UN health workers in Pakistan say a record number of children died from measles related causes in 2012. The World Health Organization said just over 300 children died. Malnourishment of infected children contributed to the high death rate, officials said. Pakistani health authorities have started a measles inoculation program in the worst affected areas.
President Obama has urged the House of Representatives to pass without delay a deal approved by the Senate to avert steep tax rises and budget cuts. The house has reconvened for a special Holiday Session, but it's unclear when a vote might take place. The measures were due to come into effect automatically at the start of the New Year and analysts had warned that they could tip America back into recession. The BBC Washington correspondent says the tax and spending measures are only designed to avert the immediate American economic crisis and fall well short of the grand bargain on deficit reduction that President Obama wanted.
World News from the BBC
Egyptian prosecutors have launched an investigation against a well-known television political satirist Bassem Youssef, accusing him of insulting President Mohammed Morsi. In one program, Bassem Youssef portrayed the President as a Pharaoh, calling him Super Morsi for the way he held onto both executive and legislative powers. The case comes amid increasing worries in Egypt about press freedoms under the new constitution which was controversially pushed through by Mr Morsi and his group the Muslim Brotherhood. Shaimaa Khalil reports.