed Prime Minister Julia Gillard criticises her and Attorney-General Robert McClelland for their comments that the WikiLeaks website and arrested spokesperson Julian Assange have broken the law. Having known both as "good lawyers and decent people", Peter Gordon of Slater and Gordon says such comments are a reminder of "the seductive and compulsive draw of power". (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  • Assange's lawyer says any espionage-related prosecution of the WikiLeaks website in the United States would be "unconstitutional and call into question First Amendment protections for all media organisations". (AFP via The Age)
  • Protests calling for Assange's release occur across Spain. (BBC) (The New Zealand Herald)
• Mark Madoff, the 46-year-old son of convicted American fraudster Bernard Madoff is located hanging dead at an apartment in the New York City borough of Manhattan. (Sky News) (Al Jazeera)

• Thousands of people in eastern Russia protest against proposed changes to the country's time zones. (RIA Novosti) (CNN)
• Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo is to seek talks with rival presidential candidate Alassane Ouattara to end the crisis in the country. The head of the Economic Community of West African States James Victor Gbeho rejects the idea of power-sharing talks. (Al Jazeera) (CNN)
• The ruling Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement in Southern Sudan formally confirms that it will support secession from Sudan in a January 2011 independence referendum. (AFP) (Reuters)
• Political parties in Kosovo cease campaigning ahead of the first parliamentary elections since independence from Serbia was declared in 2008. (Al Jazeera)
• Scottish Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson resigns following severe criticism of his handling of the travel chaos caused in Scotland by recent extreme winter weather conditions. (BBC)

• Authorities investigate what went wrong at a football game between Al-Wahdat and Al-Faisaly when 250 people received injuries. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• In American football, Auburn University quarterback Cam Newton wins the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the best college football player of the year. (CNN)
• A crowd of 113,411, the largest in ice hockey history, packs Michigan Stadium for a game between the University of Michigan and cross-state rival Michigan State University. (AP)
• Finland wins the 2010 World Floorball Championship.

• A suicide bomber in the Iraqi city of Ramadi in western Anbar province kills several people. (Al Jazeera)

• A large storm hits the Eastern Mediterranean region, resulting in deaths in several countries. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• A heavy blizzard in the midwestern US states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan dropping about three feet of snow results in two deaths, road closures, flight cancellations and the inflatable roof of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapsing. (USA Today), (AP via Courier-Journal)

• Newly released cables from Australian intelligence show the intelligence assessment that charges of sodomy laid against Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim are due to a "set up job" that he "walked into". Others refer to Malaysia as a "confused and dangerous" state, Thai politicians as corrupt and Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn as "very erratic and easily subject to influence", and Japan as a "big fat loser". (The Sydney Morning Herald)

• Julian Assange's lawyer says American spying charges against her client are "imminent" despite seeming to have committed no crime in the country. She also reports that he is detained in solitary confinement with restricted access to lawyers. (The Times of India)

• Incumbent Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo accuses foreign envoys of seeking to turn the military against him. (AFP)
• Hundreds of people participate in two separate rallies in Moscow, Russia, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and protesting constitutional abuses, and the second demanding greater rights for ethnic Russians. (PA) (RIA Novosti)
• A parliamentary election takes place in Kosovo, with exit polls indicating that Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi has won the vote. (BBC) (Reuters)
• One person is killed in clashes between demonstrating garment workers demanding higher pay, and police in Bangladesh. (CBC) (BD News 24)
• Keith Brown is appointed as Scottish Transport Minister following yesterday's resignation of Stewart Stevenson. (BBC)
• Thousands of people protest in Cairo over the outcome of the recent Egyptian parliamentary elections. (ABC News)

• A Liberian owned cargo vessel with 24 Filipino crew is seized by Somali pirates 550 nautical miles from the coast of India. (Xinhua)

• A 2,400-year-old pot of soup is unearthed in China near the ancient capital Xi'an. (BBC) (People's Daily)

• Brunei and Malaysia sign a deal to jointly explore and produce oil and gas off the coast of northern Borneo. (Malaysia Star)
• Major British supermarkets and online stores stop taking orders in Scotland in the run up to Christmas, because of a backlog of deliveries caused by the recent adverse weather conditions. (BBC)

• A South Korean deep sea trawler sinks in the Southern Ocean two thousand kilometres south of New Zealand with at least five people dead and seventeen missing. (BBC) (Yonhap) (CNN)
• Heavy rains and flooding in Colombia cause up to $5.2 billion in damages. (Reuters Alertnet)

• Woman's arson kills 9 in gambling grievances in east China's Zhejiang Province. (Kunming via Xinhua)
• New Israeli bill would prevent a terror suspect from meeting a specific lawyer for 6 months instead of 21 days as is the case today. The maximum period of time in which a terror suspect can be denied access to a specific lawyer will be one year. (Arutz Sheva)
• A sword-wielding teenager takes up to half a dozen children and a teacher hostage at a nursery in Besançon, eastern France. He is later arrested. (France 24) (BBC)
• Kuwait closes the offices of Al Jazeera, following coverage of a crackdown at an opposition rally. (Straits Times)
• Mark Weston, the first person to face a second murder trial in the United Kingdom following the discovery of new forensic evidence is convicted of killing a woman in 1995. (BBC)
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Judge Henry E. Hudson rules against Barack Obama's health care reform requirement to purchase health insurance. (BBC)
• An American Catholic nun pleads not guilty to charges of embezzling $850,000 from Iona College. (CBS)

• Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat asks the European Union to recognize “two states (Israel and Palestine) along the 1967 borders". (Bloomberg)
• Europe reaffirms its readiness to recognise a Palestinian state at an "appropriate" time, stopping short of outright recognition despite mounting pressure to break the Middle East impasse. (AFP)
• Minni Minnawi, the only Darfur faction leader to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement with the Sudanese government, declares its failure and leaves his post. (Al Jazeera)
• The Philippine parliament blocks a government effort to provide free condoms to poor people, amid a debate over funding for family planning. (Straits Times)
• Protests by garment workers in Bangladesh over low wages spread to other areas of the country. (AFP)
• OpenLeaks, a splinter group rivaling WikiLeaks, launches its website. (CNN)

• Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court unanimously rules the reappointment of Sir Paulias Matane as Governor-General of Papua New Guinea unconstitutional due to the lack of a secret ballot. Matane steps down from his position and Jeffrey Nape becomes acting Governor-General. (Radio Australia)
• Hashim Thaçi, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, claims victory in the Kosovan parliamentary election. (The Telegraph)
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismisses Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki for unknown reasons. He is replaced by Ali Akbar Salehi in an acting capacity. (BBC) (Sify India) (Press TV)
• U.S. senator Bernie Sanders gives an 8.5 hour senate speech denouncing the extension of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, citing the very large inequality in income and wealth and its growth, and that America is close to being a Banana republic. (Democracy Now!)

• A new species of fork-marked lemur has been identified in northeast Madagascar. (BBC News)

• In American football, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre is sidelined for the Vikings' game against the New York Giants due to an injury to his right (throwing) shoulder. This ends his National Football League record of consecutive regular-season starts, which had run since 1992, at 297. (ESPN)

• The Philippine government says it will attempt to end the long-running communist insurgency "within three years", as it announces a resumption of peace talks with rebels. (Straits Times)

• Receivers of the Pike River Mine on the South Island of New Zealand lay off 114 workers following the closure of the mine after the Pike River Mine disaster. (News Limited)
• Ireland's parliament approved a controversial budget package at the behest of the International Monetary Fund, aimed at shoring up Ireland's banks while getting the country's budget deficit within European Union limits. (CNBC)

• At least 20 people are killed in a garment factory fire near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. (Al Jazeera) (Times of India)

Tornado in Aumsville, Oregon

• Japan protests a visit by First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Igor Shuvalov, to the disputed Kunashiri and Etorofu islands. (Japan Times) (Xinhua)
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees urges Cambodia to allow more time to resettle Vietnamese refugees after it announced the closure of a refugee camp. (Straits Times)
• Foreign ministers from the European Union say they would recognise a Palestinian state "when appropriate". (BBC)

• Former Nepalese Crown Prince Paras is detained for attempted murder after allegedly firing a gun during a drunken row in a restaurant. (Himalayan Times) (Sify India) (BBC)
• The Supreme Court of the Philippines acquits Hubert Webb and six others of the controversial Vizconde massacre by a vote 7–4 with four justices abstaining. (ABS-CBN News)
• During a school board meeting in Panama City, Florida, Clay Allen Duke drew a gun and shot six Bay District School board members, missing all shots. He later commits suicide after being shot by a security guard. (CNN)

• Julian Assange is to be released on bail of £240,000 GBP. (BBC)
• At least 30 Sudanese women are arrested after holding a protest march over a video that allegedly shows a policeman whipping a woman. (BBC), (Reuters)
• The Russian government is to continue plans to build a controversial motorway through the Khimki Forest. (BBC) (RIA Novosti)
• Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announces plans to pass laws by decree for the next six to eighteen months, amid concern from the opposition. (Al Jazeera)
• Michael Somare steps down as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea for an upcoming leadership tribunal. Deputy Prime Minister Sam Abal becomes Prime Minister during the trial. (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Italian politics
  • The Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi narrowly survives (314 to 311) a no-confidence vote in the parliament moved by Gianfranco Fini. A formal complaint about Mr Berlusconi allegedly trying to buy votes is being investigated. (The Guardian), (BBC)
  • Violent protests occur in Rome following the vote. (BBC)
• General Hwang Eui-don, the chief of the South Korean Army, resigns. (Yonhap) (BBC)
• Supporters of Ivory Coast presidential aspirant Alassane Ouattara conduct a mass protest over the results of the recent presidential election. (Reuters Via Alert Net)

• Communist rebels in the Philippines kill 10 soldiers as they returned to base to observe a Christmas truce. (Straits Times)
• Dozens of people are dead following an explosion outside a mosque in the Iranian city of Chabahar. (Alertnet) (Al Jazeera) (Press TV)

• The mummified remains of the head of King Henri IV of France have been discovered in the garage of a French retiree. (Time)
• Cuba unveils its own version of Wikipedia. (The Guardian)
• Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is TIME's 2010 Person of the Year. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange wins top place in the reader's poll. (Time) (CS Monitor)

• Lehman Brothers bondholders, including hedge fund manager Paulson & Co., file a plan for the reorganization of that defunct broker-dealer, presenting the New York bankruptcy court with an alternative to the plan Lehman itself filed earlier in the year. (Reuters)
• Ghana is to begin pumping its first oil since a discovery in an offshore field three years ago. (Ghana Broadcasting Corporation) (Times LIVE)

• At least twenty-seven asylum seekers, mostly from Iraq and Iran, are feared dead after a boat carrying 70 people crashes into cliffs on the coast of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. (AAP via NineMSN), (ABC News), (AFP via Melbourne Age), (BBC)
• A bus plunges into a reservoir in the Indian state of Karnataka resulting in the death of 27 people. (BBC)
• An aircraft goes missing in Nepal with 22 people on-board. (BBC) (The Himalayan Times)
• Four children are seriously injured in a mine explosion in Battambang Province, northwestern Cambodia. (Xinhua)
• Two Air Force pilots are killed after their twin-seat trainer aircraft crashed during a training mission in Taiwan. (Straits Times) (Focus Taiwan)

• Senegal recalls its ambassador to Iran, saying that Iran had not provided an adequate explanation for an arms shipment seized in Nigeria. (BBC) (Africa News)
• Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao begins a trade visit to India. (BBC) (Times of India) (China Daily)
• The United Nations votes to lift sanctions imposed on Iraq during the Saddam Hussein era. (BBC)
• Palestinian firefighters who helped fight the Carmel fire in Israel last week are refused a permit to enter Israel for a ceremony in their honor. Officials said the firemen were denied entry as result of a "technical mishap". (Ynet)

• 700 people are arrested in Moscow, Russia, in attempt to prevent ethnic clashes over the shooting of a football fan. (RIA Novosti) (BBC)
• The Obama administration launches legal action against BP and its partners to recover the cost of cleaning up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (Reuters)

• The Constitutional Court in Sudan agrees to hear a petition by lawyers for the dissolution of the body organising the referendum on Southern Sudan's independence. (Reuters) (Sudan Tribune)
• An alliance of opposition parties that endorse the presidency of Alassane Ouattara in the Ivory Coast call for mass protests, following the presidential election. (Africa Review) (New York Times)
• Cuba refuses to grant a visa to dissident Guillermo Fariñas so that he could receive the Sakharov Prize in France. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• Credit card companies such as Visa and MasterCard that prevented card-holders from donating money to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks could have their operating licenses taken away in Iceland. A parliament investigation is ongoing. (Rawstory) (Digital Journal)
• The United States House of Representatives votes to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell. (BBC)

• Scientists discover that the black kokanee (Oncorhynchus nerka kawamurae), a Japanese salmon subspecies which scientists had thought had gone extinct in 1940, has still a living population in 2010. (Associated Press)

• An Israeli Air Force F-16 shoots down a balloon that flew near the Dimona Nuclear Reactor after entering Israeli airspace from Jordan. (Ynetnews) (Arutz Sheva)
• Riots in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. (Al Jazeera)
• Fourteen civilians are killed and four others injured when a minibus struck a roadside bomb while traveling to Herat, Afghanistan. (CNN)
• A U.S. missile strike kills seven militants in the Spin Drand area of Khyber, Pakistan. (Washington Times)

• European Union leaders agree to change the constitution to establish a mechanism to tackle sovereign debt problems. (Reuters)
• The International Monetary Fund approves a 22.5bn euro loan to the Republic of Ireland. (BBC)
• The Canadian government approves the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline project led by Imperial Oil, planning to create the pipeline cutting across the Mackenzie Delta carrying shale gas by 2015. (Reuters) (Vancouver Sun)
• Yahoo! announces plans to axe 600 jobs and phase out services such as Delicious. (AP via Buffalo News)

• Six people were killed and a dozen injured when two buses collided in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, China. (Kunming via Xinhua)
• The death toll from the Christmas Island boat wreck rises to 28 as the search for survivors continues. (The Australian)
• Wreckage of a Tara Air de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter that crashed on Wednesday with twenty people aboard is found in Nepal. (BBC), (CNN)
• Flooding in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Gaspé Peninsula eases, after flooding major cities especially along the Saint John River. (CBC) (Globe and Mail) (Calgary Herald)
• One person is killed by Lake effect snow squalls from Lake Huron on Highway 402 in Southwestern Ontario as the Canadian military rescues people trapped under snowdrifts for over a day. (CTV) (Montreal Gazette)

• Governor of the U.S. state of New Mexico Bill Richardson arrives in Pyongyang for talks with North Korean officials concerning the situation on the Korean Peninsula. (Xinhua)

• WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears in the British High Court of Justice to successfully apply for bail on sexual assault charges. (AP via Yahoo! News) (Al Jazeera), (The Telegraph)
• Oklahoma becomes the first U.S. state to carry out an execution with pentobarbital, a lethal injection drug used for euthanizing animals. (BBC) (CNN) (Daily Mail)

• Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and three others are suspended from parliament for six months after allegedly suggesting a government unity policy was inspired by an Israeli initiative. (BBC) (Bernama)
• The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says social discontent among the population has increased. (BBC) (China Daily)
• Police in Bangladesh arrest senior opposition leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury on charges of instigating violence and war crimes. (BBC) (BDNews24)
• Opposition protesters in the Ivory Coast attempt to seize the state television station in central Abidjan, which is surrounded by the army. At least fifteen people have died in clashes. (BBC) (Vibe Ghana) (News24), (AP via NJ)
• The European Court of Human Rights rules that Ireland's ban on abortion in life-threatening cases is illegal. (CBC) (CBS)
• The Scottish Government rules out re-introducing tuition fees for Scottish university students, but students from other parts of the United Kingdom attending university in Scotland may face fees of £6,000. (BBC)
• The government of Northern Ireland announces an inquiry into child abuse inside institutions. (The Guardian)

• The Galongla Tunnel, built at an altitude of 3,750 meters, is completed; it links Tibet's Mêdog county to the outside world. (SINA)

• Maoist rebels abduct seven villagers in the Purulia district of India's West Bengal state. (NDTV)
• American missile attacks kill 57 suspected militants in a region in northwest Pakistan. (Washington Times) (Associated Press) (CNN)

• Suncor and Total SA sign a deal to develop in the Alberta tar sands for bitumen extraction, while a procedure to clean up tailings ponds by multiple companies is approved by an energy watchdog. (Globe and Mail) (Reuters Africa) (Calgary Herald)

• The death toll from the Christmas Island wreck rises to 30 with many still missing. (AP via Yahoo! News)
• Further disruption is caused by blizzards and widespread ice in many parts of the United Kingdom, with more wintry weather forecast for the weekend. (BBC)
• Cuba is hit by a cold wave, and some locations register 50-year record low temperatures. (Cuban News Agency) (Radio Cadena Agramonte)

• Bolivia recognizes the State of Palestine. (Ynetnews)

• The United Kingdom government announces plans to make prisoners serving less than four years eligible to vote. (BBC)

• The Cook Islands announces the country's first ever HIV infection. (ABC Radio Australia)
• China launches 7th Beidou navigation satellite. (Kunming via Xinhua)

• • War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
• Teams of militants assaulted the Afghan army in the north of the country and in the capital, killing at least 16 members of the security forces. (The New York Times) (Xinhua)
• An Israeli air-strike in the Gaza Strip kills five Palestinian militants according to Palestinian sources; Israel says they were attempting to fire missiles into Israel. (BBC)(CNN)(The Jerusalem Post)

• The United States' unemployment rate rises in 21 states, the highest number to report an increase since August. It falls in 15 states. (Washington Times)
• Bank of America bans Wikileaks payments as a result of news of an upcoming release of information on banks in the United States that could leave an impact. (New York Post)

• At least 30 people drown after a boat capsizes in northeastern Bangladesh. (BBC) (Times of India)
• A Chinese fishing boat capsizes during a scuffle with a South Korean coastguard ship, leaving one dead and two missing. (AP) (Channel News Asia)
• Roads, railways and airports across the United Kingdom are severely affected by further heavy snowfall. Severe weather warnings have been issued for many areas. (BBC)

• Ivory Coast crisis:
  • Kenya calls on African nations to oust Ivory Coast incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo from office, by force if necessary, if he does not step down. (Al Jazeera)
  • Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo orders United Nations peacekeepers to leave the country. (BBC)
• South Korean military officials say they will proceed with planned live-fire artillery drills from an island bombarded by North Korea last month, despite threats of retaliation. (VOA) (BBC)
• Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives for a working visit in Pakistan and meets with Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. (The Hindu)
• Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad says that there has been a change in the Palestinian mindset and they "are fully committed to non-violence". (Jerusalem Post)
• A PRC fishing boat collided with a South Korea coastguard ship causing an incident near Eocheong island (Yahoo)

• Nigeria agrees to drop corruption charges against Dick Cheney and Halliburton in exchange for a $250 million settlement. (Business Week)
• Hundreds of people, including nationalists, are arrested in the Russian capital Moscow in an attempt to prevent an outbreak of ethnic violence. (Reuters) (RIA Novosti)
• Around 140 prisoners break out of jail in Nuevo Laredo, northern Mexico. (UPI)
• The United States Senate repeals "Don't Ask Don't Tell" by a vote of 65-35. The bill will now be sent to President Barack Obama to be signed. (New York Times)
• An Italian court grants Amanda Knox a review of the forensic evidence used to convict her of the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher. (BBC)

• The Venezuelan parliament temporarily grants more powers to President Hugo Chávez in the wake of recent flooding, allowing him to pass laws by decree without the support of the National Assembly.(BBC)

• Sri Lanka lifts a ban on a United Nations war crimes panel visiting the country. (The Hindu) (Reuters)
• Two rebel groups in Somalia–al-Shabaab and the Islamic Party–announce plans to merge to try to topple the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government. (Al Jazeera)

• Stars appeared at the red carpet closing ceremony of the 7th Dubai International Film Festival. (Xinhua)

• Hundreds of small investors engage in protest activities in Dhaka following the steepest daily fall in the stock exchange. (BBC) (AFP via The Sydney Morning Herald)
• 60 Minutes, an influential news program, runs a segment with Meredith Whitney a bank analyst credited with a timely bearish call in 2008, in which she predicts hundreds of millions of dollars worth of defaults by U.S. municipalities. (CNBC)

• At least 28 people are killed and dozens more are injured following an explosion on a PEMEX oil pipeline in San Martín Texmelucan, Puebla, Mexico. (BBC)
• 15 people, including 9 nursing students, are killed while 12 others are injured in an blaze that gobbles up two buildings in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan province in northern Philippines. (Xinhua) (Philippine Inquirer) (BBC)
• 8 people are seriously injured when a tour bus carrying a church group lost control, slides off a road and rolls onto its side on an icy highway in the U.S. state of Colorado. (CNN)
• 3 people are killed as blizzards and freezing temperatures hit Italy. (Herald Sun)
• Flights in and out of Heathrow Airport are at a virtual standstill as severe weather conditions continue across the United Kingdom. (BBC)

• The Guatemalan military declares a state of siege in the department of Alta Verapaz to reclaim control of cities controlled by the Los Zetas Mexican drug gang. (AP via The Washington Post)
• Approximately 107 people are charged with possessing offensive child pornography in Austria. (BBC)
• Lawyers for Wikileaks’s founder Julian Assange express anger that incriminating police files regarding Assange’s alleged sexual assault of two Swedish women were published in The Guardian newspaper, which has used him as its source for hundreds of leaked US embassy cables. (The Australian)

• Venezuela once again expresses its disapproval of Larry Palmer, the man who may become the next US ambassador to the country, and says it will arrest and deport him upon arrival due to a months long disagreement following Palmer's comments on the Venezuelan military. (BBC)
• Côte d'Ivoire:
  • The United Nations rejects a demand by incumbent Côte d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo to remove its peacekeepers from the country. (France 24) (Al Jazeera)
  • Navanethem Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights states there is evidence of "massive" violations of human rights with more than 50 people killed in recent days as protests over the Ivorian election continue. (Reuters Alert Net)
  • Hundreds of people are alleged to have been abducted since the election according to the UN. (BBC)
• A United Nations Security Council meeting regarding the situation in the Korean Peninsula ends without agreement. (Reuters)
• Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao addresses a special joint session of Parliament in Islamabad, praising Pakistan for its efforts in combating terrorism. (The New York Times)

• Belarusian presidential election, 2010:
  • Belarus votes.
  • Thousands of opposition protesters encounter riot police at government headquarters in Minsk, while opposition candidate Vladimir Neklyaev is seriously injured. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
  • Three presidential candidates Nikolai Statkevich, Grigoriy Kostusev, Andrei Sannikov and his wife Halib are taken into police custody with thousands of other protesters. (Monsters and Critics), (AFP via Google News)

• Sachin Tendulkar of the Indian cricket team becomes the first player in the history of Test cricket to score 50 centuries in test matches, during a match against South Africa at SuperSport Park in Centurion in Gauteng Province. (IOL)
• Disappointed fans of unsuccessful 2010 FIFA Club World Cup finalists TP Mazembe express their frustration with Chinese businesses, though no one is injured. (BBC News)
• Sir Alex Ferguson becomes the longest serving manager of Manchester United F.C. (BBC Sport)
• Tony McCoy wins 2010 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, with Phil Taylor 2nd and Jessica Ennis 3rd at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. (BBC)
• The Philadelphia Eagles overcome a 4th quarter 21-point deficit to defeat the New York Giants 38-31 after a DeSean Jackson walk-off punt return for a touchdown in the Miracle at the New Meadowlands. (ESPN)

• 7 people are killed in a roadside bomb and shooting incident in the Somali capital Mogadishu. (Reuters)
• A bomb exploded at a downtown bus station in Kenya's capital as passengers boarded a bus, killing at least one person and wounding up to 39 others, police said. Suspicions centered on a Somali militant group. (News 13)
• The Republic of Korea Marine Corps holds live-fire drill exercises on Yeonpyeong Island. North Korea says it will not retaliate. (Yonhap) (BBC) (Xinhua)
• 13 Afghan soldiers were killed in two separate suicide attacks launched by Taliban in the capital city of Afghanistan. (TRT)

• Pope Benedict XVI discusses sexual abuse of children by priests while dining with cardinals and bishops at his traditional Christmas audience. (BBC) (The China Post) (AFP via Philippine Daily Inquirer)

• Social network chief Mark Zuckerberg is photographed meeting CEO of Chinese search engine Baidu Robin Li, in Beijing, China. (Guardian) (Vancouver Sun) (AP via CBS News) (Inquirer via AFP)
• The European Central Bank worries about its ability to provide further financial assistance to eurozone members due to flawed legislation. (BBC)
• Heathrow Airport in London reopens after a weekend of heavy snowfall. (Al Jazeera)
• GM completes $2.1 billion purchase of stock held by U.S. Treasury. (Business Today)

• Estimates of the death toll resulting from the boat disaster off Christmas Island rise as high as 48. (ABC News Australia)
• At least 26 people are killed and several others are injured when a bus carrying tourists from Thailand overturns in Malaysia. (Bernama) (Thai News Agency)
• Three people were killed and 23 wounded in a bomb attack on a bus in central Nairobi, Kenya. (AFP via Sydney Daily Telegraph)
• A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits southeastern Iran, near Bam with at least eleven people dead and hundreds injured. (Herald Sun), (CNN) (Los Angeles Times)

• President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev sets off for India for a two-day official visit to sign trade deals. (BBC)
• North Korea agrees with United States troubleshooter Bill Richardson to permit the return of United Nations nuclear inspectors. (AFP via The Australian)
• Israel orders all of their foreign envoys to thwart Palestinian attempts to draft a UN resolution with the aims of recognition of Palestinian and to pressure Israel to stop settling its citizens within Palestine. (Haaretz)
• Russia warns the U.S. that a renegotiation of the Start treaty may lead to the pact's destruction. (BBC)
• Egypt uncovers an alleged Israeli spy-ring, charging one Egyptian business man and two Israelis with attempting to recruit agents to spy for Israel. (BBC)

• Indonesia jails six people on terrorism charges for involvement with the "Al-Qaeda in Aceh" group. (Jakarta Globe) (The Straits Times)
• David Paterson, Governor of New York, is fined $62,125 for accepting free gifts from a registered lobbyist—the New York Yankees. (Reuters)
• Iranian director Jafar Panahi is sentenced to six years imprisonment for making a film "against the regime." (Time)

• Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko is charged with misusing state funds while serving as Prime Minister. (Ukrainian News Agency) (BBC)
• President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko claims victory in the presidential election with 79% of the vote. Hundreds of people who protested the vote are arrested. (BBC) (CNN)
• Mexican politician Diego Fernandez de Cevallos is released by his kidnappers seven months after being abducted. (BBC)

• 1,200 new species and varieties of sea creatures discovered during the first world survey of marine life are presented at a conference in Jerusalem, Israel. (Israel 21C) (The Jerusalem Post)

• Samuel Eto'o sets a new landmark for individual success in African football after winning Footballer of the Year for the fourth time. (The Irish Times)

• The Palestinian militant group "Army of Islam" fires rockets from Gaza into southern Israel in response to the killing of three of its members by Israel last month, with one rocket landing close to a kindergarten near Ashkelon, injuring a 14-year-old girl; Israeli jets respond with air strikes in the Gaza Strip, injuring at least two Palestinian militants, Palestinian sources say. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)(Arutz Sheva) (The Jerusalem Post)
• North Korea silences its guns to prevent confrontation with South Korea as the South's "reckless" and ""childish play with fire" military drills continue. North Korea also invites International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors into the country. (Al Jazeera)

• Pope Benedict XVI comments on condoms and pedophilia:
  • Survivors of child sexual abuse carried out by priests react with fury after Pope Benedict XVI's claims that pedophilia wasn't considered an "absolute evil" as recently as the 1970s and that society considers child pornography "normal". (Irish Independent)
  • The Vatican claims recent comments by Pope Benedict XVI concerning the use of condoms by male sex workers to reduce HIV infection do not mean the contraceptive devices can be used to fight against pregnancy in females. (BBC)
• Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips and Rugby Union player Mike Tindall. (BBC)

• Toyota agrees to pay the US government $32.4 million over its handling of car recalls in 2010 where over 10 million cars were recalled worldwide, over 14 separate recalls. (BBC)
• BSKYB takeover
  • The European Commission approves News Corporation's bid to take full control of British satellite broadcaster BSkyB. However, the deal will be reviewed by Ofcom before a final decision is made. (BBC)
  • UK Business Secretary Vince Cable is stripped of his powers to rule on the proposal after telling undercover journalists from the Daily Telegraph that he intended to block the deal and had "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt will now have that responsibility. (BBC)

• At least 39 people are killed and hundreds injured in a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in southeastern Iran. (Times of India)

• Top Fatah members aligned with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas asked Israel to attack Hamas ahead of Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, according to a US diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks. (The Jerusalem Post)
• The Turkish government warns US President Barack Obama that a congressional vote on a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide during World War I will severely damage Turkey–United States relations. (Sify) (The Washington Post)
• The Australian government pays damages to Indian doctor Muhamed Haneef whom the country wrongly charged and deported over an unsuccessful 2007 bomb plot in the United Kingdom. (BBC)
• India and Russia sign a range of treaties including on development of a fifth-generation stealth fighter and provision of nuclear reactors from Russia to India. (The Hindu) (BBC) (RIA Novosti)
• Britain sends a Russian diplomat home because of what it claims is "clear evidence of activities by the Russian intelligence services against UK interests". (BBC)

• The Thai Cabinet agrees to lift a state of emergency in the capital Bangkok and three surrounding provinces. (CNN) (Thai News Agency)
• The Venezuelan parliament approves a law tightening rules on internet content. (AFP) (BBC)
• In the United Kingdom Stephen Griffiths (Aka "The Crossbow Cannibal") is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of three women in Bradford, West Yorkshire. (BBC)

• Tuvalu Prime Minister Maatia Toafa is ousted in a vote of no confidence, necessitating nominations for a new Prime Minister. (RNZI)(RNZI)
• Milo Đukanović resigns as Prime Minister of Montenegro. (BBC.com)
• Siale'ataonga Tu'ivakano is elected as the Prime Minister of Tonga. (BBC)
• 2010 United States Census
  • The United States Census Bureau releases the first data from the 2010 Census, revealing the United States to have a population of 308,745,538 on April 1, 2010. (CNN.com)
  • Nevada was once more the fastest growing state, growing 35.1% over 2000. Michigan was the only state to lose population. The District of Columbia broke a five-census streak of population loss. Puerto Rico also lost population. (U.S. Census Bureau)
  • Eight states will gain seats in reapportionment for the 113th United States Congress, with Texas receiving four new seats and Florida receiving two. California fails to gain seats for the first time since 1920. Ten states will lose seats, with New York and Ohio each losing two. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• A total lunar eclipse will take place on December 20/21, 2010. (CNN)
• In the United Kingdom an earthquake of magnitude 3.6 hits Cumbria and surrounding counties. (BBC)

• South Korea announces it is to hold its biggest ever live fire drill near the North Korea border. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• A senior Israeli army officer tells the BBC that another Gaza War is "a question of when, not if" should Hamas continue to control the Gaza Strip. (BBC)

• Pope Benedict XVI announces a BBC Radio 4 Christmas Eve message, the first such message for one of the countries he visited last year. (BBC)

• Thousands of students march peacefully through Rome as part of nationwide demonstrations in Italy prior to a Senate vote which threatens education funds. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
• The World Bank stops financing Côte d'Ivoire. (Al Jazeera)

• A UN Development Programme report concludes that Aceh's recovery from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami is "beyond anything imaginable six years ago" but that more needs to be done concerning poverty and natural disaster impact. (BBC)
• The United States approves more than $4 billion assistance for rescuers and residents whose health was affected after the September 11 attacks in New York City in 2001. (Al Jazeera)
• Ongoing flooding in California kills at least three people. (Hereald Sun) (New York Daily News) (MSNBC)

• The United States House of Representatives decides not to take up a resolution declaring the mass killings of Armenians early last century a genocide, helping the administration to avoid a diplomatic clash with Turkey. (The Washington Post)
• The United States Senate votes to ratify the New START Treaty with the Russia, which halves the number of deployed strategic nuclear missile launchers maintained by each nation. (The Washington Post)
• The United Nations votes in favour of restoring a reference to sexual orientation in a resolution banning the unjustified killing of minority groups. (BBC)
• United States diplomatic cables leak: (The Guardian: Day 24 Summary)
  • New cables show that the British government was involved in the training of the Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion, a paramilitary force widely criticised for human rights violations, including torture and over 1,000 extra-judicial killings since its 2004 inception. (MSNBC) (The Guardian) (Bangladesh News 24 hours)
  • Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, is documented ordering all U.S. ambassadors to pressure their respective nations' media into not being critical of the U.S. aid program in Haiti, days after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. (The Guardian)
  • Documents are released outlining pressure the U.S. used in an attempt to stop Italy from indicting the CIA agents who kidnapped Abu Omar in Milan, then flew him to Egypt to be tortured. The documents show Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi to be on the American side and recorded him "vent[ing] his rage at his own country's judicial system." (Der Spiegel)
  • McDonald's attempted to pressure the U.S. government to stall the implementation of the Dominican Republic – Central America Free Trade Agreement until El Salvador appointed "neutral judges" in a $24million lawsuit against the company in 2006. (The Guardian)
  • U.S. diplomats applied pressure on Bangladesh to allow the London-based Global Coal Management company to reopen a large open-cast coal mine in the Phulbari area that was closed due to violent protests over foreign ownership of Bangladeshi resources succeeded in closing the mine. (The Guardian)
  • Newly released cables reveal that New Zealand threatened Fiji's military chief Frank Bainimarama and his wife. (Stuff)
• The Russian government is "forced to take an adequate corresponding measure" following Britain's expulsion of one of its diplomats. (Al Jazeera)

• Three Tibetan Buddhist monks are unaccounted for after being sentenced to long prison terms by Chinese authorities earlier this year for participating in a peaceful protest march by Drepung monastery monks in 2008. (RFA)
• WikiLeaks:
  • The United Nations office for torture issues in Geneva investigates an abuse complaint concerning United States Army private Bradley Manning, suspected by the United States government of passing classified documents to the WikiLeaks website. (The Hindu) (The Guardian) (AP via Google News) (The Irish Times)
  • Julian Assange discusses the time he spent locked up in Wandsworth Prison in an interview with the El País newspaper. (El País)
  • The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launches WikiLeaks Task Force or WTF, a taskforce intended to examine the impact caused by the released cables. (The Guardian)
  • Mauritius sues the United Kingdom due to prevention of the return of 2,000 residents forced out of the Chagos Islands during a 1960s lease to a U.S. air base. (BBC)
• The European Commission rejects efforts by several ex-Soviet bloc countries for the European Union to legislate against the condoning or denial of totalitarian crimes. (BBC)
• 7 out of 9 presidential candidates, charged with organizing mass disturbances, may receive 15-year sentences in Belarus, according to human rights groups. (Al Jazeera)
• The chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority's civil liberties panel describes as "appalling" and "ghastly" a kettling video and encourages students subjected to this procedure to make official complaints against the British police. (The Guardian)
• Jorge Rafael Videla, the former de facto President of Argentina, is sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of crimes against humanity. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• President of the United States Barack Obama signs into law the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which will bring an end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of discriminating against the presence of openly gay people in the country's military. More than 13,000 people were sacked by the United States under this policy. (BBC)

• The fears of British Liberal Democrat government ministers over policies relating to welfare and tuition fees are secretly recorded by The Daily Telegraph newspaper. (BBC)
• British millionaire Tory MP Zac Goldsmith is not to be reported to police over his election spending allegations but some other concerns are expressed by the Electoral Commission. (BBC)
• Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović resigns, citing a need for new leadership, and his intentions to turn to business. (Xinhua)

• Two eight-year-olds publish a significant peer-reviewed study in the Biology Letters journal of the Royal Society, examining the spatial memory of bumblebees. (Agence Presse-France) (The Hindu) (Los Angeles Times)

• Hundreds of South Korean troops, tanks, helicopters and jet fighters gather 12 miles from the border with North Korea to stage one of South Korea's largest ever live fire military drills in a "show of force" before its neighbour. North Korea describes the exercises as "warmongering", and threatens a "sacred war". (BBC) (CNN) (Al Jazeera)
• The United Nations says 173 people have been killed during post-election violence in the Ivory Coast. (BBC)
• Two parcel bombs explode at the Swiss and Chilean embassies in central Rome, Italy. One person is seriously injured. Officials suspect that the perpetrators are from an Italian anarchist group. (The Australian) (swissinfo.ch) (The Christian Science Monitor)

• A survey indicates that almost one third of Britons believe they have a guardian angel. (The Independent) (Daily Mail) (Press Association via Google News)

• China offers to help eurozone countries through the debt crisis. (BBC)
• Banking giant Santander has admitted that a computer error has resulted in up to 35,000 people receiving other person's transactions details on their bank statement. (BBC)

• At least 20 people are buried by a landslide in the northern Colombian department of Santander. (Colombia Reports) (Xinhua)

• China describes recent criticism of its control on the Catholic Church by the Vatican as "imprudent and ungrounded". (Times of India) (New York Times)
• British MPs express concerns over whether the UK is "getting value for money" from its spending on education aid money in Africa. (BBC)

• A court in Nice fines a male Algerian after convicting him of having insulted the French national flag last Tuesday. It is the first such penalty of its kind. (BBC)

• A man jumps from the balcony of the parliament building in Romania in protest at spending cuts. (euronews) (People's Daily)
• The Greek Parliament approves sweeping cuts in its budget; some Greeks disagree and protest. (BBC)
• The Daily Telegraph publishes further details of taped conversations with Liberal Democrat MPs, which include comments that British Prime Minister David Cameron cannot be trusted and Chancellor George Osborne has "a capacity to get up one's nose". (BBC)
• Citizenship and Immigration Canada cuts funding for settlement centres across the country, leading to the Ontario Liberals protesting the decision that will affect many new immigrants in the province. Immigration minister Jason Kenney also affirms that Santa Claus is Canadian, referring to his characteristic red and white colours. (Globe and Mail) (CTV) (Toronto Star) (National Post) (Calgary Herald)
• Former MSP Tommy Sheridan is convicted of perjury following a 12-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow. He was found guilty of lying during his successful defamation case against the News of the World which had printed details of his private life. (BBC)
• The New Zealand military releases formerly classified files regarding possible UFO sightings. (The Associated Press) (LF Press) (Hawke's Bay Today)

• At least 32 people are killed in bomb blasts detonated during Christmas Eve celebrations near the city of Jos, Nigeria, while at least six people die in attacks on churches by suspected Islamists in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri.(BBC)
• Rebel groups in the Darfur region of Sudan clash with government forces, three days after resuming ceasefire negotiations. (Reuters)
• Suspected Boko Haram members attack a church in northern Nigeria during Christmas Eve services. (AFP)
• The Hizbul Islam group in Somalia join forces with al-Shabaab. (AFP) (Africa Review)
• A member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard captured in southern Afghanistan is accused of cross-border weapons smuggling by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. (The Australian)

• A Christmas message by Pope Benedict XVI is broadcast by BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day programme in the United Kingdom. (Reuters) (PA)
• Thousands of people gather in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)

• TAAG Angola Airlines grounds its Boeing 777 planes following engine troubles with two of its fleet. (Angola Press) (BBC)
• At least 24,000 workers at two plants in Vietnam go on strike over pay, bonuses and lunar new year holidays. (Straits Times)
• South Africa is invited to join the BRIC group of emerging markets. (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
• Japan's Cabinet approves a record ¥92.4 trillion budget for 2011. (Japan Times) (BBC)

• Large-scale disruption continues in Europe after heavy snowfalls. (BBC)
• More than 30 people are killed after a bus plunged into a ravine in southwest Ecuador. (AFP) (CNN)

• Turkey welcomes a decision by the US House of Representatives not to vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution during the final session of the 111th Congress. (Asbarez) (Winnipeg Free Press)
• Russia's lower house gives preliminary approval the New START treaty signed with the United States; full approval will be decided upon next month. (France 24)
• A tripartite summit of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey is held in Istanbul, aimed at boosting trust between Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Al Jazeera) (Xinhua)
• France is to build two warships for Russia in a new deal. (RIA Novosti) (CNN)
• The United Nations General Assembly unanimously approves opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara as President of Côte d'Ivoire. (BBC) (The Hindu)
• South Korea says it will keep a giant Christmas tree near the border with North Korea lit until January 8, amid threats from North Korea. (Herald Sun)

• Indian police search for four people in Mumbai suspected of being members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. (Times of India) (IOL)
• New laws restricting car purchases in the Chinese capital Beijing come into force, in an attempt to combat serious traffic problems. (China Daily) (BBC)

• Thongsing Thammavong is named as the new Prime Minister of Laos, a day after the unexpected resignation of Bouasone Bouphavanh. (BBC) (Saigon Daily)(RFA)
• One person is killed after security forces open fire on protesters in Bouziane, Tunisia. (Reuters) (AFP)
• The Roman Catholic Church in Cuba announces that the government will release two more political prisoners to exile in Spain. (CNN) (Taiwan News)
• State television in Côte d'Ivoire goes off the air outside the capital Abidjan amid a political crisis. The Economic Community of West African States threatens to remove incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo by "legitimate force". (IOL) (BBC)

• At least 45 people are killed and at least 50 others are injured in Khar, Bajaur, Pakistan when a woman throws two hand grenades and detonates her vest at a World Food Programme (WFP) distribution centre in the early morning. (BBC) (Voice of America) (The Jerusalem Post)
• The Sudanese army says it has killed at least 40 rebels and wounded many more in a new offensive in the Darfur region, when army forces attacked joint positions of the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement. (AFP via Google News) (The Washington Post)
• At least 6 people are wounded as a bomb detonates in a church during Christmas Mass in the southern Philippines island of Jolo. (Al Jazeera)
• UN: Approximately 14,000 people have fled Côte d'Ivoire and headed to Liberia due to the recent presidential election dispute. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
• Mohammed Deif, the commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip, says that the Palestinians will not give up until Israel “ceases to exist”. (Ynet)

• Aurela Gaçe wins Albania's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the entry "Kënga ime". (Eurovision.TV)
• Leading writers criticise the British government for what they describe as its "repugnant, foolish and pointlessly destructive" decision to axe all funding for a free children's book scheme. (The Guardian)

• Vietnam’s credit rating is downgraded by credit rating agencies amid rising inflation, and a shrinking currency and widening trade deficit crisis; state owned shipbuilder Vinashin defaults on a loan to a group of international lenders. (Radio Free Asia)

• A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes Vanuatu. A tsunami warning is issued for the region and later cancelled after a minor tsunami was recorded. (CNN) (Xinhua) (Agence France-Presse via Google News)
• An overcrowded bus plunges into ravine near El Carmen, Ecuador, killing 41. (The Australian)

• International filmmakers condemn the sentencing of Iranian director Jafar Panahi and a colleague to six-year sentences in jail and their being barred from writing-directing and producing films for 20-year, for opposition to the government. (CBC) (MSN)
• Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoğlu reiterates his request for an apology from Israel for killing 9 Turks during May's Gaza flotilla raid (Ynet) (The Jerusalem Post) (CNN)
• Three fishermen from the People's Republic of China are released from South Korean custody after their vessel collided with a Coast Guard vessel last week. (CNN.com)
• Ecuador recognises Palestine as an independent state within its 1967 borders. (The Washington Post)
• Mossad announces an intention to apologize to Britain for using fake British passports during the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in January 2010. (The Jerusalem Post) (UPI)

• The director of an aid group working in Darfur is sentenced to one year in prison and fined on embezzlement charges after having been acquitted on the same charges earlier, in what as seen as an effort by the Sudanese government to silence Darfur human rights defenders and activists. (The Washington Post)
• Dutch police arrest 12 Somalis on suspicion of plotting an imminent terrorist attack in the Netherlands. (CNN) (Reuters)
• A dead female body is found near a golf course in North Somerset during a police search in Bristol for missing UK woman Joanna Yeates. (Sky News)

• A travel ban is announced against opposition candidates, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who featured in the disputed 2009 Iranian presidential election. (Al Jazeera)

• The GSAT-5P satellite fails to reach orbit after the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle carrying it explodes shortly after launch. (The Times of India)
• Atlanta in the U.S. state of Georgia gets its first white Christmas in 128 years affecting 500 flights. (AFP via Google News)

• Jos attacks:
  • Further violence breaks out in the Nigerian city of Jos following bombings earlier this week. (BBC)
  • President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan says his government will "take all necessary action" to punish the perpetrators of the deadly bombings in Jos. (Al Jazeera)
• Four Turkish workers are kidnapped in eastern Afghanistan. (BBC) (AFP)
• Somali pirates seize a Thai-flagged ship off the coast of Somalia. (CNN)
• Israeli forces kill 2 Palestinian militants of the al-Quds Brigades of the Islamic Jihad who were planting an explosive device to be used against an Israeli patrol near the border in the southern Gaza Strip. (The Jerusalem Post) (Al Jazeera) (Ynet)
• A police curfew continues for a seventh day in the village of Inderkoot in Bandipora district, Kashmir, "as a precautionary measure", but is lifted from Sumbal. (The Times of India)

• Wikileaks head Julian Assange says he has deals for his autobiography worth more than £1 million and needs the money to defend himself against allegations of sexual assault on two women in Sweden. (The Australian) (Al Jazeera) (The Times of India)

• Protests against unemployment grow more violent as Tunisian security forces crack down on the residents in Sidi Bou Zid Governorate and a teenager is killed when police open fire. (Al Jazeera) (Ahram Online)

• Eight people are killed and 21 injured after a bus crash in Egypt. (CBC) (Hindustan Times)
• A collision between a bus and a mini-truck kills 34 people and leaves 30 injured, near the town of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh state, in northern India. (The Australian) (Oneindia) (AP via Google News)
• Waves of cold in Jammu and Kashmir show no signs of relenting, though the minimum temperature improves. (The Hindu)
• The eastern United States is struck by more snow, with South Carolina receiving its first ever snow on Christmas Day. (BBC)

• China and South Korea are to hold defence talks following tension on the Korean Peninsula. (China Daily) (BBC)
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel) announces that it will boycott Durban III (World Conference against Racism), the 2011 United Nations summit commemorating the tenth anniversary of the World Conference against Racism 2001, due to the conference's "anti-Semitic undertones and displays of hatred for Israel and the Jewish world," a day after the UN General Assembly approved a resolution, by a vote of 104 to 22, with 33 abstentions, to hold the summit in September 2011; Canada has already announced that it will also not attend, calling it a "charade". (AFP via Google News) (The Washington Post) (JTA)
• The first humanitarian Asian flotilla, Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan of Asia 1, which left New Delhi with people of 15 differing nationalities aboard, leaves Damascus for Latakia, its final stop before it reaches its destination. (Tehran Times)
• Thousands of people shouting "death to Israel" gather at Sarayburnu port in Istanbul to welcome back the MV Mavi Marmara, draped with a banner containing faces of the 9 people killed during the Gaza flotilla raid. (Al Jazeera) (Arutz Sheva)
• Industry, Trade and Labour Minister of Israel Binyamin Ben-Eliezer responds to Ecuador's formal recognition of Palestine as an independent state by saying that the "entire world" could recognise a Palestinian state in the next year. (AFP via Google News)
• United States diplomatic cables leak:
  • Newly released cables from July 2004 reveal that American diplomats panicked about a screening of the film Fahrenheit 9/11, which is critical of the U.S. government's response to the September 11 attacks. Diplomats stopped what they called a "potential fiasco" by intervening and contacting the offices of the New Zealand prime minister and Marian Hobbs, a government minister referred to as "Boo Boo" Hobbs by America. (Radio New Zealand International)
  • Newly released cables allege that world governments have sought assistance from the United States with wiretapping criminal and political adversaries, leading to denials and claims of "misunderstanding". (BBC)
  • Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Liberman states at a meeting with Israeli ambassadors that "classic diplomacy" is "not helpful" and that the right diplomacy is to say things "as is" due to the WikiLeaks website. Lieberman also attacks comments by the Foreign Minister of Turkey. (Ynetnews)

• A court in Iran convicts a man of spying for Israel. His identity is to be revealed after the sentence is confirmed. (AFP via France24)
• Egypt sends to Damascus a dossier of sensitive technical information involving details of an Israeli spy ring in Syria, including a high ranking chemical expert who assisted Israel for 13 years. (Ahram Online)
• A Saudi woman, accused of attacking and torturing her Indonesian maid last month in a case that strained Saudi-Indonesia relations, now denies the charges, claiming that the maid tortured herself because she was “not normal.” (Asia One)
• Dr Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish files a lawsuit against Israel one day before the second anniversary of Israel's War on Gaza. Abu al-Aish's three daughters were killed at home by Israeli forces on live television on 16 January 2009 as the gynaecologist was doing an interview with Israel's Channel 10 television. (Al Jazeera)
• Iranian authorities halt the impending execution of a Kurdish student convicted of "enmity against God", in connection with alleged membership and activities on behalf of the militant Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), following appeals by international organizations claiming that his trial was held behind closed doors and his lawyer was not allowed to be present. (Reuters) (The Jerusalem Post) (CNN) (BBC) (AFP)
• Police in the UK say they are "satisfied" that a body found on Christmas Day is that of missing woman Joanna Yeates. (BBC)

• 2010 Ivorian presidential election controversy
  • Approximately 14,000 refugees have fled Côte d'Ivoire for Liberia following the disputed presidential election. (BBC)
  • Laurent Gbagbo threatens to treat United Nations peacekeepers of the UNOCI mission as rebels if they do not follow orders and leave. (BBC)
• More than 1,500 people protest in Moscow, Russia against a recent wave of ethnic unrest following the shooting dead of a football fan. (Al Jazeera) (RIA Novosti)
• The 48th President of the Dominican Republic Salvador Jorge Blanco dies at his home in Santo Domingo. (The Washington Post)
• The Sri Lankan government says more than 210 former Tamil Tiger rebels have passed a university entrance exam, with 40 qualifying for entry; the Movement for the Release of Political Prisoners calls for the release of all political prisoners. (BBC)
• Cape Town is to name a street after former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. (The Observer)

• At least 3 people are killed and others are injured when a car bomb explodes near Kabul Bank in Kandahar. (Al Jazeera)
• Riot police are deployed to the streets of Jos in central Nigeria following clashes between ethnic groups and a bombing on Christmas Eve. (The Daily Telegraph)

• During demonstrations in Tunis, approximately 1000 people call for jobs, in solidarity with protesters elsewhere in Tunisia. Police use batons and at least a dozen protesters are injured and others faint. (Al Jazeera)
• Bus drivers announce a strike action in response to the 83 per cent increase in the price of gasoline and the 73 per cent increase in the price of diesel fuel announced by Bolivian Vice-President Álvaro García Linera on Sunday. (Al Jazeera)

• At least seven people are killed and fifteen injured in a 100-vehicle pile up in southwest China. (CNN) (NDTV) (People's Daily)
• A Seoul-based radio station targeting North Koreans reports that a train carrying birthday gifts for North Korean future leader Kim Jong-un derailed, in what it describes as a possible act of revolt by opponents. South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) states that it is checking the report. (AFP via Google News) (Joongang Daily)

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rules out apologising to Turkey for killing nine of its citizens during May's Gaza flotilla raid,saying, however, that Israel would "express its regret"; the interview came after Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Turkey should apologize to Israel for supporting terrorists. (Al Jazeera) (JTA)
• The Lebanese army claims that Israeli Air Force planes violated Lebanon's airspace several times, in violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution, which ended the Israeli-Lebanese war of 2006 between Lebanese-based Islamic militant group Hezbollah and Israel. (Haaretz)

• Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is found guilty of embezzlement in a second trial, which he described as politically motivated. (RIA Novosti) (The Hindu) (RTHK)
• Allen Stanford's lawyers seek a two-year postponement of his trial and for his release from prison in the meanwhile. He is charged with running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. (Reuters)
• A Tel Aviv court sentences Israeli graphic designer Jonathan Pollak to three months imprisonment after convicting him of taking part in a "critical mass bicycle ride" demonstration highlighting the blockade of Gaza in January 2008. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel describes it as "an unusually harsh measurement" for a charge that normally does not see the perpetrator imprisoned. (The Guardian) (The New York Times)

• The commission overseeing the independence referendum in Southern Sudan rejects a lawsuit to halt the referendum on the basis that the commission violated the law. (Bloomberg)
• Alassane Ouattara, the internationally-recognised winner of the presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire, calls for a general strike to force Laurent Gbagbo, who is refusing to cede power, to step down. (BBC)
• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper invites Aung San Suu Kyi to visit Canada. (The Globe and Mail)

• A series of suspected U.S. missile strikes causes at least 15 deaths in North Waziristan, Pakistan. (Al Jazeera)
• Somali pirates release a German ship with 22 crew, eight months after it was seized near Oman. (Hindustan Times) (AFP)
• The death toll from recent violence between Christians and Muslims in Jos, Nigeria, rises to 80. Islamist group Boko Haram claims responsibility for the deadly Christmas Eve bombings in the city. (Reuters) (Xinhua) (Al Jazeera)

• A late Bronze Age grave of a Celtic princess has been unearthed in Heuneburg, Germany. Grave goods of Celtic jewellery made of gold, bronze, coal and amber have been discovered. (Der Spiegel (de))
• Israeli archaeologists reportedly discover human remains from 400,000 years ago, challenging the theory that humans originated in Africa. (AFP via Google News) (The Hindu) (Press TV)
• Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish become parents after a surrogate mother from California gives birth to a son on Christmas Day. The boy is named Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John. (BBC)

• 2010 Tunisian protests: Protests in Tunisia over unemployment and poor living conditions are criticized by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali during a national television broadcast; he warns of "firm" punishment. (Al Jazeera) (Ahram Online) (AFP via Google News) (The Guardian)
• Turkish construction workers employed in Israel protest in front of the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv over fears they may lose their jobs. (Today's Zaman)

• Thousands of homes and businesses in Northern Ireland are without water as melting snow and ice from the recent freezing weather conditions reveals burst pipes. Northern Ireland Water says it is alternating supplies from reservoirs in order to help alleviate the crisis in which some have been without supplies since before Christmas. (BBC)
• 5 male teenagers from Little Haiti, Miami, in the U.S. state of Florida are killed by carbon monoxide poisoning in a motel room after fumes from a car kept idling overnight vent up a staircase into their room. (BBC) (Associated Press via Google News)
• A Russian Antonov military cargo plane crashes between Tula and Oryol, Russia, killing all 11 on board.(AP via Google)
• A fire in a New Orleans warehouse kills eight people and two dogs, most of them homeless artists and musicians.
• An IC3 train in Israel caught on a fire, injuring 116.

(Reuters) (The Associated Press) (NOLA.com)

• The leaders of Benin, Cape Verde and Sierra Leone arrive in Côte d'Ivoire to urge Laurent Gbagbo to resign as President. (CNN) (euronews)
• Spain and Russia each expel two diplomats on suspicion of spying in a tit-for-tat row. (The Moscow Times) (BBC)

• A Chinese investigative reporter known for reporting on sensitive issues dies after being attacked by six men. (RTHK) (Philippine Inquirer)
• Nepal amends legislation allowing children with disabilities to be adopted abroad. (The Straits Times)
• The UK's Avon and Somerset Police launch a murder investigation after a post mortem into the death of Joanna Yeates concludes that she had been strangled. (BBC)

• Kuwaiti Prime Minister Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah is grilled by MPs over clashes between riot police and protesters at an opposition rally earlier this month. (Al Jazeera)
• The UK Government defends a decision not to include children under the age of five in this year's flu vaccination programme, saying the decision is for medical and not financial reasons. (BBC)
• 33 leading forensic scientists have expressed concerns about the UK Government's plans to close the Forensic Science Service, saying that the justice system will take a "backward step" as a consequence. (BBC)
• The UK Government gives the go-ahead to plans to allow popular online petitions to be debated in Parliament within a year. (BBC)

• South Thailand insurgency: Seven people are injured in a bomb attack in southern Thailand by suspected Islamist insurgents. (The Straits Times) (Thai News Agency)
• Nigerian Sharia conflict: Three people are killed by Islamist group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, in the latest in a number of attacks. (Reuters)
• Mexican Drug War: The Mexican Los Zetas drug cartel threatens to launch a war in northern Guatemala where the government declared a "state of siege". (Al Jazeera)
• Five suspected Islamist militants are arrested for planning to attack Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Denmark. (BBC)
• The Iraqi cilivian death toll due to violence has fallen to just under 4,000 in 2010, the lowest since the 2003 invasion of Iraq according to the Iraq Body Count.(Reuters)

• 2010 Tunisian protests: People ignore threats of "firm" punishment from Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and continue to protest over unemployment and poor living conditions. (Al Jazeera)
• The minimum wage in the Chinese capital Beijing is raised by 20% for the second time in six months, amid rising food costs. (AFP)

• 12 Vietnamese sailors are missing after a cargo ship sinks in the South China Sea. 11 other crew were rescued. (Saigon Daily)
• An Antonov An-22 cargo plane crashes during training in Russia's Tula region, killing 12 crew. (BBC) (Times of India) (RIA Novosti)

• A proposed draft resolution calling on the United Nations Security Council to criticise the construction of settlements by Israel is obtained by the Associated Press. (Al Jazeera)
• An open letter from about 30 rabbi wives causes controversy due to its call for Israeli girls not to date Arabs or work in places that employ non-jews, three weeks after a similar letter urged Jews not to engage in property trade with non-Jews. (CNN) (ABC News Australia)
• The United States revokes the visa for Bernardo Álvarez Herrera, the Venezuelan ambassador to the country. (Al Jazeera)
• Côte d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo refuses to step down after a meeting with other African leaders. (IOL) (AP via Google News)
• Seven Thais, including a MP, are arrested after illegally crossing the border into Cambodia. (The Straits Times) (Taiwan News)

• Cuba commutes the last remaining death sentence on the island. (AFP via Google News) (Sify India)
• A court in Angola sentences Joao Antonio Puati to 24 years imprisonment after convicting him in relation to the Togo national football team attack last January. (BBC)
• President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos announces the death of Pedro Guerrero, one of the country's most wanted men who was killed in a gunbattle with police while he celebrated Christmas. (BBC)

• Ikililou Dhoinine is elected president by residents of the Comoros Islands. (BBC) (Pretoria News) (Reuters via France24)
• The Chinese government sets out new measures to tackle corruption. (BBC) (China Daily)

• England retain the Ashes for the first time in 24 years after winning the fourth Test of the 2010–11 series against Australia in Melbourne. (BBC)
• Malaysia wins 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup with a total of 4-2 over Indonesia in the final matches. (ABS-CBN)

• Côte d'Ivoire's ambassador to the United Nations, Youssoufou Bamba, says the country is on the "brink of genocide". (Reuters)
• Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir says the government will withdraw from peace talks with rebels from Darfur unless a deal is reached this week. (Al Jazeera)
• 2 people are killed and 18 others are wounded during bomb attacks on minority Christian homes in various parts of Baghdad. (Al Jazeera)
• An early morning bomb explodes before two courthouses in Athens; there are no injuries. (Der Spiegel) (Xinhua) (France24) (The New York Times via Indian Express)
• A bomb explodes at the Greek Embassy in Buenos Aires; there are no injuries. Some windows are broken. (CNN)

• North Korea's state-run television broadcasts its first Western film, Bend It Like Beckham. (BBC) (The Guardian)
• Newly released papers show Gwynfor Evans, former Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen, said he would fast to death if the British government did not provide a Welsh language television service. S4C resulted. (BBC)
• Buckingham Palace announces the birth of Queen Elizabeth II's first great-grandchild, born to Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn. (BBC)

• A diplomatic cable newly released from the British National Archives, dated 1980, claims that Israel would be "ready to use their atomic weapon" in any further war against its adversaries.(AFP via Google News) (Ynetnews) (Morning Star)(ABC News)(The Jerusalem Post)
• An international aid convoy from Asia enters Gaza, though Iranian and Jordanian members of the flotilla are denied entry and generators donated by Iran are banned too. (The Jerusalem Post)
• Israeli forces arrest Hamas MP Khalil Ar-Rabai after surrounding his home in the early morning in the southern West Bank town of Yatta. The destruction of family property is also reported. (Ma'an) (AFP via Google News) (Press TV)
• The Yemeni government releases at least 428 Houthi northern rebels as part of a ceasefire mediated by Qatar in return for 10 military vehicles. (Al Jazeera)
• Thailand urges Cambodia to release seven of its citizens–including an MP–arrested after crossing their mutual border. (The Straits Times)

• A 19-year-old Uyghur woman, Pezilet Ekber, is sentenced to death following a secret trial, the second Uyghur woman to receive the death penalty on charges of participating in ethnic riots last year. (RFA)
• Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has his prison sentence extended to a total of 14 years after a second conviction. (Al Jazeera)
• Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav is convicted of two counts of rape and other sexual offences by a court in Tel Aviv. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)
• A major Indian separatist leader, Arabinda Rajkhowa of the United Liberation Front of Asom, is released on bail. (The Straits Times) (NDTV)
• A court in Thailand jails 79 pro-government "yellow shirt" protesters for storming a state television station two years ago. (Bangkok Post) (CTV) (Reuters)
• Four opposition figures in Belarus are charged with organising riots after demonstrations against the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko. (BBC)
• Anders Hogstrom, a Swedish man, is sentenced to two years and eight months imprisonment after being convicted of orchestrating the theft of Arbeit macht frei from the Auschwitz entry gate last December. (Al Jazeera)
• Minnesota sues 3M claiming they pumped PFCs, a very toxic chemical according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, into local waterways.(Reuters)
• Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour frees two sisters 16 years into double life terms received for armed robbery of two men for $11, citing one of the sister's "medical condition creates a substantial cost to the state of Mississippi." (Reuters)

• Bertie Ahern, the former taoiseach who led the stricken Fianna Fáil political party from 1994 until 2008, announces he is to resign from Dáil Éireann at the forthcoming general election. (The Guardian) (Irish Examiner) (Reuters Africa)
• Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi meets with opposition leaders who broke away from the National League for Democracy party. (ABC News)
• Newly released papers show more than €130,000 of public money was used to wine and dine visiting dignitaries to Ireland while then Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey warned on television that the country was "living away beyond our means". (Irish Independent)

• A pre-dawn bomb explodes outside a closed night club in Athens; there are no injuries. (Press Association via Google News)
• A bomb explodes in the Nigerian capital Abuja, killing four people. (Times Live South Africa)
• A protestor dies of his injuries in Tunisia as protests continue across the country over unemployment and poor living conditions. (Al Jazeera)

• Arts and cultural people Annie Lennox, Herbert Kretzmer, Sheila Hancock, David Suchet, Harriet Walter, Katharine Hamnett, Alice Temperley, Sandy Powell, John Lloyd, Steve McQueen and Trevor Horn are among those to receive a New Year Honour from the Queen of the United Kingdom. (BBC)

• Estonia, one of the Baltic republics of the former Soviet Union, adopts the euro as its official currency, becoming the 17th country to do so. (Reuters)

• Tornadoes touch down in midwestern and southern United States, including Washington County, Arkansas; Greater St. Louis, Sunset Hills, Missouri, Illinois and Oklahoma, with a few tornadoes in the early hours of January 1, 2011. A total 36 tornadoes touched down, resulting in the deaths of 9 people.

• Three Tibetan writers, detained earlier this year by Chinese authorities, are sentenced to jail terms of three to four years for "inciting activities to split the nation” (RFA)

• Ikililou Dhoinine is elected President of the Comoros, defeating rival Mohamed Said Fazul with 61% of the vote. (Reuters)
• After an official protest by German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, Iran allows access to two journalists arrested in mid-October for interviewing family members of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery. (The Jerusalem Post)
• Officials in the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology warn of a crackdown on "illegal" voice-over-Internet(VoIP) telephony services that are not licensed or approved by the country's telecoms regulator. (RFA)
• Italy bans plastic bags. (BBC)
• Sunni Muslim clerics organize strikes across Pakistan to protest against possible changes to the country’s blasphemy laws. (BBC)