Benghazi attack report says security was grossly inadequate
Hillary Clinton accepts finding that state department did poor job of protecting embassy where ambassador and three others died
Systematic management and leadership failures at the US state department led to "grossly" inadequate security at the embassy in Benghazi, Libya, where the American ambassador was killed along with three others, an independent panel has found.
The attack on 11 September killed mission head Chris Stevens, information specialist Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods who were contractors working for the CIA. Stevens's killing was the first of a US ambassador since 1988.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, administration officials linked the attack to the spreading protests over an anti-Islamic film made in the US that had begun in Cairo, Egypt, earlier that day.
ELECTIONS
Presidential polls open in South Korea
South Koreans have started voting in a poll that could see the country elect its first female leader. The daughter of a Southern dictator is up against the son of North Korean refugees in a race that's too close to call.
Ruling conservative party candidate Park Geun-Hye was locked together with her liberal rival Moon Jae-In in opinion polls prior to Wednesday's voting.
Polling booths opened in the early hours of the morning in Asia, amid temperatures around -10 degrees Celsius (14 Fahrenheit).
"It's freezing cold but I plead with the people to come out and vote to open a new era for this country," Park said while casting her ballot in Seoul.
Ireland legalises abortion to protect mothers
December 19, 2012 - 9:16AM
Bruno Waterfield
Ireland is to legalise abortions when the mother's life is at risk, including when she is suicidal, following the death of a woman who was refused the procedure while undergoing a miscarriage.
Ireland's cabinet took the decision on Tuesday after a public outcry over the death of Savita Halappanavar, 31. She died after her repeated requests for an abortion were refused by doctors who reportedly told her: "This is a Catholic country."
The government is committed to ensuring that the safety of pregnant women in Ireland is maintained and strengthened.Dr James Reilly, health minister
The government has decided to repeal the legislation that criminalises abortion and to introduce regulations setting out when doctors can perform the procedure. This will be when a woman's life is regarded as being at risk, including the threat of suicide.
ICC acquits Congolese ex-militia boss of war crimes
The ICC has acquitted Congolese ex-militia boss Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui of war crimes and ordered his immediate release.
The International Criminal Court announced its decision on Tuesday, saying prosecutors failed to prove Ngudjolo's commanding role in the murder of 200 people in a 2003 attack on a village using child soldiers.
"The chamber acquits Mathieu Ngudjolo of all the crimes against him. The chamber orders ... the immediate release of Mr Ngudjolo," presiding Judge Bruno Cotte said.
Cotte stressed the acquittal did not mean the court felt no crimes were committed in Bogoro village but that witness testimony had been "too contradictory and too hazy".
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Merida, Mexico, says: Hope to see you after the world doesn't end
The city on the Yucatan Peninsula assures those who ask that the Maya calendar is not predicting Earth's end Dec. 21. And invites them to visit if they survive.
By Daniel Hernandez, Los Angeles Times
MERIDA, Mexico — Contrary to any Hollywood doomsday scenarios or a variety of less-than-optimistic New Agetheories, the world will not end Friday, Mexican tourism authorities and Merida residents assure anyone who asks.
Yes, the end of the 13th baktun cycle in the so-called Long Count of the Maya calendar corresponds more or less with Dec. 21, this year's winter solstice.
But the event merely signals the "end of an era" and the start of a new one, locals and scientists say. Or, as some academic Mayanists have explained, the end of the 13th baktun — a date deciphered from totem glyphs and written numerically as 13.0.0.0.0. — is a sort of "resetting of the odometer" of time.
19 December 2012 Last updated at 00:24 GMT
Train hopping: Why do hobos risk their lives to ride the rails?
Train hopping is a long-established tradition in the US, particularly popular in the Great Depression when the jobless took to the rails to find work. But why would people risk their lives hitching a ride on a freight train today?
Train hopping, sometimes referred to as freight hopping, is against the law in all US states. But the practice continues.
Homeless hobos, immigrant workers, mostly from South America, and thrill-seeking US citizens surreptitiously all hitch rides, despite the increased use of electronic surveillance and tightened security around rail yards.
"My name's Tuck. I rode the trains for like 25 years, man, 24 hours a day."
Tuck is one of those who went in search of work, and ended up seeing the world.
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