Back in work? Here's the news you missed over the Christmas break

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2013/jan/02/back-in-work-news-missed-christmas

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Are you back in the office after a nice break from the news? Pretty sure you caught every edible treat, but wondering what you may have missed in the news? Well here's a quick roundup to bring you up to speed.

The big rolling stories of the festive period were the saga of the fiscal cliff and the death of a gang rape victim in India. The repercussions of these continue. But here's some other stories you may have missed over the past 10 days:

In the UK

• City council leaders said deeper cuts would spark civil unrest

and

• Family judges sought protection from parents in 'unsafe' courts

Thinking about Europe

• David Cameron's moves could make EU fall apart, warned Herman Van Rompuy

and if he doesn't quite achieve that

• Cameron 'risks leading Britain out of EU by accident', said a veteran of the Maastricht treaty negotiations

Nick Clegg had other ideas, warning Cameron

• 'Britain must stay in Europe'

While in Europe itself …

• France's 75% 'supertax' was thrown out as unfair and unconstitutional

and

• Germany is 'exporting' old and sick to foreign care homes

Further afield

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, in Aleppo, found

• Syrian rebels sidetracked by scramble for spoils of war

while

• Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made his political debut at emotional rally in Pakistan

and

• UK was urged to spend Afghan withdrawal savings on defence

In lighter news

• New Year honours celebrated Olympians and Paralympians

and, more surprisingly

• The man who presided over the FSA during the banking crisis was rewarded too

Meanwhile

• Michael Buerk savaged the BBC's coverage of Queen's diamond jubilee

and

• Peter Higgs criticised Richard Dawkins over anti-religious 'fundamentalism'

while

• A petition urged the US to keep Piers Morgan 'because UK doesn't want him'

In somewhat more historic news …

Archives revealed

• Margaret Thatcher's role in a plan to dismantle the welfare state

and

• Thatcher was ready for a Falkland Islands deal

… and in the biggest never ending story of 2012

• Gangnam Style passed 1bn views on YouTube

Meanwhile in notable deaths, births and marriages …

The festive season saw the passing of

• Former Times editor William Rees-Mogg

• General (Stormin') Norman Schwarzkopf

and

• Cricket great Tony Greig and broadcaster Christopher Martin-Jenkins

while

• Kate Winslet wed her third husband, Ned Rocknroll

There were no particularly high-profile births, although

• Kanye West announced that Kim Kardashian was pregnant

Also in the news<br />

• Mark Zuckerberg's sister learned a life lesson (and a bit about privacy) after a Facebook photo flap

and

• Facebook stopped its new year message tool after a student was able to read private messages meant for other users

while

• Apple boss Tim Cook's pay package shrank by 99%

That's certainly enough news.

Here's some of the best comment pieces you might have missed too:

• Yair Rosenberg: Homeland is not Islamophobic despite what some critics claim

• George Monbiot: The day my inner anarchist lost out to the bourgeois me<br />

• David Mitchell: I love not driving, and instinct tells me I'm a safer man for it

• Richard Seymour: Dental nurse sacked for being irresistible – all perfectly legal in Iowa

• Michael Wolff: The truth about Zero Dark Thirty – this torture fantasy degrades us all

and

• Priyamvada Gopal in Bangalore: After the death of the Delhi rape victim, the fight for women's rights must go on

And in sport …

• Transfer window: Premier League club-by-club guide

• The 100 best footballers in the world - interactive

and

• After 16 years in front of the TV, Martin Kelner pulled the plug

Finally, in video

• A shark sighting closes Sydney's Bondi Beach

• A Russian plane crash is caught on camera

and

• Pussy Riot's Yekaterina Samutsevich looks back

That's you up to date. But if even that's not enough to occupy you, you might also want to check out …

The best of the best of 2012

• 2012 in viral videos

• The best goals of 2012

• The best apps of 2012

• Steve Bell's year in cartoons

• Science Weekly podcast: 2012, a year of discoveries and exploration

Here's to a busy 2013!