Former child soldier Mohammed lives a normal life now thanks to ActionAid

Independent Christmas Appeal:

A child is reborn

Kim Sengupta: Mohammed was a child soldier in Afghanistan. He saw his father shot dead and was seen in a martyrdom video. Now he has been given the chance of a normal life.

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The Whitaker's Almanack quiz of 2009

Whitaker's Almanack is the most comprehensive compendium of facts in the English language. So who better then to test your knowledge of 2009?

Santa who held up a bank to pay the elves (and other tales)

In Nashville, Tennessee, Bad Santa has struck, holding up a bank at gunpoint.

Leading article: Happy Christmas

Brown called before Iraq inquiry - after the election

Douglas Alexander and David Miliband will also testify to Chilcot.

New plot hatched to dislodge Brown before election

Obama hoping Senate will accept health reform bill

Pre-breakfast vote should allow First Family to escape Washington snow for Hawaiian sun over Christmas.

David Usborne: Reasons to be cheerful but the hard slog isn't over quite yet

The unfinished business of Romania's revolution

Daniel McLaughlin examines the questions that still trouble Romania.

Leading article: Romania's long march

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We pick our top 100 from the last decade

Daily cartoon
Dave Brown's colourful reflections on the news
Quiz of decade
What happened to the Noughties? Try our prize news quiz

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What Facebook users obsessed about online in 2009
Best in the world
The 50 best rugby players on the planet

Dream Team
FIFA selects the best footballers of 2009
Ten years
A look back at the decade in pictures

Sports quotes
The most scandalous words of the year
Sports vote
Vote for your favourite moments of the decade

Now it's hell on planes, trains and automobiles

Two die as bus crashes on ungritted road in Cornwall / Twelve million expected to take to the roads today

Jail term for father whose balloon trick fooled world

Couple also told to pay $42,000 to cover costs of emergency services

Nicolas Anelka has suffered a torn hamstring and will be missing for two to three weeks

Drogba and Anelka leave striker crisis for Chelsea

Frenchman’s injury and Ivorian’s early call to international duty thrusts novices into spotlight

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Last Night's Television: The Family, Channel 4
The Rules of Film Noir, BBC2

If you're beginning to get Christmas ground-rush (realising that you haven't pulled the ripcord early enough to prevent a hard landing) just be thankful that you're not having to organise an Indian wedding, a social event that involves more pre-planning than a trip to the Moon.

What designer store came to your city this month?

Asia got its first Abercrombie & Fitch store in Tokyo, Missoni found its way into South America with a launch in Sao Paulo, and the CityCenter in Las Vegas finally opened, hosting all major designer stores shopping fans could hope for.

MPC unanimous against printing more money

Bank of England policy committee agrees to keep interest rates at record low

Review of the Year 2009: Discoveries

We saw Darwin in a whole new light

Tony and Cherie Blair have wrapped up the sale of their four-bedroomed former pit manager's house, we're told

Pandora: Windfall for Blairs as Sedgefield home sells

*When Tony and Cherie Blair put their Sedgefield home, "Myrobella", on the market this autumn, property experts predicted a rapid sale despite the steep asking price.

TMZ gossip website to target sports stars

"Premier League boss caught in a brothel!" screamed The Sun. It's a salaciously poised headline offering just enough to whet its readers' appetite, satisfy lawyers and allow the guilty subject some short-term anonymity to plan his defence.

A child is reborn

Kim Sengupta: Mohammed was a child soldier in Afghanistan. He saw his father shot dead and was seen in a martyrdom video. Now he has been given the chance of a normal life.

IoS Christmas Appeal: 'I don't know why I was singled out'

ActionAid, with IoS support, helps all refugees in north-west Pakistan, but women often suffer most..

Biodome plan will bring Congo to Cheshire

Sanctuary for endangered animals would make Chester zoo one of top five in world

Green DIY tutorials: Ideas for staying green during and after the holidays

Government to apologise for thalidomide scandal

Fifty years after thalidomide was released on to the market, leaving its horrific legacy of birth defects, the Government is to apologise for the first time for its role in the world's worst drugs disaster.

Tories would let public schools keep charitable status, says Gove

Education spokesman: Cameron government would protect independent sector

Mandelson: Do your degree in two years

Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri: Ayatollah Khomeini's designated successor who fell out of favour with Iran's revolutionary leader

The most important turning point in the life of Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri came in the late 1980s, when the authorities in Iran brusquely ordered his picture taken down from mosques and government offices.