Top News Stories –

Putin’s point –
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a message of defiance and ire towards the West at an annual news conference in Moscow in the face of the financial turmoil that has gripped the country. Mr. Putin put the blame on “external factors,” including Western sanctions and falling oil prices, for the collapse of the ruble.
Vladimir Putin

Closed lot –
Sony have cancelled tours of their Los Angeles studios after it was found pass codes were part of the hack recently discovered and blamed on North Korea.

Republican dig heels in on Cuba –
Republicans in Congress are trying to find a way to stop or at least slow President Barack Obama’s plan to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba. The biggest obstacle to normal ties with Cuba is the 1996 embargo and with Republicans due to take control of both houses of Congress in January, the chances of changing this look unlikely.

Mandy Rice-Davies dies
Mandy Rice-Davies the woman who was at the centre of the so-called Profumo spy/sex scandal (along with her friend Christine Keeler) that threatened to topple Harold Macmillan’s government has died at the age of 70. Rice-Davies lived with Keeler, whose affair with war minister John Profumo prompted his resignation in 1963. She also claimed to have an affair with Lord Astor, but he denied it in court to which Rice-Davies famously replied “Well he would, wouldn’t he.”

Video of the Day –

Snooze

SNOOZE from molly dickson on Vimeo.

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Gumsuri kidnapping
  • News emerges, after survivors reach the city of Maiduguri, that suspected Boko Haram militants stormed the remote village of Gumsuri in north-eastern Nigeria on December 14, killing at least 33 people and kidnapping about 200.(BBC)

Business and economy

• The price of Brent Crude oil rises to $61+ per barrel as companies cut upstream investments. (Reuters)
• US clothing company Gap Inc. agrees to distribute their apparels to Chinese e-commerce company JD.com. (Reuters)

International relations

• A former US intelligence officer identifies Rolando “Rollie” Sarraff Trujillo as the Cuban Interior Ministry spy for the USCentral Intelligence Agency, who was swapped in exchange for members of the Cuban Five. (NBC News)
• International sanctions during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
  • The European Union imposes sanctions on Russia-occupied Crimea by banning investments and tourism in the region and halting oil explorations. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Death of Jennifer Laude
  • The United States refuses to extradite a United States Marine to the Philippines where he is charged with murder.(New York Daily News)
• The Death Penalty Information Center states that thirty-five people have been executed in the United States in 2014, marking it the fewest number within two decades. (USA Today)
• The US District Court for South Carolina posthumously vacates the conviction of George Stinney, Jr. seventy years after his execution. (UPI)
• Spanish police arrest thirteen more people, bringing the total now to more than seventy since the November 30th footballfan brawl, which resulted in one death, before the Atletico Madrid–Deportivo La Coruña match started in Madrid’sVicente Calderon Stadium. (AP via USA Today)

Science and technology

• India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III successfully completes its first flight, carrying the crew vehicle demonstrator CARE. (Times of India)

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