Pope Heavily Saddened by the School Shooting in US.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI says he is praying for those who lost loved ones, especially children, in the U.S. school shootings.
Greeting English-speaking pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, Benedict said he was ''deeply saddened by Friday's senseless violence" in a small Connecticut town. He prayed for consolation for grieving hearts and assured the families of the victims that he is close to them in prayer.
A gunman killed 20 children and six adults at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, leaving people shocked and grieving around the world.

Egypt Votes on its Constitution.

CAIRO — Egyptians endorsed a controversial, Islamist-backed constitution after the first day of voting, but without the support of the capital, according to initial results, raising new doubts that it could bring stability to an increasingly polarized Egypt.
According to newspaper tallies of the votes, 56 percent of Egyptians in the ten governorates who voted on Saturday endorsed the constitution. But in Cairo, 57 percent rejected it. The vote continues Dec. 22 when the remaining 17 governorates are scheduled to vote.
The vote appeared to be as much a referendum on Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the party through which Morsi ascended to the presidency, as the constitution itself.
Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood heralded the new document as the pathway to stability. But the opposition groups – Christians, secularists, liberals and moderates – called it divisive and unrepresentative.
Where voters were once festive and exuberant to take part in past elections, on Saturday the crowds were weary, even those embracing the constitution. This was Egypt’s third election this year and with each vote, the country has only become more divided.
And since the constitutional assembly hastily passed the document earlier this month, nine Egyptians have died in protests, the deadliest political crisis since Morsi’s June election.
There were accusations throughout the day of judges swaying voters, vote rigging, supporters outside telling voters who to choose and voters already listed as having cast ballots when they had not.
There were fewer election monitors Saturday as international groups did not have enough time to send representatives, and opposition groups hurriedly looked for volunteers, creating a cloud of doubt over the process.
The main opposition group, the National Salvation Front, said it had received complaints of “tens of violations.”
Voters stood in long lines as many judges boycotted the process, leading to fewer polling stations. Some accused their opponents of impropriety. Others expressed little hope that the proposed constitution would be an enduring document.
Supporters called it flawed, but the starting point for a stable government. Many said they embraced it because it included provisions that allowed parliament to make changes.

Nigeria governor, 5 others die in Helicopter Crash.

LAGOS, Nigeria -- A navy helicopter crashed Saturday in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta, killing a state governor and five other people, in the latest air disaster to hit Africa's most populous nation, officials said.
Nigeria's presidency said in a statement that the governor of the central Nigerian state of Kaduna, Patrick Yakowa, died in the helicopter crash in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta.
The former national security adviser, General Andrew Azazi, also died in the crash, the statement said. Azazi was fired in June amid growing sectarian violence in Nigeria, but maintained close ties with the government. The other victims were aides to Yakowa and Azazi and the two helicopter pilots, it said.
President Goodluck Jonathan's spokesman, Reuben Abati, said in a statement that their loss was "extremely painful to the entire nation."
He said the president had ordered an investigation to determine the cause of the crash.
The crash occurred at about 3:30 p.m. after the navy helicopter took off from the village of Okoroba in Bayelsa state where officials had gathered to attend the burial of the father of a presidential aide, said Commodore Kabir Aliyu. He said the helicopter was headed for Nigeria's oil capital of Port Harcourt when it crashed in the Nembe area of Bayelsa state.
Aviation disasters remain common in Nigeria, despite efforts in recent years to improve air safety.
In October, a plane made a crash landing in central Nigeria. A state governor and five others sustained injuries but survived.
In June, a Dana Air MD-83 passenger plane crashed into a neighborhood in the commercial capital of Lagos, killing 153 people onboard and at least 10 people on the ground. It was Nigeria's worst air crash in nearly two decades.
In March, a police helicopter carrying a high-ranking police official crashed in the central Nigerian city of Jos, killing four people.

Gunmen kill Nigerian Lawmaker.

GUNMEN on a motorcycle have shot dead a prominent lawmaker in northern Nigeria, police say, in the latest in a series of such attacks in a region hit hard by a radical Islamist group.
It was not clear who carried out the shooting in Kano, Nigeria's second city, on Friday, but Boko Haram Islamists have repeatedly targeted politicians in the north as part of an insurgency that has killed hundreds since 2009.
"I can confirm that Danladi Isa Kademi, a lawmaker at the Kano state house of assembly was shot dead by two gunmen around 6pm (local time) today," said Kano state police spokesman Magaji Majia.
"The gunmen came on a motorcycle and fired several shots into the lawmaker," who was serving as the minority leader in the state assembly.
Kademi was shot outside a guesthouse he owned, Majia said.
Another state politician was killed in similar circumstances last month in Kano, weeks after a prominent retired general, Mohammed Shuwa, was shot dead at his home in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.

18 Children Among 27 Killed in US School Shooting

Eighteen children were killed on Friday morning in a shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, about 65 miles northeast of New York City, according to a person who had been briefed on the shooting. Another law enforcement official said preliminary reports suggested there could be as many as 20 fatalities.
(Past midnight India time, both AP and Reuters were reporting at least 27 deaths, including the 18 children. School staff were among the dead, police said.)
One state official said that an adult gunman was believed to be dead in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The gunman had at least two firearms, the official said.
A student at the school told an NBC affiliate in Connecticut: “I was in the gym and I heard like seven loud booms, and the gym teachers told us to go in the corner and we huddled. We all heard these booming noises, and we started crying. So the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us. Then a police officer told us to run outside.”
Meredith Artley, managing editor of CNN.com quoted a friend who works at the school: “She said three people went out into the hall and only one person came back, the vice principal, who was shot in the leg or the foot, who came crawling back. She cowered under the table and called 911. She never saw the shooting. There must have been a hundred rounds,” Artley said.

The Prestigious UNESCO/Bilbao Prize Clinched by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

South Africa’s Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu was this week awarded the prestigious Unesco/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights.
“In selecting Desmond Tutu, the jury recognized the outstanding role he played in building the new democratic, non-racial South Africa and his invaluable contribution as chairperson of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission … which became a model for other post-conflict societies,” Unesco (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) said in a statement.
The prize recognized Tutu’s “courageous activism, particularly with young people, to promote non-violence and oppose all forms of discrimination and injustice”.
The biennial prize, which comes with a a US$30 000 cheque, was established in 2008 thanks to the City of Bilbao.
French human rights activist Stéphane Hessel was the first laureate, followed by Pakistani human rights campaigner Asma Jahangir in 2010.
South African President, Jacob Zuma, congratulated Tutu, saying he had been “a tireless and visible ambassador of our country all over the world, promoting human rights and justice.
“Even in his retirement he continues to be a beacon of hope, an elder statesman who is highly regarded by the South African people,” Zuma said in a statement.
“He has never veered away from his mission of building a better society. We extend our sincere congratulations on behalf of government.”

ANPP:Opposition Parties to Conclude Merger Plans by 2013.

The ANPP has disclosed that it will conclude its merger arrangement with other opposition political parties by the first quarter of 2013 in order to produce the next president in 2015.
The party said this on Thursday, in Enugu, at its 2012 South-East zonal summit, where it described the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan as a failure.
he party’s National Chairman, Rebuilding and Interparty Contact Committee, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau,a former Governor of Kano State said the 21-man committee would come out with the new identity of the merger by 2013.
Shekarau said the party was already in merger talks with the Congress for Progressive Change, Action Congress of Nigeria, Democratic People’s Party, Governor Rochas Okorocha’s faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, among others.
“The merger plan will be concluded not later than the first quarter of next year so that we would have at least two years to go into every nook and cranny of the country before the 2015 general elections.said Shekarau.
“This committee was put up by the party to catch up with the views, aspirations and visions of ordinary Nigerians for change for the better.
“The plan became necessary since the Goodluck Jonathan administration has failed Nigerians in all sectors. There is no employment for the youth, no security, and no power and above all, the rate corruption has increased and highly placed Nigerians can’t even be touched.”
Shekarau added, “People are clamouring for alternatives. What is happening today is a situation of making the available the desirable since the desirable is not available.
“We are only tolerating the  government at the centre because we don’t currently have an alternative, and since we cannot wait for heaven to provide us with an alternative, we have chosen to take the bull by the horns to build a strong merger to push out Jonathan government in 2015.”
Shekarau had earlier said the committee was in the South-East to gather the observations, criticisms and advice of party members with a view to rebuilding the party.
Meanwhile, he listed the committee terms of references to include looking at the party and recommend ways to make it more attractive, particularly on ways to get party leaders to show more interest in participating in party functions and to exhaustibly discuss issues of party funding.
Others are to identify party leaders who left the party and have remained without joining other parties; with the view to bringing them back into the party and to enter into merger discussions with other political parties as a way of performing better in subsequently among others.
A member of the merger committee, Senator Bukar Ibrahim, expressed optimism that a merger was the only alternative for a substantive change in the 2015 elections.
Ibrahim, currently in the Senate, prayed against Boko Haram menace in the country. He said, “Let us pray that this Boko Haram problem will stop in Nigeria before the next elections otherwise, I do not think there will be any election.”
Some of the members of the party who spoke at the summit supported the merger plan, adding that the party must not lose its value because of the plan.

Breakthrough: Scientists Develop Brain Cells from Human Pee.

In a breakthrough, scientists have engineered brain cells from human pee, a finding that could revolutionise treatments for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
As a person urinates, skin cells are routinely shed from the lining in the kidney, and it's these cells that the researchers reprogrammed into stem cells, which can turn into any type of cell in the body, including brain cells.
The new research could one day provide a quicker way to make brain cells that are unique to an individual, 'LiveScience' reported.
Because the technique relies on urine, which is much easier to get than blood, it could be easier to extract such cells from almost any patient, including children, Marc Lalande, a researcher at the University of Connecticut Health Center told Nature News.
"It's easier to get a child to give a urine sample than to prick them for blood," Lalande said.
Chinese researchers, in the current study, used a newer, safer approach by harvesting skin cells that line the kidneys and are routinely shed in human urine.
They injected new genetic instructions to reprogramme cells to become brain cells. But unlike the viral method, those instructions only stick around temporarily, Brennand said.
"Holes are made in the cell membrane so DNA can enter, but because the DNA doesn't integrate into the genome, but just sits in the cyplasm, it exists transiently," Brennand said.
The reprogramming instructions are therefore eventually lost as the cells divide, Brennand wrote.
With these new genetic instructions, the cells transformed into brain stem cells, which can turn into different types of brain cells. The transformation from kidney cell to brain stem cell took just 12 days, and within a month, the cells had morphed into full-fledged brain cells.

US Ambassador to the UN,Susan Rice, withdraws from the race of Secretary of State.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has withdrew herself from the race of Secretary of State, considering the stiff opposition she might have faced from the opposition Republican Senators during the confirmation process.
The US President Barack Obama has accepted her decision.
"I spoke to Ambassador Susan Rice, and accepted her decision to remove her name from consideration for Secretary of State," Obama said in a statement yesterday.
Rice was said to be Obama's most favourite choice for the nations' top diplomatic post. Hillary Clinton, the current Secretary of State, has announced that she would leave the position at the end of Obama's first term next month.
"I am highly honoured to be considered by you for appointment as Secretary of State. I am fully confident that I could serve our country ably and effectively in that role. However, if nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly – to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities," Rice wrote in a letter to Obama.
"That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country," Rice, who currently has been given a Cabinet-level rank in her capacity as the US Ambassador to the UN, said in her letter dated December 13.
"It is far more important that we devote precious legislative hours and energy to enacting your core goals, including comprehensive immigration reform, balanced deficit reduction, job creation, and maintaining a robust national defence and effective US global leadership. Therefore, I respectfully that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time," Rice said.

Jigawa State Governor Defends Son on Allegations of Money Laundering .

The Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido has claimed  his son, Aminu Sule, who was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  for money laundering is innocent claiming that the money found with his son was not meant to be laundered but was meant for the  treatment of his grand-daughter  in Cairo Egypt. 

In a statement signed by his Director of Press Affairs, Umar Kyari Jitau, the governor said: “I have read from Sahara Reporters that my son, Aminu Sule Lamido, had been arrested at the Malam Aminu Kano Airport for carrying 50, 000 USD on him while on his way to Egypt. 

“For the purpose of removing the notion that he was embarking on money laundering mission on my behalf, that I find it necessary to clarify the allegation. 

“Aminu Sule has a daughter born with a spinal problem and was taken to Cleopatra Hospital in Cairo, Egypt last year. She was in the hospital for three weeks for the treatment and was asked to be returned after three months for the second phase of the treatment and this was done about four months ago. 

“At the end of the second phase of the treatment, they were asked to return to the hospital for final examination after three months. It is on the third leg of the visit that Aminu Sule was arrested by the EFCC while trying to board Egypt air on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at about 11.30pm." But if that is the case where was the child that was meant to be treated and why was she not with her father Aminu? 

North Korea had fired a Long-range Rocket defying International Warnings.

North Korea successfully fired a long-range rocket on Wednesday, defying international warnings as the regime of Kim Jong Un took a big step forward in its quest to develop a nuclear missile.
While the rocket launch will enhance the credentials of young leader Kim, who took power after his father Kim Jong Il's death a year ago, it is also likely to bring fresh sanctions against the country and further complicate relations among North Korea, its neighbors, and the West.
The United States, South Korea and Japan were quick to condemn the morning launch, which they see as a test of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile that could one day threaten the U.S. West Coast. yongyang says the launch was merely a peaceful effort to put a weather satellite into orbit.
Even China, North Korea's closest ally, expressed "regret" that North Korea went ahead with the launch "in spite of the extensive concerns of international community," said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei.
And Russia expressed "deep regret" over the launch, with its Foreign Ministry saying Pyongyang had violated a U.N. Security Council resolution limiting its use of ballistic technology, reports the Reuters news agency.
The White House called the launch "a highly provocative act" that was both a threat to regional security and a violation of U.N. resolutions.
"North Korea is only further isolating itself by engaging in such provocative acts," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in the statement. "Devoting scarce resources to the development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons has not brought it security and acceptance by the international community -- and never will."
The launch's timing came as something of a surprise, after Pyongyang had indicated technical problems might delay it. That it succeeded after several failed attempts was an even greater surprise.
"North Korea will now turn its attention to developing bigger rockets with heavier payloads," said Chae Yeon-seok, a rocket expert at South Korea's state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute. "Its ultimate aim will be putting a nuclear warhead on the tip."
The Unha-3 rocket lifted off just before 10 a.m. local time, and was detected heading south by a South Korean destroyer patrolling the Yellow Sea. Japanese officials said the first rocket stage fell into the Yellow Sea west of the Korean Peninsula; a second stage fell into the Philippine Sea hundreds of miles farther south.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, later confirmed that North Korea did appear to have put an object into space. "Initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit," NORAD said in a statement.
About two hours after the launch, North Korea's state media proclaimed it a success, prompting dancing in the streets of the capital. State media called it a "momentous event" in the country's scientific development.
Rocket tests are seen as crucial to advancing North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions. Pyongyang is thought to have a handful of rudimentary nuclear bombs, but experts believe it lacks the ability to make a warhead small enough to mount on a missile that could threaten the United States.
The success of this launch "allows the North Koreans to determine what kind of delivery vehicle they could use for a potential nuclear warhead," said retired Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton, a weapons expert and intelligence analyst.

NECO to introduce Customized Answer Sheets to Curb Malpractices.

In a bid to reduce the chances of committing examination malpractices,the registrar of the National Examination Council(NECO), Prof Promise Okplala, has made it known that the Council is set to introduce the use of customised answer scripts for its examinations.
The NECO boss told reporters on Tuesday, in Abuja that the customised answer scripts would tackle the challenge of hoarding of remnants of answer scripts by invigilators. He said such “left over scripts’’ are then sold by the supervisors to fraudsters who engaged in various forms of examination malpractice.
According to him, “The Nigeria of those days is not possible in 2012. They (Examination fraudsters) have so many ways of cheating and we, on our part are always coming out with ways to counter them… These customised scripts appear alike, but every paper has a unique secret code. So if you use the answer script for English Language, for instance, to answer Biology, we will fish you out,” he said.
Okplala also explained that the secret code was only known to three people and would only be revealed to the invigilator an hour before the examination. “So we want to let the public know, especially those that are engaged in examination malpractice, do not bother to write outside the hall because your script will be fished out.”

Mike Tyson has undergone a Successful Gender Transplant.

America — Former undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world Mike Tyson is said to be “feeling fine” after undergoing successful gender reassignment surgery at a clinic near Beverley Hills.
Once known as “The Baddest Man on the Planet”, the boxer said having his first menstrual cycle “would be a dream come true”, and that from now on he would be known as Michelle.
“Some people might think it strange that I’m now a woman,” said Tyson, who underwent complete facial feminisation, orbital bone contouring and nasal surgery in an operation lasting over 16 hours.
‘But even at the height of my career, when pound for pound I was regarded as the best fighter in the world, I never lost touch with my feminine side and knew that one day I would grow breasts and have a vagina.’
Iron Mike was given the all-clear for gender reassignment surgery following a successful course in hormone replacement therapy which, in his autobiography, the boxer blamed for his 1996 defeat at the hands of Evander Holyfield.
Although at the time Tyson insisted he was fit enough to carry on with the fight, referee Mitch Halpern stopped the bout in the 11th round saying Tyson looked flushed, was sweating profusely and appeared to be lactating heavily from his left breast.
Tyson, said he hoped being female would finally convince the American people that his “bad-boy” days were over and he had turned over a new leaf.

Mali gets New Prime Minister

Django Sissoko, an official in the presidency, has been named to succeed Cheick Modibo Diarra, who has been under arrest since his resignation.
The appointment was announced on state television.
The role of the military in the forced resignation of Mr Diarra has been condemned by the UN and many countries.
But Capt Amadou Sanogo, who led a coup in March, said Mr Diarra had not been forced to quit and the military had only facilitated his resignation.
Mali has been in disarray for much of the year. Islamist and Tuareg separatists seized control of the north of the country and discontented soldiers staged a coup after the civilian administration was unable to regain control of all of the country.
Mr Traore had promised to appoint a civilian successor to Mr Diarra within 24 hours, but it is uncertain whether the naming of Mr Sissoko will be enough to satisfy international calls for a return to democracy.
The United Nations had threatened to impose sanctions over Monday's arrest and the Security Council said it was ready to take "appropriate measures" against those who undermined Mali's stability.

Nelson Mandela diagnosed with Lung Infection.

South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela is being treated for a lung infection, the president's office has said.
Tests showed a "recurrence of a previous lung infection", presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said.
Mr Mandela is responding to his treatment, Mr Maharaj added.
News of the hospital stay has prompted much concern in South Africa.
The former president is regarded by most South Africans as the father of the nation, having inspired them to fight for democracy.
He led the struggle against white-minority rule before being elected the first black president in democratic elections in 1994.
Despite being imprisoned for 27 years by the apartheid government, after his release he forgave his former enemies and urged South Africans of all races to work together and seek reconciliation.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
The officials who have visited Mr Mandela in hospital since Saturday have all said he is doing well.
He was flown to hospital on Saturday from his home in Qunu village in Eastern Cape province by the military, which is responsible for his healthcare.
Local media reported that the decision to move him was taken so quickly that some family members and his own foundation were initially unaware of it.
But Mr Maharaj has repeatedly said that Mr Mandela is doing well in hospital and there is no cause for alarm.
Mr Mandela was last admitted to hospital in February when he was treated for abdominal pain.
In January 2011, he was treated for a serious chest infection.
While in prison in the 1980s, Mr Mandela was also diagnosed with tuberculosis - his lungs are said to have been damaged when he worked in a prison quarry.
Mr Mandela retired from public life in 2004 and has been rarely seen in public since.

Mali Prime Minister resigns after Arrest by the Junta.

The prime minister of Mali,Cheik Modibo Diarra was on Monday arrested at his home in the capital Bamako, reportedly on the orders of the coup leader Capt Amadou Sanogo.
The prime minister resigned on state television, hours after being arrested by soldiers who were behind a military coup in March.
Tensions between the soldiers who led the coup and the civilian prime minister they were forced to appoint have been mounting.
In his address, Mr Diarra said: "Men and women who are worried about the future of our nation, you are hoping for peace. It's for this reason that I, Cheikh Modibo Diarra, am resigning along with my entire government."
A member of the president's entourage earlier confirmed reports that the prime minister had been arrested, AFP reports.
The source said soldiers had: "smashed in the door of the prime minister's residence and took him away a bit violently".
"They said Captain Sanogo sent them to arrest him," he added.
A spokesman for the group of soldiers, Bakary Mariko, told Reuters that Mr Diarra "wanted to leave the country having incited trouble".
AFP said the prime minister had been due to have a medical check up in France.
Mr Diarra has been leading an interim government of national unity.
It was formed in August in an attempt to restore stability following the coup, which allowed Islamists and Tuareg separatists to seize the entire northern half of the country.
The 60-year-old astrophysicist and premier supports plans to send a west African intervention force into the occupied territory to drive out the extremists.
The United Nations warned on Monday that the north of the country is now "one of the potentially most explosive corners of the world".

Late Strike from Van Persie sinks Manchester City.

Robin van Persie scored an injury-time winner to give Manchester United a 3-2 victory amid ugly scenes at the end of the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium.

Two goals down to a first-half Wayne Rooney double, Manchester City thought they had snatched a point when Pablo Zabaleta followed up Yaya Toure's strike by driving home five minutes from time.

But after Rafael had been fouled on the edge of the area, Van Persie's free-kick flicked off Samir Nasri before cannoning in off the far post.

As United celebrated, Rio Ferdinand was struck by an object which drew blood from a cut close to his eye. A supporter then ran onto the pitch and had to be restrained by Joe Hart before being carted away by stewards.

Van Persie cushioned a delightful return pass from Ashley Young's flicked header, allowing the winger to drive over halfway and drill a low cross to the edge of the area for Rooney, who took the ball to his left before cutting a shot back to the near post that Hart had no chance of keeping out.

And United doubled the lead when Antonio Valencia found an overlapping Rafael with a perfectly-weighted pass which the Brazilian crossed into the danger zone. Rooney, who had been allowed to gallop unopposed from his initial pass, could not believe the space on offer which allowed him to tuck his first-time shot beyond Hart.

Ashley Young had a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside before De Gea produced brilliant saves to deny Carlos Tevez and David Silva, but he was unable to keep out a third strike on goal from Yaya Toure, who calmly rolled Tevez's cut-back into the bottom corner.

Van Persie headed Cleverley's cross over before De Gea somehow kept Silva's shot out at the other end when it flicked off his shoulder and onto the crossbar.

City had the momentum though and when Tevez's corner was half-cleared into Zabaleta's path, the Argentinian thrashed home a ferocious shot through a crowded penalty area.

There was one final twist to come, though, as Van Persie stepped up to end City's 37-match unbeaten run on home soil to send United six points clear at the top.

Hilary Clinton Nominated for Peace Award.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has been nominated for a peace award just days after visiting Ireland.

A short list of five people have been released for the 2012 Tipperary International Peace Award.

Nominated alongside Clinton are Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai who was shot earlier this year, president of the Indian National Congress Sonia Ghandi, former Kenyan journalist John Githongo and Pax Christi International, a non-profit Catholic peace movement.

The award winner will be announced on January 1.

Previous recipients include former South African president Nelson Mandela, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, former US president Bill Clinton and last year's recipients former president of Ireland, Professor Mary McAleese and her husband Senator Martin McAleese.

Peace Convention secretary Martin Quinn said Mrs Clinton joined the US State Department in 2009, after nearly four decades in public service as an advocate, attorney, first lady, and senator.

"Throughout her tenure she has looked towards "smart power" as the strategy for asserting US leadership and values, combining military strength with US capacities in global economics, development aid, and technology," he said.

Mrs Clinton was in Ireland last week where she urged protesting loyalists to end street violence, and held talks on the crisis in Syria.

Nelson Mandela in Hospital for Tests.

South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela has been admitted to hospital in the capital Pretoria to undergo tests, officials say.

The office of President Jacob Zuma said 94-year-old Mr Mandela was doing well and there was "no cause for alarm".

Mr Mandela spent more than two decades in jail under the white minority apartheid regime.

He served as South Africa's first black president between 1994 and 1999, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Mr Mandela has rarely appeared in public since 2004, when he retired from public life.

There is no information yet on what prompted his admission.

"We wish Madiba [Mandela] all the best." says President Zuma in a statement.

"The medical team is assured of our support as they look after and ensure the comfort of our beloved founding president of a free and democratic South Africa."

For millions of South Africans who were liberated from apartheid by the 94-year-old statesman, it is indeed a cause for concern.

Madiba, as he is affectionately called, is a much loved man. He served 27 years in prison fighting for human rights. When he was released in February 1990 he said let bygones be bygones, essentially forgiving his jailers and the many apartheid government ministers who now live freely in a democratic South Africa. This is partly why the white community, too, loves him so much.

In January 2011 he was treated for a serious chest infection, and a year later underwent a diagnostic procedure for an abdominal problem.

Officials said on Saturday that he would need medical attention "from time to time" because of his age.

Egypt's President rescinds the controversial decree.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has rescinded a controversial decree he issued last month that unreasonably expanded his powers. and generated angry protests.

However, a news conference in Cairo was told that a controversial referendum on a draft constitution would still go ahead as planned on 15 December.

Mr Morsi's critics have accused him of acting like a dictator, but he says he is safeguarding the revolution.

He said the extra powers were needed to force through reforms.

Mr Morsi's decree of 22 November stripped the judiciary of any right to challenge his decisions and triggered violent protests on the streets of Cairo.

"The constitutional decree is annulled from this moment," said Selim al-Awa, an Islamist politician acting as a spokesman for a meeting Mr Morsi held with political and public figures on Saturday.

But he said the referendum on a new constitution would go ahead because it was not legally possible for the president to postpone it.

The meeting had been boycotted by the main opposition leaders who had earlier called for their supporters to step up their protests. They want both the decree and the referendum cancelled.

Two dead, eight injured in Central Nairobi blast.

Two people have been killed and eight others injured in an explosion in central Nairobi, the Kenyan Red Cross has said.
This evening's blast was the second in the capital in three days. A blast near a military base on Wednesday wounded eight people.
Both explosions went off in a Somali neighbourhood of Nairobi known as Little Mogadishu. Kenya has seen a series of small-scale explosions over the last year, many from grenades.
Kenyan media reported that a member of parliament was wounded in the most recent attack.
Kenyan troops moved into Somalia in late 2011, prompting al-Shabab militants there to vow revenge attacks inside Kenya.
Al-Shabab sympathisers are suspected in many of the blast attacks, though authorities have not clearly linked all the attacks to al-Shabab or its sympathisers.

Notorious B.I.G Autopsy Released.

US authorities have released a long-sealed post-mortem report showing that rapper Notorious B.I.G. was shot four times in a 1997 drive-by shooting in Los Angeles which remains unsolved.

The report describes one of the shots as fatal to the rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace. That shot tore through his left lung, heart and colon.

The killing has been the subject of police and FBI investigations and remains one of Los Angeles’ highest-profile unsolved homicides. Wallace was killed after leaving a music industry event.

Chief Coroner Investigator Craig Harvey said a security hold placed on the autopsy report’s release was lifted last week.

It would be recalled that Notorious B.I.G died in 1997 as a result of gun shots in Los Angeles.

28 political parties delisted by INEC.

The Independent National Electoral Commision(INEC) has delisted 28 political parties on account of their obvious poor performances in the past general elections in the country. The political parties deregistered are:
1.  African Liberation Party (ALP)  
2.  Action Party of Nigeria (APN)
3.  African Political System (APS)  
4.  Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP) 
5.  Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) 
6.  Community Party of Nigeria (CPN)  
7.  Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA)
8.  Freedom Party of Nigeria (FPN)  
9.  Fresh Democratic Party (FDP)  
10.   Hope Democratic Party (HDP)  
11.   Justice Party (JP)  
12.   Liberal Democratic Party of Nigeria (LDPN)  
13.   Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJ)  
14.   Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD)  
15.   Nigeria Advanced Party (NAP)  
16.   New Democrats (ND)  
17.   National Majority Democratic Party (NMDP)  
18.   National Movement of Progressive Party (NMPP)  
19.   National Reformation Party (NRP)  
20.   National Solidarity Democratic Party (NSDP)  
21.   Progressive Action Congress (PAC) 
22.   Peoples Mandate Party (PMP)  
23.   Peoples Progressive Party (PPP)  
24.   Peoples Redemption Party (PRP)  
25.   People’s Salvation Party (PSP)  
26.   Republican Party of Nigeria (RPN)  
27.   United National Party for Development (UNPD) 
28.   United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP)

Chelsea midfielder,John Mikel Obi,suspended and fined

Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has been handed a three-match ban and fined by the English Football Association for confronting a Premier League referee in the official's changing room.

The Nigeria international approached Mark Clattenburg after the match against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Oct. 28, having been told by a teammate that the ref had racially abused him.
An FA investigation subsequently found Clattenburg had no case to answer.
Mikel admitted a charge of "using threatening and/or abusive and/or insulting words and/or behavior" after the game, and his suspension will start immediately. He has also been fined 60,000 pounds ($96,400).

A Nigerian woman,Folorunsho Alakija edges out Oprah Winfrey to become the richest black woman in the world.

A report by African Business Magazine reported that a Nigerian woman,Folorunsho Alakija has beaten edged out Oprah Winfrey to become the richest black woman in the world. Folorunsho Alakija, a 61-year-old woman from Nigeria who is reportedly worth at least $3.2 billion, or roughly $500 million more than Oprah's $2.7 billion net worth, Ventures Africa reported. Alakija is the founder and owner of Famfa Oil, which owns a 60 per cent interest in OML 127, an offshore oil field that produces roughly 200,000 barrels of oil per day and is worth an estimated $6.44 billion. Folorunsho Alakija, a 61-year-old oil tycoon from Nigeria, is reportedly worth at least $3.3 billion, or $500 million more than Oprah's $2.7 billion net worth. Also a fashion designer and philanthropist, Alakija is married and has four grown sons, as well as one grandchild. She owns at least $100 million in real estate and $46 million private jet, Ventures Africa reported. Born into a wealthy Nigerian family, Alakija started out as a secretary in the mid 1970s at the now defunct International Merchant Bank of Nigeria. Several years later, she quit her job and moved to London, where she studied fashion design. She later returned to Nigeria and launched her fashion line, Supreme Stitches, which caters to upscale, high-society women. While she was building her name as a fashion designer, Alakija in 1993 applied for an Oil Prospecting License -- an expensive permit that allows for oil exploration in a specified area. The Nigerian government granted her request and allocated a 617,000-acre block of land to Alakija for oil exploration -- but she knew nothing about finding and extracting oil. Alakija's sons now run Famfa Oil and her husband, Modupe Alakija, is the chairman of the company. She recently purchased a $102 million property at One Hyde Park in London, as well as a Bombardier Global Express 6000 jet, which she bought earlier this year for $46 million. Her charity, Rose of Sharon Foundation, gives out small grants to widows and orphans.

More deaths and injuries as Protest Continues in Egypt.

At least four people have been killed and over 300 persons injured in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, as supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi clashed near the presidential palace.
Protests and fighting continue into the early morning on Thursday with fires burning in the streets and the opposing sides throwing stones and petrol bombs at each other.

Morsi's opponents chanted,"No to dictatorship,", while their rivals chanted: "Defending Morsi is defending Islam."

Riot police were sent in to break up the violence on Wednesday, in which over 350 people were injured.

The opposition is demanding that the president withdraw a decree giving him absolute powers and shelve a disputed draft constitution that the assembly passed hurriedly last week.

Hundreds of protesters remained in the streets before dawn on Thursday, but that most of Morsi's opponents had retreated.

A small group of opposition activists had been camped outside the palace since Tuesday night, when tens of thousands rallied against the presidential decree.

Supporters of Morsi on the other hand marched to the palace on Wednesday and tore down the opposition's tents. Witnesses said they threw stones and used clubs to attack demonstrators.

Thirty-two people were arrested on Wednesday, according to a statement from the interior ministry.

Protests spread to other cities, and offices of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in Ismailia and Suez were torched.

Both sides blamed the other for starting the clashes: Opposition leaders said Morsi was responsible for the bloodshed, while senior Brotherhood officials accused the opposition of "inciting violence"

Meanwhile, Morsi's prime minister, Hisham Qandil, issued a brief statement calling for calm "to give the opportunity for the efforts being made now to begin a national dialogue" as the president remains out of public view.