Previous Day
South Africa divided over Zuma election
SOUTH AFRICA: Jacob Zuma is to make his first
public statement today about his policy plans for South Africa
since his election on Tuesday as president of the African National
Congress (ANC), writes
Joe Humphreys in Johannesburg. p
Turnout to decide Democrat winner in Iowa
US: New polls suggest that voter turnout will determine the outcome of a tight, three-way Democratic presidential contest in Iowa, while Republican Mike Huckabee has moved to the front of his party's field nationally, writes Denis Staunton in Washington. p
Call for Russia to set up military base in Serbia
RUSSIA: Ultra-nationalist Serb Tomislav Nikolic, leader of the country's most popular party and a frontrunner in presidential elections due in January, has urged Russia to establish a military base in Serbia to counteract the presence of US and Nato forces in Kosovo. p
Other World Stories
Ahmadinejad invited to hajj banquet
SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi's invitation reflects a growing accord between Sunni and Shia powers, writes Michael Jansen. pResolution calls for death penalty moratorium
US: The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for moratorium on the death penalty, despite opposition from the US, China and others that argued each state should be able to choose how to combat crime, writes Maggie Farley in New York pDeath row: fewer executions
US: Forty-two people have been executed in the US this year, the lowest number since 1994 and fewer than half as many as in 1999. That year the total was 98 - the highest in the modern era of the death penalty. pBush lawyers knew about 'torture' tapes, says paper
US: The White House has describes as "pernicious" a report that the Bush administration may have misled the public about its involvement in the CIA's decision to destroy tapes showing the interrogation of terrorism suspects. pUN agency urges lifting of Palestine restrictions
UN: International aid to the Palestinian territories must be accompanied by an easing of restrictions imposed by Israel if living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza are to improve, the head of the UN agency responsible for assisting Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East has said during a visit to Dublin. Mary Fitzgerald , Foreign Affairs Correspondent, reports. pChinese whistleblowers rush to expose corruption
CHINA: A Chinese government website that encourages citizens to report corruption was overwhelmed on its first day online and crashed after too many people logged on to report graft. pMan questioned over alleged rape at Man Utd party
BRITAIN: A 19-year-old man has been released on bail after several hours of questioning, following an allegation of rape after Manchester United soccer team's Christmas party, British media reported yesterday. pPro-business candidate Lee (66) sweeps to power in South Korea
SOUTH KOREA: South Korea's main conservative opposition candidate and former Hyundai chief executive Lee Myung-bak swept to power in the presidential election yesterday, ending a decade of liberal rule, exit polls showed. pEU wine market overhaul will see vines ripped up
EU: European governments will pay winemakers to rip out vines and put quality over quantity, in a push to make wines from Chianti to Bordeaux more competitive with bigger New World producers. pVatican condemns 'the most anti-Christmas film possible'
THE VATICAN: The Vatican yesterday condemned the US film The Golden Compass , which some have called anti-Christian, saying it promotes a cold and hopeless world without God. pBelgium agrees to form interim government
BELGIUM: Five political parties straddling Belgium's linguistic divide have agreed to form an interim government, ending six months of constitutional crisis, at least temporarily. pMagna Carta from 1297 sells at US auction for €14.9m
US: A rare 710-year-old copy of the Magna Carta, among the most important historical documents ever to hit the auction block, sold for $21.3 million (€14.9 million) on Tuesday at Sotheby's. pAdolf the Alsatian parted from his führer
GERMANY: Give the children a Christmas they won't forget with Adolf the Wunderdog. A Berlin animal shelter is looking for a new owner for the nine-year- old Alsatian cross-breed, trained by his owner to give the stiff-armed Nazi salute. pProperty boom fuelled by exiles could force locals out
Letter from Armenia: Property developers need not despair. Here in Yerevan, capital of this small, landlocked former Soviet republic in the southern Caucasus, the bulldozers and cranes are working away, the builders seemingly oblivious to credit crunches and bursting property bubbles, writes Kieran Cooke. pIn Short
A round-up of today's other stories in brief. p
