- The UK and US agree to intensify joint efforts to tackle the "evolving" terror threat from Yemen and Somalia.
- Afghan MPs reject Karzai names
Afghan MPs deal President Hamid Karzai a big political setback rejecting 17 of 24 nominees for his new cabinet. - Petition against Icesave pay-out
Almost 25% of Iceland's voters sign a petition against a bill to repay foreigners who lost money in the Icesave banking collapse. - The Ugandan army says it has killed a Lord's Resistance Army commander inside the Central African Republic.
- Lava from an erupting volcano in a sparsely populated area of DR Congo threatens rare chimpanzees, officials say.
- North Korea issues a New Year message calling for an end to hostile relations with the US, and peace on the Korean peninsula.
- The Cambodian government issues an arrest warrant against opposition leader Sam Rainsy over a border dispute.
- Somali pirates hijack an Indonesian chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden - the third vessel seized in the area this week.
- Indian firms are losing productivity because office staff spend too long on social networking sites, a survey says. :):):):)
- The Indian government has announced that a meeting will be held on 5 January to prepare a "road map" for the proposed new state of Telangana.
- Sweden begins a legal cull of wolves with more than half the quota of 27 believed to have been killed on the first day.
- Scientists have analysed DNA extracted from the remains of a 30,000-year-old European hunter-gatherer.
- Researchers identify the genetic source of the fatal tumours that are driving Tasmanian devils to the edge of extinction.
- The first effects of France's controversial new law against internet piracy will begin to be felt as the new year starts.
DO YOU KNOW
- North Korea is one of the most secretive states in the world. Its citizens cannot travel abroad and have little, if any, contact with those who visit their country. The few tourists who do make it are carefully herded to a handful of destinations and rarely get off the beaten track.
