Top News Stories –

Angela Merkel named as Time magazine’s person of the year –
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has been named by Time magazine as its person of the year – the first woman to receive the accolade in almost 30 years. Mrs Merkel, 61, was chosen for her leadership at a time of immense difficulty in Europe, and becomes the first woman to be named as person of the year since 1986. Last year’s winners were the Ebola fighters. “Not once or twice but three times there has been reason to wonder this year whether Europe could continue to exist – not culturally or geographically but as a historic experiment in ambitious statecraft,” said Nancy Gibbs, editor of the magazine. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day
Angela Merkel Time Magazine Cover

Knightsbridge to fine boy-racers up to £1,000 if they rev their supercar engines –
For years they have infuriated residents in London’s Knightsbridge with their incessant racing around the neighbourhood in noisy supercars. But boy-racers found guilty of wrecking the peace will now be fined £1000 after locals won a battle to make the uncouth behaviour a criminal offence. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which plays host to Harrods department store, has introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which hopes to restore peace to the neighbourhood. [Daily Telegraph]

Denmark: Nature agency offers free ponds to landowners –
Denmark’s nature agency is offering to pay for people to have ponds installed on their land in an effort to protect endangered wildlife. The government’s AgriFish Agency is offering to foot the bill for creating water features up to 1,000 sq m (10,764 sq ft) in size, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation reports. But such is the level of interest in the new scheme, officials say they probably won’t be able to meet demand. So far there have been more than 100 inquiries by interested landowners, the report says. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

YouTube Rewind: Now Watch Me 2015 | #YouTubeRewind [Over 13 million views in 24 hours]

List of the Day –

The Shortlist for Times Person of the Year 2015
Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
Donald Trump
Black Lives Matter
Hassan Rouhani
Travis Kalanick
Caitlyn Jenner

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015)
  • An Israeli couple are injured in a drive-by shooting attack near Avnei Hefetz. (The Times of Israel)
  • Israeli soldiers shoot dead a Palestinian teenager during an arrest raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (The Jerusalem Post) (Al Jazeera)
• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • A Taliban attack on Kandahar International Airport results in at least 37 civilian and Afghan National Security Forces personnel dead and 35 injured. (Reuters)
• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
  • Amnesty International reports that years of foreign military intervention, poor oversight on weapons sales, and lack of control over the international flow of weaponry have enabled ISIL to accumulate its vast armaments stockpile. Amnesty International calls for weapons embargoes and the ratification of the global Arms Trade Treaty by nations that have not already done so and, at the same time, are sources of weapons in the ISIL stockpile. (Agence France-Presse via AlJazeera America) (Agence France-Presse via Defense News)
• Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin says he hopes nuclear warheads will not be needed to deal with terrorists, after Russia launched cruise missiles at Islamic State positions in Syria from one of its Kilo-class submarines in the Mediterranean. (Independent)
• Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
  • Azeri tanks on the front line shell military positions in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic for the first time since a Russian-brokered ceasefire ended fighting in 1994. At least one Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army soldier is killed. (AFP via Yahoo)
• Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
  • Turkey calls on all its citizens to leave all areas of Iraq except Iraqi Kurdistan, due to “increased security risks”. (AFP via Daily Mail)

Arts and culture

• Angela Merkel is named as Time‘s Person of the Year. (CNN International)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015 South Indian floods
  • Heavy rains continue to lash Thanjavur and Thanjavur district, inundating urban areas and hundreds of acres of farmland. Many residential areas in Thanjavur have been marooned by rising water. (The Hindu)
• Floods in the United States: 2001–present
  • Governor of Washington Jay Inslee declares a state of emergency after severe flooding and high winds across the western part of the state close several major highways, damage homes and property, and impact electricity service. (Governor of Washington) (KIRO-TV)

International relations

• The United States expands sanctions against North Korea over its alleged weapons breaches. (BBC)
• Cuba–United States relations
  • Government officials from Cuba and the U.S. met in Havana, beginning settlement discussions surrounding $1.9 billion worth of U.S. assets seized by Fidel Castro’s regime in the early 1960s. By law, the United States embargo against Cuba cannot cease until settlements are made. (Washington Post)

Law and crime

• The Australian Federal Police raid the Sydney home of Craig Steven Wright – whom media today claimed was suspected to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin – in relation to possible tax offences. (ABC News Australia)
• Chinese state television reports Guo Youming, former deputy governor of Hubei province, is found guilty of taking bribes totaling more than 23.8 million yuan ($3.70 million). Guo is the latest to be convicted as a result of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign that started when Xi took office three years ago. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

• A group of mayors and officials from American cities such as Philadelphia, and New York City say that if they had their way Donald Trump would be banned from their cities for his comments on Muslims. (NBC)
• The Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell distance the party from presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent comments calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. While not entering into a political fray – in view of U.S. partnerships with Muslim nations and Muslim personnel serving in the United States Armed Forces – The Pentagon press secretary calls anti-Muslim rhetoric a national security threat. (CNN) (Politico)
• British police officers have today sensationally backed U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s controversial claim that parts of the country are no-go areas such as London and Birmingham because of growing Islamist extremism. (Express)
• Congress is set to vote on Thursday on whether to prevent barring of potential immigration applicants based solely on religion. (Free Beacon)

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