UK - The stay-at-home mother is fast becoming consigned to history, according to the latest census figures. Returns showed there are 300,000 fewer than officials had previously estimated, with those who devote their lives to bringing up families now reduced to a tiny minority. Fewer than one in ten women of working age are stay-at-home mothers.

EGYPT - President Mohamed Mursi has won initial backing from Egyptians for a new constitution that he hopes will steer the country out of crisis, but which opponents say is an Islamist charter that tramples on minority rights. A first day of voting in a referendum on the draft basic law resulted in 56.5 percent 'Yes' vote, [Mr] Mursi's political party said. An opposition official conceded that Egyptians voting on Saturday appeared to have backed the measure. Rights groups reported abuses such as polling stations opening late, officials telling people how to vote, and bribery. They also criticized widespread religious campaigning that portrayed "No" voters as heretics.

USA - NYU student Josh Begley is tweeting every reported US drone strike since 2002, and the feed highlights a disturbing tactic employed by the US that is widely considered a war crime. Known as the "double tap," the tactic involves bombing a target multiple times in relatively quick succession, meaning that the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Christof Heyns said that if there are "secondary drone strikes on rescuers who are helping (the injured) after an initial drone attack, those further attacks are a war crime." The US refuses to discuss the merits of its overtly covert drone program, but the reports featured on @dronestream clearly document that US hellfire missiles have intentionally targeted funerals and civilian rescuers.

USA - The loner responsible for the sickening massacre was mentally ill, aggressive and had an unhealthy obsession for violent computer games, it emerged last night. Cowardly Adam Lanza, 20, was driven to carry out the bloody killings after his parents split up and his friends alienated him, reports emerging from America revealed. Chillingly, his favourite video game was said to be a shockingly violent fantasy war game called Dynasty Warriors which is thought to have given him inspiration to act on his darkest thoughts.

USA - Navigation has become treacherous as the worst US drought in half a century brings water levels close to record lows. The worst drought in half a century has brought water levels in the Mississippi close to historic lows and could shut down all shipping in a matter of weeks.

USA/TURKEY - Planned deployment of US-made Patriot missiles in Turkey is a "provocative" action which could bring about "uncalculated" results, Iran's foreign minister said on Sunday. "The deployment of Patriot missiles will achieve nothing but to provoke and, God forbid, result in being forced into an uncalculated action," Ali Akbar Salehi said in remarks reported by the official IRNA news agency. "This is very dangerous for everyone, and even for the future of Europe," he said. At the request of Turkey, NATO has agreed to provide Patriot missiles to bolster its member's border defences amid tensions with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But both Russia and Iran, the most powerful allies of the Assad regime, are opposed to the move.

UK - Liam Fox and Boris Johnson point to emerging public consensus on a new EU-UK relationship centred on the single market. Speaking at a joint Open Europe-RUSI event, former Defence Secretary the Right Honourable Dr Liam Fox argued that: “I believe that a new consensus is beginning to build inside the UK… politicians are [increasingly] beginning to catch up with the public’s attitude which points towards a new, looser and largely economic relationship with the European Union.”

ITALY - When Mario Monti took the helm a year ago, with Italy teetering on the edge of a Greek-style debt crisis, he was welcomed as a savior who could finally put the country back on track. Disgusted with the scandals, corruption and cronyism that had flourished under Silvio Berlusconi, workers and businessmen at first meekly accepted the technocrat premier's higher taxes and harsh pension reform, confident he would guide them out of the euro zone debt storm into calmer waters. A year later, after [Mr] Monti announced his resignation, many are wondering whether it was worth the pain as Italy faces an uncertain political future still mired in recession.

UK - David Cameron has been told he cannot “repatriate” powers from Brussels to Britain because membership of the European Union is “for life”. The French President, Francois Hollande, declared that Europe is not “a la carte” like a menu from which member states can pick and choose their powers. He issued his rebuke to the Prime Minister as Mr Cameron insisted he would fight for a “better deal for Britain” and seek to take back certain powers from Europe. Downing Street was not impressed by the French President's intervention.

BRUSSELS, EUROPE - EU leaders have agreed on a roadmap for eurozone integration beyond the deal on centralised banking supervision, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. Specific dates have not yet been agreed for the phases of integration. But the EU summit chairman, Herman Van Rompuy, said a deal should be reached next year on a joint resolution scheme for winding up failed banks. UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the eurozone countries were committed to protecting the euro, but deeper integration involved big sovereignty issues. "I personally believe Britain won't ever join, certainly not while I'm prime minister," he said.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - The Western Wall and the State of Israel will forever belong to the Jews, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night, as he lit the eight candles of Hanukkah at the Wall, in Jerusalem’s Old City. Dating from the Second Temple era, the Western Wall, or Kotel, is the only remnant of the outer wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple, the holiest site in Judaism.“I want to tell them from the closest possible place to the [Hanukkah] miracle of the jar of oil: The Western Wall has been ours for 3,000 years, and it and the State of Israel will be ours forever,” [Mr] Netanyahu said.

USA - The Journal Reports that in March a debate was had within the White House around whether a “dragnet” of citizen records should be created. The changes also allow databases of US civilian information to be given to foreign governments for analysis of their own. In effect, US and foreign governments would be using the information to look for clues that people might commit future crimes. “It’s breathtaking” in its scope, said a former senior administration official familiar with the White House debate.

PHILIPINES - The number of people killed after Typhoon Bopha struck the southern Philippines has risen to more than 1,000, officials say. With nearly 850 people still missing, the toll is likely to rise further, Civil Defence chief Benito Ramos said. The storm struck the Philippines on 4 December, with the southern island of Mindanao worst affected. Many of those still unaccounted for are fishermen who went to sea before the storm hit. The storm displaced hundreds of thousands of people and caused severe damage to property and infrastructure.

USA - Today, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an ardent gun control advocate, moved to politicize the monstrous school shooting in Connecticut, issuing the following statement: "With all the carnage from gun violence in our country, it’s still almost impossible to believe that a mass shooting in a kindergarten class could happen. It has come to that. Not even kindergarteners learning their A,B,Cs are safe.

BEIJING, CHINA - A knife-wielding man slashed 22 children and an adult at an elementary school in central China on Friday, state media reported, the latest in a series of attacks on schoolchildren in the country. The man attacked the children at the gate of a school in Chenpeng village in Henan province, the Xinhua news agency reported. There have been a series of attacks on schools and schoolchildren around China in recent years. The rash of violence has prompted public calls for more measures to protect the young in a country where many couples only have one child.