Top News Stories –

Canberra Christmas lights set world record –
A Christmas lights display in the Australian capital, Canberra, has set a new world record. Almost 1.2 million LED lights on 120km (75 miles) of cables have been strung in the shape of three interconnected giant, wrapped Christmas presents. Guinness World Records confirmed it was the largest-ever LED image display. The display in the Petrie Plaza mall was the result of months of planning by Canberra lawyer David Richards and a team of volunteers. [BBC] See Video of the day

Sony’s latest wearable is a watch made of electronic paper –
The Wall Street Journal has uncovered Sony’s clandestine involvement in a smartwatch project. Under the name Fashion Entertainment (FES), the company has thrown an electronic paper watch into the wearable product scrum. All credit to Sony, the watch itself is very slick looking. It overcomes many of the problems existing smartwatches on the market present – namely that they are overly bulky and have naff battery lives. Electronic paper, which is famously used in ebook readers to provide them with long-lasting battery, should ensure that this device can keep running for weeks on a single charge, rather than just a day or two. Sony secretly put the watch on a crowdfunding site in September, not taking ownership of the product until this week. The device surpassed its 2 million yen goal (£108,000), raising 3.5 million yen (£188,000) in total. [Wired.com]

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• Islamist insurgency in Nigeria:
  • Gunmen set off three bombs and fire at worshippers at the central mosque in the northern city of Kano after the Emir, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had issued a call to arms against Boko Haram. At least 120 people are killed. (CNN)

Business and economy

• Frantic trading in energy company stocks, especially the suppliers of oil-services, shaves billions off the market capitalization of publically traded businesses within this sector. (Reuters)

International relations

• Holy See–Turkey relations:
  • Pope Francis visits Turkey, calling for interfaith dialogue and an end to Islamic extremism, and meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğanand Bartholomew I of Constantinople. (AFP via The Times of India)

Law and crime

• The death toll from a mass overdose in a Venezuelan prison after prisoners storm a prison infirmary during a prison uprising rises to 35. A hundred other prisoners are receiving treatment. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
• Tuğçe Albayrak, an advocate for harassed women, succumbs to her injury from a November 15 attack. German police have already arrested a suspected man. (The Independent)

Politics and elections

• The Parliament of Finland votes to allow same-sex marriage, marking the first time that a citizens’ initiative has received lawmakers’ blessing to be written into the legislation. (YLE)
• The social-democratic Siumut narrowly retains a government-forming plurality of votes in the Greenlandic general election, tying with leftistopposition Inuit Ataqatigiit for number of parliament seats. (Reuters)
• Post-coup unrest in Egypt (2013–14):
  • Three army officers and two protesters are killed and more than one hundred protesters are arrested during anti-government protests acrossEgypt. (ABC News)
• Hage Geingob wins his elect to become President of Namibia as his ruling SWAPO party wins an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly.(AP via ABC News)

Sports

• National Football League player conduct controversy:
  • An independent arbitrator between the NFL and the NFL Players Association overturns the indefinite suspension levied upon free-agentrunning back Ray Rice by the NFL for assaulting his fiancee. (Bloomberg)

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