Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian sold off the last of his shares in General Motors, the Wall Street Journal reported. It was clear that Kerkorian had sold 14 million shares for $28.75 per share, or about $400 million, slicing his stake to 4.95%. (MSN Money)
Protestors begin their second day of demonstrations in their bid to convince the current Lebanese administration to step down. (BBC)[permanent dead link]
Police and aid workers recover more than 100 bodies from Malakal in south Sudan resulting from fighting between former rebels and Government forces. (AP via CBS News)
An outbreak of E. coli bacteria has sickened more than a dozen people on Long Island, including several who ate at Taco Bell. Officials have asked eight Taco Bell restaurants be closed. (CBS)
The Iraq Study Group Report calls the situation in Iraq "grave and deteriorating" and calls for a change in strategy including the removal of most United States troops by early 2008. (CNN)
Bainimarama fires Fiji police commissioner Moses Driver, who had declared that the Fiji Police will stand up to the Fiji Military. Bainimarama warned against a popular uprising against the coup. (CNN)
NASA presents "compelling" evidence that liquid water flowed recently on the surface of Mars. (NASA), (BBC)
A large explosion occurs near downtown Milwaukee, killing 3, injuring 37 others and leveling a factory compound.(AP)
Police in Phoenix, Arizona believe that they have captured the Baseline Killer who has nine killings attributed to him. They had Mark Godeau in custody since September in relation to two alleged sexual assaults in 2005. (CNN)
Jona Senilagakali, the newly-installed Prime Minister of Fiji, conceded the coup had been "illegal" but it was "an illegal takeover to clean up the mess of a much bigger illegal activity of the previous government." (BBC)
Claims are being made that the military may attempt to arrest Ratu Ovini Bokini, Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs. Around 300 villagers have surrounded his compound in Tavua to defend him. (Fiji Times)
Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani of Iran issues a fatwa calling for the deaths of AzerisRafiq Tağı, a writer, and Samir Sadagatoglu, his editor, who were charged in November 2006 with "inciting national, racial and religious enmity" after they criticized Islam. (EurasiaNet)
Three people are killed and a fourth injured when a gunman starts shooting at a Chicagoskyscraper. The gunman was then shot dead by a Chicago Police Department SWATsniper. (Chicago SunTimes)
Bushfires in the Australian state of Victoria threaten at least six townships in the Gippsland region with extreme weather conditions over the weekend expected to increase the danger. The Victorian Department of Education closes 24 schools due to threat of fire. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
Two months after it opened, the "The World of Turkmenbashi Tales" themepark in Turkmenistan is made operational. The park, which is named after the Turkmenbashi, Saparmurat Niyazov, is expected to attract more children now that the rides work and all libraries have been closed. (USA Today)
2006 Fijian coup d'état: Media reports that gunfire had been heard near military barracks in Suva have been dismissed as being mistaken identification of a game of cricket. (AFP via OptusNet)
Unidentified gunmen try to assassinate Baha Balousheh, a security chief associated with Fatah, but instead shoot and kill his three children in the Gaza Strip. The assassination attempt may have been a revenge attack for the attempted assassination of Interior MinisterSayid Seyam of Hamas. (BBC)(JTA)
In an interview with Jeff Stein, a national security editor for Congressional Quarterly, Silvestre Reyes, the incoming Chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee incorrectly claims that Al Qaeda is a "predominantly Shiite" organization. When asked if Hezbollah is a Sunni or a Shiite organization, Reyes said "It's hard to keep things in perspective and in the categories." (Fox News)
Vietnam will become the 150th member of the World Trade Organization on January 11, 2007. The move finalises Hanoi's near-12-year wait to join the WTO. (BBC)
Belgian state TV station RTBF shows a spoof news report announcing the secession of Flanders and thus the dissolution of the Belgian state. It further reported the escape of the Belgian Royal Family into exile. The report fools foreign diplomats and panics Belgian viewers. (BBC News)(AP via Yahoo)
Malaysia crowns its thirteenth king - the second youngest ever - in a traditional ceremony in Kuala Lumpur. Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, 44, takes over from outgoing King Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, 63, whose five-year term as monarch ended on December 12. (BBC)
In a survey conducted by the Social Opinion Center of Uzbekistan, 93.7% of respondents said they opposed religious extremism and 3.9% said religious freedom is restricted, but only 39.4% said they had conditions that "satisfied their religious needs." (Interfax)
In the largest such crackdown in American history, U.S. federal immigration authorities raid numerous Swift & Co. meat-processing plants in six U.S. states, arresting nearly 1,300 illegal immigrant employees [1][2][3][4].
The Financial Report of the United States Government for 2006 was released late Friday evening. The combined federal deficits now total more than 400% of GDP. [5]
Egyptian High Court rules that the members of the Baháʼí Faith in Egypt should not receive government Identification cards, thus removing their rights to health care, education, work and other basic rights. (IHT)
Masked gunmen kidnap 30 workers from the Red Crescent in Iraq with six low-level employees of the organisation later being released. (CNN)
A climber who had been lost on Oregon's Mount Hood is found dead in a snow cave minutes after rescuers were exploring a nearby cave with various related equipment inside. (Fox News)
Uzbekistan nearly doubles the price of natural gas it sells to Kyrgyzstan from USD $55 to $100 (£51) per 1,000 cubic meters of gas amid growing tension between the two nations over alleged spying. (BBC News)
Further cases of patients and staff infected with a new strain of MRSA are revealed in a UK hospital after two people die from the superbug. (The Times)
Fresh heavy fighting is reported near the weak Somali government's Baidoa base, amid fears conflict could plunge the entire Horn of Africa into crisis. (BBC)
Thousands of Somali civilians flee their homes as hundreds of troops and trucks move towards the front lines, after a night of artillery and mortar fire. (Aljazeera)
The Islamic Courts Union say they will send ground troops to attack on Saturday, instead of fighting from a distance with heavy weapons as they have been doing so far.(Al Jazeera)
Ethiopian aircraft have dropped bombs and fired missiles on several towns in Somalia in what a government spokesman described as a "counter-attack" against the Islamic Courts Union. (Aljazeera)
Iraqi insurgency: Soldiers from the British Army storm a police headquarters in Basra, Iraq, arresting allegedly corrupt officers, transferring prisoners thought to have been subject to torture, and demolishing the building. [6]
Between 200 and 500 people have been killed in an oil pipeline explosion in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, according to the Red Cross. The blast is believed to have been caused by thieves puncturing the pipeline in an attempt to siphon off fuel into a tanker. (BBC)
War in Somalia: Somalia's Islamist militia are reported to have withdrawn from frontlines after a sustained assault by government forces backed by Ethiopian troops. (BBC)
The Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan votes 50 to 1 in favor of amendments to the Constitution giving greater power to the executive branch after PresidentKurmanbek Bakiyev accuses Parliamentarians of "sabotaging" the political process. The President will now have the power to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister and his cabinet and regional governors. The SNB, the domestic intelligence organization, will report to the President, not the legislature. (Al Jazeera)
A 67-year-old Spanish woman, whose name has not been revealed, is reported to have given birth to twins in Barcelona, becoming the oldest birth mother. (BBC)
Tiki Barber rushes for 234 yards in his final game in the NFL. This is a record for the most rushing yards in a running backs last game, and a New York Giants team record for the most rushing yards in a game.
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