The Red Sea has a new inhabitant: a smoking island.
The island was created by a wild eruption that occurred in the Red Sea earlier this month. It is made of loose volcanic debris from the eruption, so it may not stick around long.
According to news reports, fishermen witnessed lava fountains reaching up to 90 feet (30 meters) tall on Dec. 19, which is probably the day the eruption began, said Erik Klemetti, a volcanologist at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
Ash plumes were seen emanating from the spot Dec. 20 and Dec. 22 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. The Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA's Aura satellite detected elevated levels of sulfur dioxide, further indicating an eruption. By Dec. 23, what looked like a new island had appeared in the Red Sea off the west coast of Yemen.
"I am surprised about how quickly the island has grown," Klemetti, who writes Wired's Eruptions Blog, told OurAmazingPlanet.
The volcanic activity occurred along the Zubair Group, a collection of small islands that run in a roughly northwest-southeast line. The islands rise from a shield volcano (a kind of volcano built from fluid lava flows) and poke above the sea surface.
Scientists will keep a close eye on the new island to see if it has staying power.
"Many times the islands are ephemeral as they are usually made of loose volcanic debris, so they get destroyed by wave action quite quickly," Klemetti said. But the volcanic activity could outpace the erosion due to the wave action.
Newly emerging islands aren't unheard of. Other newly emerged islands include Surtsey off of Iceland, Anak Krakatau in the caldera of Krakatoa in Indonesia, and Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha`apai in Tonga in the South Pacific.
This story was provided by OurAmazingPlanet, a sister site to SPACE.com. Follow staff writer Brett Israel on Twitter: @btisrael and OurAmazingPlanet at @OAPlanetand onFacebook.
A U.S. Marine veteran is recovering from a Craigslist transaction gone bad in which he was shot and then forced to plug the wounds with this fingers, benefiting from a military background that police say possibly saved his life.
"Thank God that I'm here," Lt. Col. Karl Trenker told ABC News' Miami affiliate WPLG-TV from his hospital bed in Florida. "I could very easily not have survived this."
Trenker, 48, had arranged to meet with a Craigslist buyer in Miramar under the name "Galven" who he believed was interested in buying a men's chain necklace his fiancee had posted on the online marketplace.
Trenker thought he was meeting the man in a well-populated plaza, but it turned out to be an apartment complex. He met two men outside on Dec. 21 and showed them the necklace.
"He just picked it up, looked at it and then just started running. I said, 'Listen, we can just drop this now. You set that thing on the ground, walk away, we're done. Police are going to be on their way in a minute,'" Trenker said.
Instead of dropping the necklace, the two men took off running and Trenker pursued them for several blocks before one of the suspects, Jeff Steele, "turned and fired several shots at him," according to a Broward County Sheriff's Office police report.
"I got shot. I didn't know I was shot as many times as I was shot," Trenker said. "I felt the one go into my chest and then one through my abdomen."
Trenker was hit three or four times and shot at four or five times, Broward County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Dani Moschella said.
"I put my finger in the bullet holes, the big ones, and then I ran back to the car and I made sure the kids were OK and I told them, 'Listen, Dad's been shot. There's an ambulance already on the way,'" Trenker said.
Police said four of Trenker's seven children were in the car and witnessed the alleged robbery and the chase, but not the alleged shooting.
"He called me and said, 'Honey, I've been shot,'" Trenker's fiancee, Tanya Saiz, told WPLG. "I nearly fainted. He saved my life. That would have been me."
Saiz had originally been the one who was planning to meet the purported customer.
Trenker is amazed that after recently returning from a tour of duty in Iraq, he would be injured in his own hometown. "I can't believe this. I go to Iraq, I go to Afghanistan and here I am at home, shot," Trenker said. "It's inconceivable. I don't know how that they can put so little value on life."
Fiancee Saiz told WPLG, "He's been shelled with artillery and survived that, so for this scrawny, skinny little kid to come in and take his necklace, he didn't know the guy was armed.
"If there ever was a time to believe in miracles, this was it, because this was our miracle."
Moschella emphasized that authorities discourage people involved in robberies to pursue thieves. She said that is best left up to law enforcement.
"He could have been killed and that gold chain, of course, isn't worth your life," Moschella said. "This isn't your average victim. His good physical condition and military training may have helped save his life."
Within hours, police had arrested three suspects. Steele, 20, and James Flounory, 20, were each charged with one count of attempted murder and two counts of robbery with a firearm. The third suspect, Andre Gayle, 20, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of marijuana.
Flounory and Steele are in jail without bond and Gayle is out of custody.
The funeral procession for Kim Jong-Il was carried out with military precision and when a handful of dawdlers messed up those regimented lines, they were eliminated. From the photo, that is.
A photo released by the North Korea's state news agency and transmitted by the Germany-based European Pressphoto Agency is slightly different from a photo taken at nearly the identical moment and released by Japanese agency Kyodo News.
The Japanese picture captured a half-dozen men near a camera on a tripod lingering behind the line of mourners on the left side of the boulevard as the motorcade passed by.
In the photo by the North Korean Central News Agency, those men, their camera and their footprints have been digitally removed, restoring absolute order to the crowds lining the boulevard as the cortege passed by.
The alterations were discovered by the New York Times with the help of digital forensics expert Hany Farid of Dartmouth College.
The European Pressphoto Agency, which distributed the doctored North Korea photo, issued a "mandatory kill" for its clients, meaning they were not to use the picture.
The agency granted an exception to ABC News "for the sole purpose of being able to show and explain what had been altered before the picture was provided to international news agencies by KCNA [North Korean Central News Agency]. We consider this as part of a transparent and responsible clarification process."
A European Pressphoto Agency spokeswoman told ABC News, "Any kind of digital manipulation violates EPA's code of ethics."
A-level student Stephen Lawrence was fatally stabbed in south-east London in 1993
The jury in the Stephen Lawrence murder trial is continuing to consider its verdict at the Old Bailey.
The jury, which was first sent out on Thursday, has been given permission to view video evidence as part of its deliberations.
Mr Lawrence, 18, was stabbed in a racist gang attack in Eltham, south-east London in 1993.
Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, deny murder, and say forensic evidence was contaminated.
Mr Justice Treacy has warned members of the jury to set aside any emotion as they come to their verdict.
The trial, which began at the Old Bailey on 14 November, is in its seventh week.
The court is normally closed throughout the week after Christmas but has been specially opened during the holiday period for this case.
During his summing-up on Thursday, the judge, Mr Justice Treacy, told the jury of four women and eight men that they must "reach verdicts on the basis of cool, calm consideration" and stressed that they could take as long as necessary to reach a verdict.
He told the jurors that to reach a verdict they must answer the question of whether they could be sure that new forensic evidence relating to textile fibres, blood and hair came from Mr Lawrence.
Gary Dobson and David Norris arrived at the Old Bailey earlier in a prison van
If so, they have to be sure it was not contaminated and, if that cannot be excluded, they must return a verdict of not guilty.
The judge also said the jury then had to be sure that the defendants took part in the attack on Mr Lawrence and, if so, they intended to kill him or cause serious harm.
Under joint enterprise they can be convicted of murder if they did not inflict the killer blow, but if they knew someone in the group intended to cause serious harm.
Seven officers resigned following complaints about Facebook posts between 2008 and 2010
One police officer was sacked and more than 150 faced disciplinary action over their behaviour on Facebook in a three-year period, figures have shown.
Some used the social networking site to harass ex-partners and ex-colleagues or make comments about officers' wives.
Others suggested they had beaten up members of the public during protests.
The figures, from 41 of the 43 forces in England and Wales, were obtained by the Press Association under the Freedom of Information Act.
Racist comment
Officers were also said to have revealed operations, tried to befriend crime victims or posted inappropriate material.
One officer serving with the Hampshire force was dismissed without notice in 2009 for posting a racist comment on Facebook, the force said. No further details were made available.
The figures cover between 2008 and 2010, but a second officer was sacked earlier this year for referring to another officer as a "grass" and a "liar" on Facebook and harassing a female colleague. No further details on 2011's complaints are available.
As well as those sacked or disciplined, seven officers resigned following complaints. They were two special constables from the Dorset force, and one officer from each of Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Essex, North Wales and South Yorkshire.
Between 2008 and 2010, a total of 187 complaints were made against officers over their use of Facebook, with nine officers given final written warnings, 47 given written warnings, one given a formal warning and another fined.
Additionally, 88 were subject to management action, received guidance or words of advice, while 32 complaints were either withdrawn, found to be unsubstantiated or led to no further action.
One disciplinary outcome in Leicestershire, following comments made on Facebook, was withheld by the force.
Roger Baker, who led a review into police corruption for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), said: "Social networking is seen as a risk by all forces and authorities, but there are limited or inconsistent policies around what is acceptable, what you should do, what you shouldn't do.
"We found a significant blurring between people's professional lives on social networking sites and their private lives which may be in the public domain and private lives which probably should remain extremely private."
Chief Constable Mike Cunningham, of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said while officers have a right to privacy, they should be "aware of the risk they are subject to when they identify themselves as being a member of the service".
Spain has seen a number of large protests against the government's austerity measures
Spain's new conservative government has outlined 8.9bn euros ($11.5bn, £7.5bn) in new spending cuts and tax rises to lower the country's borrowing.
The announcement is the first in a wave of austerity measures, with a total of 16.5bn euros to be cut in 2012.
It also said Spain's 2011 deficit will be about 8% of its output - higher than the 6% seen by the previous government.
The Popular Party last month ousted the Socialists from power at elections amid deep economic gloom.
The government of new Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has vowed to meet Spain's target of reducing the public deficit to 4.4% of gross domestic product in 2012, no matter what.
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria maintained a freeze on public sector wages for another year and ruled out practically all government hiring.
"This is the beginning of the beginning," Ms Saenz de Santamaria said.
"We are facing an extraordinary, unexpected situation, which will force us to take extraordinary and unexpected measures."
Taxes on the wealthiest Spaniards will also be raised for at least two years, raising 6bn euros, she said.
Spain's borrowing costs have jumped in the last year - reaching as high as 6.7% for 10-year debts - as investors feared that Spain might join Greece, the Irish Republic and Portugal in needing a bailout.
The country's economy has shrunk sharply since a housing bubble burst in 2008, and it has an unemployment rate of 21%, the highest in Europe.
The austerity measures have sparked a number of large protests across the country.
30 December 2011Last updated at02:10 ETBy Nick TriggleHealth correspondent, BBC News
Ministers are looking to publish plans for social care reform in the spring
There has been a sharp rise in the cost of council services for elderly and disabled people, Labour has warned.
Data from 93 out of 153 councils in England showed fees for meals on wheels has gone up by 13% over the last two years, while transport rose by 33%.
The survey also found huge regional variations in the charges, which Labour says have become a stealth tax.
The government said local authorities were responsible for non-residential care and changes should be affordable.
Cross-party talks on the future funding of care are to begin in the new year, the BBC understands.
The findings, the result of a freedom of information request by the Labour party, also found differences in the fees levied and the caps on the sum people - mainly the elderly - have to pay.
'Brutal' cuts
Shadow health minister Liz Kendall said the services were a "lifeline" for many people and the increases in home care charges for older and disabled people were "a stealth tax on the most vulnerable in society".
"The government is out-of-touch with the growing crisis in care. Their brutal cuts to funding for local council services are pushing up charges and placing an even greater burden on the people who most need help," she said.
More than 500,000 people receive some form of home help from councils. Some of those will be paying for it while those with savings of below £13,000 get it completely free.
The data showed charges for home care, such as helping washing and dressing, now stood at £13.49 an hour - a rise of 6% in two years.
It means the average person, which is classed as someone getting 10 hours support a week, pays over £7,000 a year if they do not qualify for state help.
Marked differences were also identified in the fees charged from area to area. For example, the London borough of Tower Hamlets provides free personal care, while in Cheshire East it costs more than £20 an hour.
Meanwhile, meals on wheels fees have risen by 13% over the last two years to £3.44 for each meal and transport to places such as day centres had risen to £2.32 per journey on average - an increase of 33% over the same period.
'Lifeline'
Some councils limit the weekly costs people are required to pay, ranging from a cap of £105 per week in Hackney to £900 per week in Brighton and Hove.
David Rogers from the Local Government Association: "Social care system needs urgent reform"
But those caps have been squeezed as well.
In the past two years, four out of 10 councils have increased their caps while another four out of 10 have abolished them altogether.
Councillor David Rogers, of the Local Government Association, said the results highlighted that the current social care system "is not fit for purpose".
"It is under funded and in need of urgent reform," he said.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "Local authorities are responsible for non-residential care. Any charges they choose to make must be fair and affordable."
The findings come as cross-party talks look set to start in the new year about reforming social care.
Ministers have already indicated they want to publish plans for overhauling the current means-tested system in the spring.
But much will depend on whether political consensus can be achieved - and so Labour and government ministers have agreed to hold joint talks about changing the system, the BBC understands.
The last cross-party talks on the future of care funding broke down before the general election.
Sending more money to Liverpool was like making "water flow uphill", the chancellor had said
Margaret Thatcher was urged to abandon Liverpool to "managed decline" by her chancellor, newly-released National Archives files have revealed.
The confidential government documents, made available under the 30-year rule, reveal Cabinet discussions following the 1981 Toxteth riots.
The riots erupted on 3 July, following the arrest of Leroy Alphonse Cooper on Selborne Street.
Eight days of disturbance followed with 460 officers injured.
More than 70 buildings were demolished or burnt down as tensions boiled over between the police and the district's Afro-Caribbean community.
While ministers such as the then Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine, were arguing for regeneration funding to rebuild the riot-hit communities, Chancellor Sir Geoffrey Howe thought it would be a waste of money.
He warned Mrs Thatcher "not to over commit scarce resources to Liverpool".
"I fear that Merseyside is going to be much the hardest nut to crack," he said.
"We do not want to find ourselves concentrating all the limited cash that may have to be made available into Liverpool and having nothing left for possibly more promising areas such as the West Midlands or, even, the North East.
"It would be even more regrettable if some of the brighter ideas for renewing economic activity were to be sown only on relatively stony ground on the banks of the Mersey.
'Hatred of police'
"I cannot help feeling that the option of managed decline is one which we should not forget altogether. We must not expend all our limited resources in trying to make water flow uphill."
Lord Geoffrey Howe: "I wasn't in any sense advocating managed decline"
Sir Geoffrey acknowledged the suggestion that the city could be left to decline was potentially explosive.
"This is not a term for use, even privately," he warned Mrs Thatcher.
But speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, Lord Howe said he thought the records had not accurately reflected his conversations in 1981.
He said: "I don't recall how that argument got into the discussion at all. It certainly doesn't sound very considerate.
"But certainly I think the chancellor is so often arguing against spending money as being the only answer."
As the government sought to respond to the situation, Mr Heseltine was despatched to Liverpool. He reported back by phone to Mrs Thatcher on 25 July.
The cabinet papers note: "Mr Heseltine considered the behaviour of the police in Liverpool 8 to be quite horrifying. They were not acting in a racialist fashion. They treated all suspects in a brutal and arrogant manner."
Mr Heseltine also said there were too many young recruits in the area and the local commander had a "fortress mentality".
Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Mr Heseltine said the idea of abandoning Liverpool was never an option.
Lord Heseltine: "I haven't the slightest doubt that we did the right thing"
He said: "It never really got any traction for the simplest reason that the cabinet minister responsible for so much of the policy that affected the city was me.
"I simply wouldn't countenance that you could say that one of England's great cities, a world city, was going into managed decline here."
He added: "I think we should be judged not by all the correspondence and all the arguments, and all the classic sort of responses you get from the Treasury.
"The judgement should be about did we do the right thing? And I haven't the slightest doubt we did do the right thing - and we learned a lot of lessons."
The cabinet documents also reveal the confidential meetings Margaret Thatcher had with civic, community and church leaders.
In a meeting with church leaders she said she was amazed at the hatred for the police in Liverpool 8.
The then Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool Derek Worlock said although there was a "profound mistrust" of the police this was not the cause of the rioting.
Instead he told her there was a "silent colour bar" in a city where there were no black councillors and just eight black policemen.
'Time bomb ticking'
Lord Alton was a newly elected MP for Edge Hill at the time of the riots.
He told BBC Radio Merseyside: "Many people guessed that this was the impulse driving politics at the time.
"This idea of managed decline, that you can simply let one of the country's great cities slip into the River Mersey and opt for decay rather than renewal, shows an ambivalence to the north of England which still affects politics to this day."
He said that he had made a speech in the Commons warning that there was a "time bomb ticking away in the heart of the city as a result of the massive levels of unemployment".
He added: "It was like creating a museum of horrifying example that if you behaved in the way that they claimed that militants were doing in Liverpool, then the warning was that what was happening to Liverpool will happen to the rest of you.
"So I think it was used for very crude political purposes."
This year was the second warmest on record for the UK, the Met Office says.
Provisional figures show that only 2006, with an average temperature of 9.73C (49.5F), was warmer than 2011's average temperature of 9.62C (49.3F).
This year saw high temperatures for lengthy periods; including the warmest April and spring on record, the second warmest autumn and the warmest October day.
Early figures suggest 2011 is ending with a "close to average" December.
The Met Office said its figures were a mean temperature taken over day and night.
'Unseasonably warm'
The mean temperature for the first 28 days of December was 4.7C (40.5F); a big swing from 2010, says the Met Office, when temperatures were 5C below average for the coldest December on record.
John Prior, national climate manager at the Met Office, said: "While it may have felt mild for many so far this December, temperatures overall have been close to what we would expect.
"It may be that the stark change from last year, which was the coldest December on record for the UK, has led many to think it has been unseasonably warm."
All bar one of the top 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1997 and all the UK's top seven warmest years happened in the past decade.
The warmest temperature recorded this year was 33.1C (91.5F) on Monday 27 June at Gravesend in Kent. The Met Office said it was the warmest temperature recorded in the UK for five years.
Apart from January, the other months that had below-average temperatures were June, July and August.
Gravesend was the location for the warmest October temperature ever, when 29.9C (85.8F) was recorded on 1 October, beating the previous record of 29.4C (84.9F) in the Cambridgeshire town of March on the same day in 1985.
The coldest temperature was -13C (8.6F) at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands on 8 January, while the strongest gust of wind was 165mph (265.5kph), recorded at the highest point of the Cairngorms mountain range on 8 December.
Wettest year
Scotland had its wettest year on record with 73.2in (1859.5mm) of rain, beating a previous record set in 1990.
However, some parts of England have had very low levels of rainfall, according to the Met Office. East Anglia had its second driest year on record with 17.6in (449mm) of rain and the Midlands its third driest with 23in (586.5mm).
On 23 December, the government granted a drought order to South East Water to help it protect Ardingly reservoir in Sussex after water levels dropped to 12% by the end of November. The water company said an "exceptionally dry" September, October and November had "raised the urgency of the situation".
Priceless Barratts magasins sont confrontés à la fermeture
L'administrateur de la chaîne de chaussure troublée inestimable Barratts a dit qu'elle fait 1 610 employés redondants.
Les pertes d'emplois sont à des concessions du détaillant dans les autres magasins au Royaume-Uni et la République d'Irlande.
Deloitte administrateurs, a déclaré la partie de la concession de l'entreprise de vente sera « pas atteint ».
Cependant ils tentent toujours de trouver un acheteur pour 173 magasins de la rue haute du Barratt, qui restent ouvertes. fermetures de magasin 18 ont déjà été annoncés.
Deloitte a déclaré qu'il travaille avec les détenteurs concession, qui comprennent des grands magasins, afin de voir si les employés de l'ancien pourraient être réembauchés dans d'autres parties de leurs entreprises.
Activist Omar al-Khani says Syrian forces attacked protesters in front of the observers
Syrian security forces have reportedly clashed with protesters, leaving at least 10 dead, as tens of thousands took to the streets across the country.
Activists said several people were injured when troops opened fire to disperse a demonstration in Douma, a suburb of the capital, Damascus.
At least five were killed in Deraa and another five in Hama, they added.
The opposition called on people to join rallies to show Arab League monitors the scale of anti-government anger.
The monitors are visiting the country to verify the government's implementation of a peace initiative, which demands an end to all violence, troops pulled off the streets and political prisoners freed.
Up to 40 protesters were reportedly killed on Thursday while awaiting visits from monitors, who fanned out across the country for the first time.
The UN says more than 5,000 have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March. The government says it is fighting "terrorist gangs" and 2,000 security forces personnel have died.
Casualty figures and other information are hard to verify as most foreign media are barred from Syria.
'Nail bombs'
Correspondents say the presence of the monitors has emboldened the protesters.
Following Friday prayers, there were mass rallies in several suburbs of Damascus, the restive central cities of Homs and Hama, and the southern city of Deraa, where the uprising began.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said as many as 250,000 people had taken to the streets in the north-western province of Idlib.
"This Friday is different from any other Friday. It is a transformative step. People are eager to reach the monitors and tell them about their suffering," Abu Hisham, an activist in Hama, told the Reuters news agency.
Activists published photos purportedly showing a mass protest in the city of Hama
Footage of Homs broadcast by al-Jazeera TV showed a huge crowd dancing and shouting: "Revolution, revolution Syria, revolution of glory and freedom Syria."
But a resident of central Damascus, Ram, told the BBC that heavily-armed security forces had been deployed outside his local mosque to intimidate protesters.
"They were daring people. It's the first time that they were showing their guns showing their weapons outside," he said. "So they were telling people: 'Once you just say the word, we will shoot you.'"
In the suburb of Douma, a protest by an estimated 70,000 people was broken up by troops, who fired live rounds and tear gas, activists said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 20 protesters were hurt when "nail bombs" were detonated when they approached the town hall, where Arab League monitors were believed to be based.
The Observatory also said security forces opened fire on demonstrations in Hama and Deraa, killing at least five people in each city.
Another activist group, the Local Co-ordination Committees, said the nationwide death toll on Friday was 32, with nine killed in Hama, six in Deraa, six in Idlib, and four in Tal Kalakh, near the border with Lebanon.
The bodies of five members of the same family were found in the Deir Baalbah area of Homs, a day after they were arrested, it added.
'Barrier of fear broken'
The Arab League observer mission has faced criticism for being led by Sudan's Gen Mustafa al-Dabi, who Amnesty International has accused of carrying out human rights violations in his own country.
But the League says Gen Dabi has full support, and the US has urged detractors to allow the team to finish its work.
Russia's foreign ministry says the first comments from the observers showed the situation in Syria was "reassuring".
The comments came in an interview Gen Dabi gave on Thursday after a visit to Homs.
"Some places looked a bit of a mess but there was nothing frightening," he told Reuters.
But the Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian activist group that documents and organises protests, said that 130 people had been killed since the monitors arrived in the country earlier this week.
The anti-government Free Syrian Army says it has requested a meeting with the observers but received no response.
"We haven't been given any of the [telephone] numbers for the monitors, which we have requested. No one has contacted us either," said Col Riad al-Asaad, who heads a force claiming to be 10,000-strong, many of whom defected from the Syrian army during the uprising.
The rebel commander told Reuters his forces had been ordered to stop all attacks on government troops since the arrival of the observers in the country.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the Arab League's initiative was "the only ray of light" for Syrians.
"The presence of the observers in Homs broke the barrier of fear," he told AFP.
Despite the presence of the Arab monitors - who are being escorted around the country by state security officials - there has been little let-up in the ferocity of the response to protests, correspondents say.
The US State Department and UK foreign office have expressed concern about the continuing violence.
Are you in Syria? Do you have friends or family in Syria? What do you think of the visit by the Arab League monitors? Send us your comments and experiences.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's Foreign Ministry has attacked America's human rights record in its first report on injustice elsewhere in the world, offering examples such as the Guantanamo Bay prison and wrongful death row convictions to paint the U.S. as hypocritical for lecturing other nations on the subject of rights.
"The situation in the United States is a far cry from the ideals that Washington proclaims," says the report released Wednesday.
Moscow has previously reacted angrily to the accusations of human rights breaches that the U.S. State Department has leveled at Russia in its annual reports. The State Department has expressed concern about the violent attacks on rights activists and journalists in Russia, most of which go unpunished. It also has criticized abuses in Russia's Caucasus, including extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and torture.
The 90-page Russian report slams EU nations, Canada and Georgia, but reserves its longest section of 20 pages for what it says are violations by the United States. The report does not cover Asia, Africa or the Middle East, other than a five-page section criticizing the NATO operation in Libya.
Moscow laments the ongoing operation of the "notorious" prison in Guantanamo Bay, where terrorism suspects have been held since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and criticizes President Barack Obama for "legalizing indefinite and extrajudicial custody and the return of court martials."
The report accuses the U.S. of prying into citizens' personal lives and violating the rights of Muslim Americans in the fight against terrorism. It also points to errors made by American courts.
"Judicial errors are the Achilles heel of American justice as concerns capital punishment," the report argues. It notes the roughly 130 people sentenced to death in the past 30 years who were later cleared of the charges, some after they were executed.
The Foreign Ministry also struck back at international criticism of Russia's recent parliamentary election, which independent observers said involved widespread fraud. Outrage over the vote set off a spate of protests led by citizens unhappy with Vladimir Putin's rule.
The report accuses the U.S. of blocking independent candidates from elections and criticizes the practice of allowing governors to nominate senators when a Senate seat is vacated, as when Obama became president. It refers to the conviction this year of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was accused of trying to auction off Obama's Senate seat.
The State Department is reviewing the Russian report, spokesman Mark Toner said. He said such reports can be a "useful mechanism provided that they are produced using objective methodology."
"We certainly don't regard it as interference in our internal affairs when foreign governments, individuals or organizations comment on or criticize U.S. human rights practices," he said, adding later, "In terms of our human rights record, we're an open book."
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Federal police say one of the United States' most-wanted drug traffickers has been arrested at Mexico City's airport.
U.S. authorities offered a reward of up to $5 million for Luis Rodriguez Olivera, or "Whitey." Olivera and his brother Esteban are accused of smuggling tons of cocaine and methamphetamine into Europe and the U.S.
Luis Olivera was indicted in U.S. federal court in 2009 on cocaine-smuggling conspiracy and related charges. Federal police said in a statement that the 39-year-old, red-haired suspect was arrested Tuesday.
His gang was known as "The Blondies." Authorities say it formed temporary allegiances with bigger Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa cartel, the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.
PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — A Florida animal sanctuary says Cheetah, the chimpanzee sidekick in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s, has died at 80. But other accounts call that claim into question.
Debbie Cobb, outreach director at the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, said Wednesday that her grandparents acquired Cheetah around 1960 from "Tarzan" star Johnny Weissmuller and that the chimp appeared in Tarzan films between 1932 and 1934. During that period, Weissmuller made "Tarzan the Ape Man" and "Tarzan and His Mate."
But Cobb offered no documentation, saying it was destroyed in a 1995 fire.
Also, some Hollywood accounts indicate a chimpanzee by the name of Jiggs or Mr. Jiggs played Cheetah alongside Weissmuller early on and died in 1938.
In addition, an 80-year-old chimpanzee would be extraordinarily old, perhaps the oldest ever known. According to many experts and Save the Chimps, another Florida sanctuary, chimpanzees in captivity generally live to between 40 and 60, though Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Fla., says it has one that is around 73.
A similar claim about another chimpanzee that supposedly played second banana to Weissmuller was debunked in 2008 in a Washington Post story.
Writer R.D. Rosen discovered that the primate, which lived in Palm Springs, Calif., was born around 1960, meaning it wasn't oldest enough to have been in the Tarzan movies of Hollywood's Golden Age that starred Olympic swimming star Weissmuller as the vine-swinging, loincloth-wearing Ape Man and Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane.
While a number of chimpanzees played the sidekick role in the Tarzan movies of the 1930s and '40s, Rosen said in an email Wednesday that this latest purported Cheetah looks like a "business-boosting impostor as well."
"I'm afraid any chimp who actually shared a soundstage with Weissmuller and O'Sullivan is long gone," Rosen said.
Cobb said Cheetah died Dec. 24 of kidney failure and was cremated.
"Unfortunately, there was a fire in '95 in which a lot of that documentation burned up," Cobb said. "I'm 51 and I've known him for 51 years. My first remembrance of him coming here was when I was actually 5, and I've known him since then, and he was a full-grown chimp then."
Film historian and Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osbourne said the Cheetah character "was one of the things people loved about the Tarzan movies because he made people laugh. He was always a regular fun part of the movies."
In his time, the Cheetah character was as popular as Rin Tin Tin or Asta, the dog from the "Thin Man" movies, Osbourne said.
"He was a major star," he said.
At the animal sanctuary, Cheetah was outgoing, loved finger painting and liked to see people laugh, Cobb said. But he could also be ill-tempered. Cobb said that when the chimp didn't like what was going on, he would fling feces and other objects.
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Associated Press writers Ben Nuckols in Washington and Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this report.
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Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush
SYDNEY (AP) — A giant saltwater crocodile named Elvis with an apparent affinity for household machinery charged at an Australian reptile park worker Wednesday before stealing his lawn mower . Tim Faulkner , operations manager at the Australian Reptile Park, north of Sydney, was one of three workers tending to the lawn in Elvis' enclosure when he heard reptile keeper Billy Collett yelp. Faulkner looked up to see the 16-foot (5-meter), 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) crocodile lunging out of its lagoon at Collett, who warded the creature off with his mower. "Before we knew it, the croc had the mower above his head," Faulkner said. "He got his jaws around the top of the mower and picked it up and took it underwater with him." The workers quickly left the enclosure. Elvis, meanwhile, showed no signs of relinquishing his new toy and guarded it closely all morning. Eventually, Faulkner realized he had no other choice but to go back for the mower. Collett lured Elvis to the opposite end of the lagoon with a heaping helping of kangaroo meat while Faulkner plunged, fully clothed, into the water. Before grabbing the mower, however, he had to search the bottom of the lagoon for two 3-inch (7-centimeter) teeth Elvis lost during the encounter. He quickly found them and escaped from the pool, unharmed and with mower in tow. Though many may question the wisdom of going after a couple of teeth with a massive crocodile lurking just feet away, Faulkner said finding them was critical. "They clog up the filter systems," he said. And, he said, "They're a nice souvenir." Elvis has a history of crankiness and has lunged at staff before, though this is the first time he has stolen something from one of the workers. The croc was initially captured in the northern Australian city of Darwin, where he had been attacking fishing boats. He was then moved to a crocodile farm, where he proceeded to kill his two crocodile girlfriends. In 2008, he was moved to the reptile park, where he has enjoyed solitary confinement in his own enclosure. "When they are the dominant croc, they're just full of testosterone," Faulkner said. "He's got his beautiful own yard, he wants to be a solitary creature. He's happy." Despite having to give up the lawn mower, Elvis was clearly pleased with himself, Faulkner said. "He's beaten us today ... he's kingpin," Faulkner said. "He's going to be walking around with his chest puffed out all day." As for the staff at the reptile park? "I can't lie, the bosses are not going to be happy about the cost of a new lawn mower," Faulkner said with a laugh. "(But) we love it. No one's injured ... and when you get scared and it all turns out to be good, it's actually quite enjoyable."
Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, some employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory lessons about the contributions of gays and lesbians under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.
Many laws reflect the nation's concerns over immigration, the cost of government and the best way to protect and benefit young people, including regulations on sports concussions.
Alabama, with the country's toughest immigration law, is enacting a key provision requiring all employers who do business with any government entity to use a federal system known as E-Verify to check that all new employees are in the country legally.
Georgia is putting a similar law into effect requiring any business with 500 or more employees to use E-Verify to check the employment eligibility of new hires. The requirement is being phased in, with all employers with more than 10 employees to be included by July 2013.
Supporters said they wanted to deter illegal immigrants from coming to Georgia by making it tougher for them to work. Critics said that changes to immigration law should come at the federal level and that portions of the law already in effect are already hurting Georgia.
"It is destroying Georgia's economy and it is destroying the fabric of our social network in South Georgia," Paul Bridges, mayor of the onion-farming town of Uvalda, said in November. He is part of a lawsuit challenging the new law.
Tennessee will also require businesses to ensure employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S. but exempts employers with five or fewer workers and allows them to keep a copy of the new hire's driver's license instead of using E-Verify.
A South Carolina law would allow officials to yank the operating licenses of businesses that don't check new hires' legal status through E-verify. A federal judge last week blocked parts of the law that would have required police to check the immigration status of criminal suspects or people stopped for traffic violations they think might be in the country illegally, and that would have made it a crime for illegal immigrants to transport or house themselves.
California is also addressing illegal immigration, but with a bill that allows students who entered the country illegally to receive private financial aid at public colleges.
Many laws aim to protect young people. In Colorado, coaches will be required to bench players as young as 11 when they're believed to have suffered a head injury. The young athletes will also need medical clearance to return to play.
The law also requires coaches in public and private schools and even volunteer Little League and Pop Warner football coaches to take free annual online training to recognize the symptoms of a concussion. At least a dozen other states have enacted similar laws with the support of the National Football League.
People 18 and under in Illinois will have to wear seat belts while riding in taxis for school-related purposes, and Illinois school boards can now suspend or expel students who make explicit threats on websites against other students or school employees.
Florida will take control of lunch and other school food programs from the federal government, allowing the state to put more Florida-grown fresh fruit and vegetables on school menus. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam says the change will help children eat healthier.
A California law will add gays and lesbians and people with disabilities to the list of social and ethnic groups whose contributions must be taught in history lessons in public schools. The law also bans teaching materials that reflect poorly on gays or particular religions.
Opponents have filed five potential initiatives to repeal the requirement outright or let parents remove their children while gays' contributions are being taught.
In New Hampshire, a law requiring girls seeking abortions to tell their parents or a judge first was reinstated by conservative Republicans over a gubernatorial veto. The state enacted a similar law eight years ago, but it was never enforced following a series of lawsuits.
In Arkansas, facilities that perform 10 or more nonsurgical abortions a month must be licensed by the state Health Department and be subject to inspections by the department, the same requirements faced by facilities that offer surgical abortions in the state.
It affects two Planned Parenthood facilities that offer the abortion pill, though they're not singled out in the statute.
Among federal laws, a measure Congress passed last week to extend Social Security tax cuts and federal unemployment benefit programs raises insurance fees on new mortgages and refinancings backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration by 0.1 percent beginning Jan. 1.
That covers about 90 percent of them and effectively makes a borrower's monthly payment on a new $200,000 mortgage or refinancing about $17 a month more than it would have been if obtained before the first of the year.
Nevada's 3-month old ban on texting while driving will get tougher, with tickets replacing the warnings that police have issued since the ban took effect Oct. 1. In Pennsylvania, police are preparing to enforce that state's recently enacted ban on texting, scheduled to take effect by spring.
Election law changes in Rhode Island and Tennessee will require voters to present photo ID, a measure that supporters say prevents fraud and that opponents say will make it harder for minorities and the elderly to cast ballots.
In Ohio, a measure that creates one primary in March, instead of two that would have cost the state an extra $15 million, goes into effect later in January.
Ohio is also one of eight states with automatic increases in the minimum wage taking effect Jan. 1. The others, with increases between 28 and 37 cents, are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
A few laws try to address budget woes. In Delaware, new state employees will have to contribute more to their pensions, while state workers hired after Jan. 1 in Nevada will have to pony up for their own health care costs in retirement.
Jan. 1 is the effective date in many states for laws passed during this year's legislative sessions. In others, laws take effect July 1, or 90 days after passage.
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Welsh-Huggins reported from Columbus, Ohio, and can be reached at http://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The U.S. warned Iran Wednesday that it will not tolerate any disruption of naval traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran's navy chief said the Islamic Republic is capable of closing the vital oil route if the West imposes new sanctions targeting Tehran's oil exports.
Iran's Adm. Habibollah Sayyari told state-run Press TV that closing the strait, which is the only sea outlet for the crucial oil fields in and around the Persian Gulf, "is very easy" for his country's naval forces.
It was the second such warning by Iran in two days, reflecting Tehran's concern that the West is about to impose new sanctions that could hit the country's biggest source of revenue, its oil sector. On Tuesday, Vice President Mohamed Reza Rahimi threatened to close the strait if the West imposes such sanctions.
In response, the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet's spokeswoman warned that any disruption at the strait "will not be tolerated."
The spokeswoman, Lt. Rebecca Rebarich, said the U.S. Navy is "always ready to counter malevolent actions to ensure freedom of navigation."
With concern growing over a possible drop-off in Iranian oil supplies if sanctions are imposed, a senior Saudi oil official said Gulf Arab nations are ready to offset any loss of Iranian crude.
That reassurance led to a drop in world oil prices. In New York, benchmark crude fell 77 cents to $100.57 a barrel in morning trading. Brent crude fell 82 cents to $108.45 a barrel in London.
Western nations are growing increasingly impatient with Iran over its nuclear program. The U.S. and its allies have accused Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has denied the charges, saying its program is geared toward generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.
The U.S. Congress has passed a bill banning dealings with the Iran Central Bank, and President Barack Obama has said he will sign it despite his misgivings. Critics warn it could impose hardships on U.S. allies and drive up oil prices.
The bill could impose penalties on foreign firms that do business with Iran's central bank. European and Asian nations import Iranian oil and use its central bank for the transactions.
Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil producer, with an output of about 4 million barrels of oil a day. It relies on oil exports for about 80 percent of its public revenues.
Iran has adopted an aggressive military posture in recent months in response to increasing threats from the U.S. and Israel that they may take military action to stop Iran's nuclear program.
The navy is in the midst of a 10-day drill in international waters near the strategic oil route. The exercises began Saturday and involve submarines, missile drills, torpedoes and drones. The war games cover a 1,250-mile (2,000-kilometer) stretch of sea off the Strait of Hormuz, northern parts of the Indian Ocean and into the Gulf of Aden near the entrance to the Red Sea as a show of strength and could bring Iranian ships into proximity with U.S. Navy vessels in the area.
Iranian media are describing how Iran could move to close the strait, saying the country would use a combination of warships, submarines, speed boats, anti-ship cruise missiles, torpedoes, surface-to-sea missiles and drones to stop ships from sailing through the narrow waterway.
Iran's navy claims it has sonar-evading submarines designed for shallow waters of the Persian Gulf, enabling it to hit passing enemy vessels.
A closure of the strait could temporarily cut off some oil supplies and force shippers to take longer, more expensive routes that would drive oil prices higher. It also potentially opens the door for a military confrontation that would further rattle global oil markets.
Iran claimed a victory this month when it captured an American surveillance drone almost intact. It went public with its possession of the RQ-170 Sentinel to trumpet the downing as a feat of Iran's military in a complicated technological and intelligence battle with the U.S.
American officials have said that U.S. intelligence assessments indicate the drone malfunctioned.
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Additional reporting from Adam Schreck in Dubai, UAE.
Spain's scandal-hit royals revealed their detailed income for the first time Wednesday, showing King Juan Carlos received a salary plus expenses of 292,752 euros ($382,600) in 2011.
The 73-year-old king's state grant of 140,519 euros was supplemented by 152,233 euros to cover expenses for official duties, said the accounts, published on the royals' website http://www.casareal.com.
Prince Felipe, 43, who is married to former television news presenter Princess Letizia, had half of that figure, which would be 70,260 euros in a state grant and 76,117 euros in expenses.
All top salaries including those of the royal family were cut by 15 percent in 2010 and frozen in 2011, a palace official said.
By comparison, Spain's former prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who left office last week had an annual salary of 78,185 euros, far less than the king's.
The publication of the accounts comes as Spain's royal family battles a corruption scandal centred on the king's son-in-law, 43-year-old former Olympic handball player Inaki Urdangarin.
Judges are investigating alleged corruption involving a charitable organisation formerly run by Urdangarin, husband of the king's youngest daughter Cristina.
He receives no money from the state.
The royal household announced it would publish the income details of the king and his family on December 12, the same day that it said Urdangarin would no longer take part in its official activities.
"The king has no obligation under the constitution to publish his accounts. But it is a gesture of transparence brought about without a doubt due to pressure from the media, blogs and politicians which are suspicious of his son-in-law," said Pilar Urbano who has written several books about the royals.
"While the criticism and the suspicions are not against the king or the royal household's budget but are about business deals made by his son-in-law, he feels morally obligated to make a gesture of transparency," she told AFP.
Spain's economic downturn and unemployment rate of 21.52 percent had also fueled pressure for for more openness about the royals' finances.
According to the accounts, Queen Sofia, Princess Letizia and the two princesses Cristina and Elena have no fixed sum but receive expenses for official duties, up to a global maximum of 375,000 euros in 2011.
The overall budget was already public.
The royal budget was frozen in 2010 and then cut by 470,000 euros, or 5.2 percent, to 8.43 million euros in 2011. The royals themselves had reportedly proposed the cut.
Spain's royal family pay taxes on their income.
Juan Carlos was proclaimed king in 1975, two days after the death of dictator General Francisco Franco who had designated him as successor in 1969. He is widely respected for helping to usher in democracy after Franco's death.
Times Square - Everyone Should Go There is a typical example of Rizzi's brightly coloured work
US pop artist James Rizzi, best known for his bright, cartoon-like drawings and 3D constructions, has died aged 61.
Alexander Lieventhal, from Art 28 GmbH & Co in Stuttgart, Germany - which exhibits and sells Rizzi's work - said the artist passed away peacefully at his New York studio on Monday.
"With his art, what you see is what you get," Mr Lieventhal said.
Some of Rizzi's creations include images for German postage stamps and a tourist guide published this year.
"Any child can look at it and understand what he's trying to convey, a celebration of life," Mr Lieventhal added.
The Rizzi-House in Braunschweig, Germany
The Rizzi-House in Braunschweig, northern Germany
A prolific designer - in 1980 he designed the cover for the first album of new wave band, the Tom Tom Club - a side project of Talking Heads' Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz.
He also animated two music videos for the band.
Moving between the worlds of architecture and graphics, Rizzi also designed the Happy Rizzi House - an office building in Germany, the front page of a newspaper in Hamburg and three versions of the New Beetle for Volkswagen in 1999.
In 1996, he became the first official artist for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta and - a year later - the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
In 1998, he was selected to produce official posters for the Fifa World Cup in France.
The artist studied art at the University of Florida, where he developed the three-dimensional technique that helped establish him as a street artist in New York.
Rizzi was due to hand in three separate course work projects for classes in painting, printmaking and sculpture. But, short on time, he combined all three techniques by reprinting his own etchings and building them up in 3D using wire to add depth.
What are you memories James Rizzi? Did you meet or work with him? Send us your memories using the form below.
An EU ban on battery cages comes in to effect on 1 January 2012
A chicken - being described as "Britain's last battery hen" - is to be given a new home in Devon later.
The hen, named Liberty, is being re-housed in time for the EU-wide ban on small, cramped cages.
From 1 January, cages will have to provide enough space for birds to spread their wings, perch and be able to move around.
But the British Hen Welfare Trust said not all EU countries would adhere to the ban.
The ban was brought about after animal welfare campaigners fought for four decades to outlaw battery cages.
Jane Howarth, from the British Hen Welfare Trust, said over December volunteers had re-housed 6,000 battery hens, with just one more to be rehomed.
She said: "She will be sitting in her cage very unaware that we're going to arrive and bring her out. We are looking forward to getting her. She will be living with me."
While she is confident the UK will adhere to the ban, Mrs Howarth and her members have concerns about other countries.
She said: "The British egg industry has really stepped up to the mark and they are ready. But at the moment we're looking at a situation where there could be 80 million hens still in illegal cages in Europe."
The British Hen Welfare Trust said the new cages can hold up to 90 birds, which will have space to spread their wings, perch and be able to go from one end of the cage to the other. The cage will now have to provide 750 square centimetres of space for each bird
The cage must also contain litter, perches and claw-shortening devices.
'Profit from flouting law'
Old-style cages only had 550 square centimetres of space for each bird - which is less than a sheet of A4 paper.
Agriculture Minister Jim Paice said: "It is unacceptable that after the ban on battery cages comes into effect, millions of hens across Europe will still remain in poor conditions.
"We have all had plenty of time to make these changes, but 13 EU nations have not done so. The UK egg industry alone has spent £400million ensuring hens live in better conditions.
"It would be unthinkable if countries continuing to house hens in poor conditions were to profit from flouting the law."
Anti-government protests continue across Syria despite the crackdown
Arab League monitors are visiting three more troubled Syrian cities to check if government forces are complying with a peace plan.
The observers, split into teams of about 10, travelled to Hama, Idlib and Deraa, where anti-government protesters continue to clash with security forces.
Unconfirmed reports say violence has broken out in the Damascus suburb of Douma, also being visited by monitors.
The observers earlier visited Homs - a focal point of the unrest.
The team's leader caused controversy by saying he had seen "nothing frightening" on his visit there.
Sudanese General Mustafa al-Dabi later said he needed more time to make an assessment of the city.
Tear gas
During their visit to Homs, the observers were mobbed by anti-government protesters demanding protection.
Correspondents say they are likely to encounter similar scenes on Thursday when they visit Deraa, Hama and Idlib on the third day of their mission.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP agency that at least two protesters had been shot dead in Douma "as Arab observers arrived at the city hall".
Protesters in Hama - north of Homs - have tried for two days to stage demonstrations in the city centre, only to be dispersed by security forces firing tear gas and live ammunition, reports say.
An activist there, Manhal Abo Baker, told the BBC's World Today programme that it was almost impossible to speak to the observers without the authorities knowing.
"We can't communicate with the inspectors. The inspectors are watched all the time by the regime thugs and the shabiha (militia)," he said.
"If they saw me and saw that I was talking to them... they would run after me and if I was caught I would be dead for sure."
Another activist, Abu Hisham, said people were going down into the streets of Hama to await the delegation, Reuters reported.
Security was heavy and marksmen were seen on rooftops, witnesses said.
Violence is also reported to be continuing in Idlib. In Deraa on Tuesday, rebels shot at an army convoy killing four soldiers.
Although the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began with peaceful demonstrations, many army deserters and civilians have since taken up arms against the government.
The BBC's Jim Muir, in neighbouring Lebanon, says observers are coming under criticism from activists for not being outspoken enough and for being dependent on the government for transport and security.
He says the Arab League is under strong pressure to produce decisive results.
Activists said nearly 40 people died during the first two days of the observers' mission.
Casualty figures and other information are hard to verify as most foreign media are barred from Syria.
Gen Dabi has defended the Arab League mission, saying it is still in its early days.
The US has also urged activists to give Gen Dabi and his team a chance.
China, a key Syrian ally, said on Thursday it welcomed the observers' "objective investigations".
A foreign ministry spokesman said China hoped all parties could work towards "the proper settlement of Syria's crisis", Xinhua news agency reported.
The mission currently consists of 66 observers and is expected to rise to between 200 and 300. It is to assess an initiative - agreed with Damascus after weeks of prevarication - requiring all armed forces to withdraw from areas of conflict.
Damascus has pledged to allow the monitors full freedom of movement.
On Wednesday, Syria released 755 people detained during the uprising. State TV said their "hands were not stained with blood".
The UN says more than 14,000 people are in detention and 5,000 have been killed as a result of the state's crackdown.
Human rights activists believe as many as 40,000 people are being held.
President Assad says government forces are fighting armed gangs and that more than 2,000 security personnel have been killed.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has used his new year message to say that the Labour Party must convince people in 2012 that "optimism can defeat despair".
He said there was an alternative to rising unemployment and years of falling living standards for families.
He said people must not be persuaded "in hard times nothing can be done".
He said Britain needed "profound" change and Labour must "renew and reinvent its mission" and "rise to the challenge" in the year ahead.
"When the challenges facing our country are greatest for a generation, many people feel politics cannot answer their problems. Some believe things would be the same whoever was in charge. And others fear the government is in the grip of forces so powerful that nothing can be done," he said.
"It suits the current Conservative-led government to go along with this idea. Having failed in their promise to make Britain a safe haven, they now say that there is no alternative to rising joblessness and years of falling living standards for working people. It is a counsel of despair.
"When so many are sceptical about politics the easy route for politicians is to join in and accept the cynicism. To say simply that in hard times nothing can be done. But that's not why I came into politics and it's not what the Labour Party stands for.
'The Great Depression'
"My party's mission in 2012 is to show politics can make a difference. To demonstrate that optimism can defeat despair. That politics can rise to meet the challenges Britain faces even when the challenges are so great.
"When those in power say, 'You're going to face five bad years and there is nothing to be done about it,' that is a statement of their values and priorities.
"But neither in Britain, nor across the world, can anyone afford just to stand back and watch unemployment rise, growth stagnate and indeed borrowing go higher as a result.
"When politicians shrug their shoulders in the face of other people's despair, they are not just abdicating responsibility, they are making clear choices. That is as true now as it was in the Great Depression during the 1930s."
Mr Miliband said the autumn statement had been more generous to bankers than to the lowest earners and said Labour would bring in a more "responsible capitalism".
"I believe this country needs profound change, not small change. Not to seek simply a continuation of what Labour did in government but to renew and reinvent our party's mission in response to the urgency of changed times. Everything I have seen and done since I got this job has convinced me I am right to believe that.
"Throughout our country's history, tough times have seen us not lower our sights but raise them. We need equal ambition for the future if we are to avoid our country heading further and faster in the wrong direction: a lost generation of young people, Britain struggling to compete in the world, and greater inequality."
Labour would seek to build an industrial future "beyond financial services", tackling vested interests from banks to utilities that "squeeze living standards" and a "fairer sharing of rewards so that we discourage irresponsibility at the top and the bottom of society".
Mr Miliband's message comes the day after Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg warned that next year "poses many great challenges for everyone".
The BBC's David O'Byrne says the Turkish army claims PKK rebels were the intended target
An air strike by Turkish warplanes near a Kurdish village close to the border with Iraq has left 35 people dead, officials say.
One report said that smugglers had been spotted by unmanned drones and were mistaken for Kurdish rebels.
The attack, on Wednesday night, took place near the village of Uludere in Sirnak province in south-eastern Turkey, according to Dogan news agency.
The Turkish military said it had targeted suspected Kurdish militants.
In a statement, Turkey's general staff said the area attacked on Wednesday night was inside northern Iraq and had no civilian population. It added that the raid was launched following information that the group planned to attack Turkish security bases.
Provincial governor Vahdettin Ozkan said initially that more than 20 people had lost their lives but his office later clarified that 35 had been killed and one wounded.
"A crisis centre is being formed at the scene and prosecutors and security officers were sent there," he told Anatolia news agency.
The mayor of Uludere was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that all the victims had suffered from burns.
Local officials said drums of diesel carried by the group had exploded.
Those killed had been using mules to cross the border when the incident happened, they said. It was also reported that they had been smugglers returning to Turkey from Iraq.
"We were on our way back when the jets began to bomb us," a survivor, Servet Encu, told the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency.
Smuggling of fuel and cigarettes is said to be commonplace between villages along the Iraqi border. But rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have crossed the border into Turkey to stage attacks on Turkish forces.
After 24 Turkish soldiers were killed in PKK raids in October, Turkish forces responded with a series of air and ground attacks.
Stephen Lawrence was attacked by a group of white youths in south-east London
The judge at the Stephen Lawrence murder trial is continuing to sum up the case at the Old Bailey.
Mr Justice Treacy has warned jurors to set aside any emotion as they consider their verdicts. They are expected to start this process later on Thursday.
Mr Lawrence, 18, was stabbed in a racist gang attack in Eltham, south east London in 1993.
Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, deny murder. The defence says the forensic evidence was contaminated.
Mr Lawrence's parents Neville and Doreen are at the Old Bailey, which is normally closed throughout the week after Christmas but has been specially opened during the holiday period for this case.
Mr Justice Treacy has been setting out the key steps that jurors will need to follow in their route to reaching a verdict.
He has covered the attack, the question of contamination, forensics and the defence case in his summing-up.
'Big talk'
On Thursday he said the jury could only consider "bad character" evidence of a police video if jury ruled out the contamination defence first.
They have previously viewed surveillance footage which showed the defendants using violent racist language.
Mr Justice Treacy said: "Does it show violently racist characters not averse to using knives or was it just the big talk of teenage boys?"
The jury must also consider whether the defendents lied about where they were on the night of the murder. Mr Dobson said he was at home with his parents, while Mr Norris's mother told the court he would have been at home.
The judge said Mr Dobson's parents supported his alibi. But he said the jury must ask why Mr Norris' mother had not told the police of his alibi in 1993.
On Wednesday, the judge said the men could be found guilty if they were party to Mr Lawrence's killing - even if they did not strike the fatal blow. He said manslaughter should only be considered if jurors found the pair not guilty of murder.
Mr Justice Treacy said scientific evidence found in a 2007 review of the case was "of no value" if it was proved to have been contaminated.
He told jurors the case was "real life, not a detective novel" and it was unnecessary to tie up loose ends.
Barnardo's said appliances such as fridge freezers cost up to 150% more through rent-to-own deals
Families on low incomes are being exploited by so-called rent-to-own suppliers of household appliances, a children's charity has warned.
Barnardo's said rent-to-own lenders should be forced to display the equivalent High Street price of the product and make interest rates clear.
It said the Office of Fair Trading must address the "morally bankrupt" market.
One leading rent-to-own lender said its services allowed consumers to buy items that may otherwise be too expensive.
Brighthouse said it was a "responsible lender".
"Our rent-to-buy model allows low-income families access to a range of products that they might not otherwise be able to afford," the company said in a statement.
The OFT said that actions needed to force market changes were beyond its remit.
Barnardo's said consumers were paying up to 150% more for some standard household appliances.
It cited a three-year rental arrangement with a well-known weekly payment store that cost £1,074 for a fridge freezer, compared with a High Street price for the same product of £430.
Poverty push
"In these tough economic times, the most vulnerable families in society are being lured into an unaffordable debt trap by a morally-bankrupt lending industry," said Barnardo's chief executive Anne Marie Carrie.
She called on the OFT to protect families from being "unwittingly pushed further into poverty by compelling these unscrupulous lenders to make clear their extortionate rates".
As well as increasing transparency and regulation of rent-to-own companies, she also called on the government and financial services industry to take action.
"[They] need to look at how people on low incomes can get access to mainstream financial services that are fit for purpose so you can get a bank account that has a direct debit facility, so that you're not paying this poverty premium," she told Radio 4's Today programme.
"They're paying it for gas, for electricity and now they're paying it for other basic items like cookers and washing machines."
Wider credit
The OFT said it had looked into the high-cost credit market in June 2010, and made a number of recommendations to the government.
However, it said these would have "limited effect" on the market.
The kinds of action needed to effect real change, such as intervening in the market to expand the availability of credit, were "outside of the OFT's remit".
In June last year, the OFT also looked at pawnbroking, payday loan and home credit businesses. It backed away from recommending price controls on expensive forms of short-term borrowing.
It said although such borrowing was costly, it met a need for people who could not otherwise borrow cash.
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The Italian PM has outlined plans to resolve Italy's financial crisis
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has called for a "united response" to the eurozone debt crisis, as he announced plans to get Italy out of recession.
He added that despite the two recent successful Italian bond auctions, he didn't think that the phase of financial turbulence had finished.
On Thursday, the government raised around 7bn euros ($8.96bn, £5.86bn) of debt.
Interest rates on Italian 10-year bonds were 6.98%, a barely sustainable level.
Mr Monti, speaking at the prime minister's traditional end-of-year press conference, stressed that problems for Italy on the markets were linked to wider difficulties on the European level which required a "united, joint and convincing response" that could also boost growth.
He said his new government was working intensively on preparing a package of measures to get the Italian economy moving again. He will present details of his economic plan to EU leaders on 23 January.
The plan would focus on boosting competition and liberalising the Italian jobs market, Mr Monti said.
"The bond auction went okay, given what is going on in the eurozone, but almost 7% for 10-year paper is very high," said Manoj Ladwa, a trader with ETX Capital.
Italy is the eurozone's third largest economy, but investors worry about its mix of low growth, high debt and spiralling borrowing costs.
It is feared the country might need a bailout like fellow eurozone members Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
When Mr Monti replaced Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister last month, short-term fears of an economic collapse receded, but investors are now waiting for the details of Mr Monti's proposals to try to improve the Italian economy.
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