Top News Stories –

Ex-Wham! singer George Michael dies –
Singer George Michael has died aged 53, his publicist has said. The star, who launched his career with Wham! in the 1980s and later continued his success as a solo performer, is said to have “passed away peacefully at home”. Thames Valley Police said South Central Ambulance Service attended a property in Goring in Oxfordshire at 13:42 GMT. Police say there were no suspicious circumstances. Michael, who was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in north London, sold more than 100m albums throughout a career spanning almost four decades. Earlier this month it was announced that producer and songwriter Naughty Boy was working with Michael on a new album. In a statement, the star’s publicist said: “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period. [BBC]
Michael performing on stage on the Faith World Tour in 1988.

Other News Stories –

Arts and culture

• Pope Francis pleads for peace in a Christmas Mass in the Vatican. (Voice of America)

Business and economy

• Bezeq, an Israeli telecoms company, says that it has received word from the country’s telecoms regulator that it will be allowed to end the “structural separation” of its business operations by product (i.e. mobile phone, internet, land lines). (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2016 Chiloé earthquake
  • A magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Chile spurs tsunami warnings. (BBC)
• 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash
  • A Russian Tu-154 military passenger airplane carrying 92 people including the Alexandrov Ensemble crashes into the Black Sea shortly after takeoff from Sochi. The airplane was headed towards Khmeimim, Syria. The Russian Armed Forces are actively involved in the Syrian Civil War. (The Telegraph) (Al Jazeera) (FOX News)
• 2016 Pacific typhoon season
  • Typhoon Nock-ten (Nina) strikes the Philippines. (BBC)
• The German city of Augsburg is evacuated after a World War II-era explosive is discovered in the town. Explosive experts later defused the bomb. (The New York Times)

Health

• Medical research reveals shrinkage in women’s brains as a result of pregnancy. Loss of gray matter in certain regions of the brain may make the brain more efficient and specialized for child-rearing. There is also evidence of links to long-term changes in brain. (ScienceNews) (Nature)

International relations

• Afghanistan‘s first female Air Force pilot Niloofar Rahmani files for asylum in the United States. (Reuters)
• Pakistan releases Indian fishermen caught in its territory as a gesture of goodwill. (Deutsche Welle)

Law and crime

• 2016 Turkish purges
  • Turkey probes around 10,000 social media users for allegedly insulting government officials or supporting “terror-related activity.” (BBC)
• A producer of Al Jazeera is arrested in Egypt. (Reuters)

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