Top Stories –
Not like clockwork –
A Swiss millionaire is given a record speeding fine of $290,000 (£180,000) after he caught driving a red Ferrari at 137km/h (85mph) through a village. The penalty based on the unnamed motorist’s wealth – assessed by the court as $22.7m (£14.1m) – and because he was a repeat offender.

New Brand for Perry –
It’s revealed that Russell Brand and Katy Perry got engaged when on holiday in India.
Katy Perry and Russell Brand

Top Video –
Making a designer font using a car

iQ font – When driving becomes writing / Full making of from Tom Galle on Vimeo.

Top News –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Palestinians fire mortars and Katyusha rocket from Gaza, causing widespread panic in Ashkelon, Israel, in the first suchrocket attack on Israel in a year. (The Jerusalem Post)
• At least four militants are dead after a 23-hour gun battle at a hotel in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. (Sify) (New York Times) (Indian Express)
• Aid agencies warn of renewed violence in Southern Sudan unless there are attempts to save the 2005 peace agreement, as 140 people are killed in ethnic clashes. (BBC) (Xinhua) (Khaleej Times)
• At least six Coptic Christians are killed in a drive-by shooting at a church in Nag Hammadi, southern Egypt, with clashes later taking place between police and Copts. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) (CNN)

Arts and culture

• The Xinhua news agency responds to claims by The Guardian newspaper that China had tried “hijack” the Copenhagen summit‘s Accord by claiming that the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao was not invited to secret US-initiated talks onDecember 17. (China Dialogue)
• James Cameron‘s film Avatar is expected to become the second-highest grossing movie of all time, just passing The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. (MTV)
• The BBC‘s Spotlight programme reveals that Iris Robinson, former UK MP and wife of the First Minister of Northern Ireland, helped a 19 year old male who she was having a relationship with receive funding for a business project.(BBC) (The Guardian)

Business and economy

• The United States approves arms sales to Taiwan, amid opposition from China. (Radio Taiwan International) (BBC)(AFP)

Disasters and accidents

• Extreme weather in Europe kills nine people in Germany, traps a Eurostar train in the Channel Tunnel, disrupts flights at international airports in Amsterdam, Dublin, Knock and Paris, shuts hundreds of schools in Ireland and disruptsNorway‘s bus service in Oslo. (BBC)

Environment

• The governments of Australia and New Zealand announce an investigation into an incident where a boat belonging to the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was damaged in a confrontation with a Japanese ship in theSouthern Ocean. (Reuters)

International relations

• A weekend killing in Australia has prompted the Indian government to issue an advisory for its college students studying in that country. (CNN) (Indian Express)
• Kenya deports to Gambia a radical Jamaican Muslim cleric who is on a global terror watch list. (KBC) (AFP)(AllAfrica.com)
• Nepal begins discharging child soldiers who fought for the Maoists as part of a process of national reconciliation.(Reuters) (The Rising Nepal) (The Guardian)
• United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston says three independent experts have confirmed that mobile phone video footage showing extra-judicial killings by the Sri Lankan military is authentic. (BBC) (Channel 4 News)

Law and crime

• An ABB employee commits suicide after shooting eight people, three fatally, at the ABB Power building in St. Louis,Missouri in the United States. (CNN)
• A Burmese court sentences two officials to death and one to imprisonment for leaking details of secret government visits to North Korea and Russia. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• Guinea‘s interim leader, General Sékouba Konaté, proposes a unity government led by a Prime Minister from the opposition. (The Guardian) (African Press Agency)

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