Three days of mourning are declared in Ivory Coast following a New Year's Eve stampede that killed at least 61 people in Abidjan.

Ten people are crushed to death and 120 injured in Angola as they try to enter an overcrowded stadium for a New Year's Eve vigil, reports say.

Singapore's economy averts a recession, as it reported better-than-expected growth data for the fourth quarter.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is conscious but in a "delicate and complex situation" after a cancer operation in Cuba, his deputy says.

US President Barack Obama hails a deal reached to stave off a looming "fiscal cliff" as "just one step in the broader effort to strengthen the economy".

India's junior Education Minister Shashi Tharoor calls for the Delhi gang-rape victim to be named so she can honoured in a revised anti-rape law.

Asian markets rise after the US House of Representatives passes a deal to stave off the fiscal cliff.

The Portuguese president says that he will send this year's controversial budget to the Constitutional Court to examine its fairness.