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 armymedic receives 9 months in jail after pleading guilty to shooting two unarmed Afghan farmers for "no apparent reason". (Reuters)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Up to 28 people die in northern and easternEurope 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)
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)
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)
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)
Business and economy
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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.
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)
Newly released cables from the United States indicate former Prime Minister of AustraliaKevin 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)
Severe weather also continues in Ireland with water shortages in parts and public anger over incorrect weather forecasts. (Evening Herald)(RTÉ)(The Irish Times)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
A joint team of British and USastronomers 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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Law and crime
700 people are arrested in Moscow, Russia, in attempt to prevent ethnic clashes over the shooting of a football fan. (RIA Novosti)(BBC)
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)
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 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)
Science
The Galongla Tunnel, built at an altitude of 3,750 meters, is completed; it links Tibet's Mêdog county to the outside world. (SINA)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Disasters and accidents
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)
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)
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)
Thousands of opposition protesters encounter riot police at government headquarters in Minsk, while opposition candidate Vladimir Neklyaev is seriously injured. (BBC)(Al Jazeera)
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)
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)
Egypt uncovers an alleged Israelispy-ring, charging one Egyptian business man and two Israelis with attempting to recruit agents to spy for Israel. (BBC)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Arts and culture
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)
Business and economics
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
British MPs express concerns over whether the UK is "getting value for money" from its spending on education aid money in Africa. (BBC)
Law and crime
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)
The GreekParliament 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)
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)
New laws restricting car purchases in the Chinese capital Beijing come into force, in an attempt to combat serious traffic problems. (China Daily)(BBC)
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)
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)
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)
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 IsraelAvigdor 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)
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)
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)
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 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)
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)
IsraeliPrime MinisterBenjamin 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)
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)
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))
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)
Disasters and accidents
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)
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)
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)
Newly released papers show Gwynfor Evans, former Plaid CymruMP for Carmarthen, said he would fast to death if the British government did not provide a Welsh language television service. S4C resulted. (BBC)
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)
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)
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)
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)
MississippiGovernorHaley 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)
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 MinisterCharles Haughey warned on television that the country was "living away beyond our means". (Irish Independent)
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)
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)
