• War in North-West Pakistan:
  • A suicide bomber kills 19 in an attack on Shiites in Balochistan province. (AP via USA Today) (BBC) (Reuters)
• 2012 Central African Republic rebellion:
  • Central African Republic leader François Bozizé promises a national unity government, as rebels advance to within 75 km of the capital Bangui. (BBC) (Reuters)

• Guatemalan Congresswoman Catarina Castor dies in the crash of a private plane in the northwestern Guatemalan province of Quiché, which also killed the pilot and injured the Governor Quiché Department, Heber Cabrera. (Fox News)
• A tour bus crashes off Interstate 84 in northeastern Oregon in the United States, leaving 9 of its passengers dead and 26 injured. (AP via ABC News)

• Mexican marines kill 4 gunmen who tried to steal the body of Angel Enrique Uscanga, a drug boss, in Gulf coast state of Veracruz. (Fox News) (AP via The Guardian)

• U.S. President Barack Obama puts pressure on Republicans to accept a deal aimed at avoiding a tax and spending "fiscal cliff", as the end-of-year deadline looms. (BBC) (Reuters)
• U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is hospitalized after doctors discover a blood clot related to the concussion she suffered earlier this month. (CNN)

• The confirmation of the existence of a subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson is named as 2012 Breakthrough of the Year by the Science magazine. (Science) (Voice of America) (CNN)
• Italian neurologist Rita Levi-Montalcini, the 1986 Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine, dies at the age of 103. (ANSA.it) (BBC) (Bloomberg)
• The Beijing Subway expands to 442 km with the opening of Line 6, making it the longest metro network in the world. (Railway Gazette) (Businessweek)

• The Egyptian Football Association says the launch 2012–13 Egyptian Premier League is postponed for a third time, this time until 1 February. The first round of matches will be played behind closed doors following the Port Said Stadium disaster. (Reuters via Yahoo!)
• Bayern Munich's striker Mario Mandžukić is named as 2012 Croatian Footballer of the Year. (HRSport.net) (Goal.com)
• Deportivo de La Coruña announces that manager José Luis Oltra has been sacked due to a poor start to the 2012–13 La Liga season. (ESPN) (FIFA) (Fox News)