The White House has unveiled this year’s Christmas card featuring Obamas’ dog Bo, as well as the latest addition to the family, Sunny.
“As we gather around this season, may the warmth and joy of the holidays fill your home,” the card read.
The White House Christmas card is signed by President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, their daughters Sasha and Malia and the two presidential dogs, Sunny and Bo.
Mary Barra replaces Daniel Akerson, and is the first woman to run a US carmaker.
Daniel Akerson, who is also currently chairman of GM, will leave both of his posts in mid-January. His wife has recently been diagnosed with advanced cancer.
Earlier this week the US government sold its remaining shares in GM, the world’s second biggest carmaker.
Overall, GM lost around $10 billion on its bailout of the carmaker in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009.
The US Treasury spent $49.5 billion bailing out GM, and took a 61% stake in the company.
Mary Barra has been in charge of design and engineering, and before that was head of human resources at the company.
She joined GM as a student in 1980.
In a message to the company’s employees on Tuesday, Daniel Akerson said: “I will leave with great satisfaction in what we have accomplished, great optimism over what is ahead and great pride that we are restoring General Motors as America’s standard bearer in the global auto industry.”
Current CFO, Dan Ammann, was named GM president. He will also take responsibility for the Cadillac and Chevrolet brands.
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More than 100 independent feature films will premiere at the event next month in Utah, along with 11 documentaries.
Films on offer include coming-of-age drama Laggies starring Keira Knightley and Sam Rockwell.
Comedy Frank, about a wannabe musician, stars Michael Fassbender alongside Maggie Gyllenhall.
Another big hitter – A Most Wanted Man – is directed by Anton Corbijn and stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe and Robin Wright.
It is based on the John le Carre bestseller of the same name.
The Trip to Italy, directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, reunites the comedy pair after their six-episode BBC mini-series The Trip.
It followed the duo – who spent a significant amount of the time bickering – as they travelled around England reviewing restaurants for a national newspaper.
Next year marks the 30th anniversary of the Sundance Film Festival and the second consecutive year that submissions have exceeded 12,000 films.
Documentaries premiering at Sundance include To Be Takai, about Star Trek actor and activist George Takei, who journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise.
Life Itself recounts the surprising and entertaining life of renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert, while WHITEY: United States of America v. James J Bulger, looks at the relationship between the infamous gangster James “Whitey” Bulger and the FBI and Department of Justice.
The closing night film is Rudderless. Directed by William H Macy, it tells the story of a grieving father who stumbles upon a box of his deceased son’s original music before forming a rock ‘n’ roll band that changes his life.
The cast includes Billy Crudup, Anton Yelchin, Felicity Huffman, Selena Gomez, Laurence Fishburne and Macy.
The 2014 festival takes place between 16 and 26 January in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
Garth Brooks, 51, retired from recording new music and touring in 2001 so that he could see his three daughters grow up.
“My children are off on their own, so the guilt of not being there … I’m a phone-call dad now,” the singer told Good Morning America.
Garth Brooks’ hits include The Thunder Rolls and Unanswered Prayers. He has sold more than 125 million albums.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA,) Garth Brooks is the second best-selling solo albums artist of all time in the US behind Elvis Presley
“It sure feels good to get to throw your hat back in the ring,” Garth Brooks told GMA.
The country star said the tour would take place in 2014 although there was no detail on where it would take him.
Garth Brooks, who has sold more than 125 million albums, played occasional concerts during his hiatus but never went on tour. He began performing concerts in Las Vegas in 2009.
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Based on the Red Riding Hood fairytale wolf, the toy flew off the shelves as people queued up for it from morning.
An anti-government protester is said to have thrown the toy at Hong Kong’s leader CY Leung over the weekend.
Its Chinese name sounds similar to a Cantonese profanity and critics have long nicknamed Mr Leung “the wolf”.
A spokesman for IKEA Hong Kong said that customers arrived at the stores to queue for the toy at 07:00 local time and that by 11:10 the wolf had sold out.
IKEA did not comment on any political message being read into the small stuffed animal, but it did say that none of its products in Hong Kong, including its soft toy range, had Chinese names.
The wolf in question is called Lufsig in Hong Kong as it is elsewhere in the world.
However, IKEA’s website for mainland China features the toy with a Chinese name, which sounds similar to a profanity in the Cantonese dialect.
CY Leung has long been labeled “the wolf” by his opponents because his name resembles the Chinese word for wolf and they accuse him of being cunning.
The toy even has its own Facebook page featuring spoof pictures of the wolf in various locations, including one with an image of the chief executive’s face superimposed on top.
CY Leung was appointed as Hong Kong’s chief executive by a committee last year and has suffered from extremely poor popularity ratings.
Among his tasks will be introducing a blueprint for universal suffrage allowing Hong Kong residents to choose his successor in 2017.
His critics are skeptical of his ability to manage this process because of his ties with Beijing.
Meanwhile IKEA says that new stock of Lufsig is expected in early January 2014.
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Tens of thousands of mourners and almost 100 foreign leaders attended the event at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg.
World leaders attending Nelson Mandela’s memorial service:
– US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as well as former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter
– UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his predecessor Kofi Annan.
– UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Labour Party leader Ed Miliband
– French President Francois Hollande and his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy
– German President Joachim Gauck
– Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe
– Cuban President Raul Castro
– Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff
– Indian President Pranab Mukherjee
– Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba
– Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao
– President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas
– Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta
– Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
– Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Prince Felipe
– Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
– Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta
– Afghan President Hamid Karzai
– Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain
– Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa
– The Netherlands’ King Willem-Alexander and Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans
– Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and Prime Minister Erna Solberg
– European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Union Council President Herman Van Rompuy
– Top Vatican official Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana
– British entrepreneur Richard Branson
– US talk show host Oprah Winfrey
– U2 singer and activist Bono
– Musician Peter Gabriel, who brought the idea of The Elders – a group of former leaders – to Nelson Mandela
– British Model Naomi Campbell
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The service is being held in front of a vociferous crowd in the FNB stadium in Johannesburg.
President Barack Obama said Nelson Mandela was a “giant of history”, adding: “The world thanks you for sharing Nelson Mandela with us.”
Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president died last Thursday, aged 95.
South Africa is observing a series of commemorations leading up to the funeral on Sunday.
The memorial service is one of the biggest gatherings of international dignitaries in recent years.
There had been fears people would be turned away, but the heavy rain left areas of the 95,000 capacity stadium empty.
Introducing the proceedings, the master of ceremonies, Cyril Ramaphosa, said that Nelson Mandela’s “long walk is over… and he can finally rest”.
The first speaker, friend and fellow Robben Island inmate Andrew Mlangeni, said Neslon Mandela had “created hope when there was none”.
Barack Obama delivered his address, carried on the White House web site, to huge cheers. He said: “It is hard to eulogize any man… how much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation towards justice.”
He said Nelson Mandela had taught the world the power of action and the power of ideas, and that it had taken a man like Mandela to free not only the prisoner but also the jailer.
Barack Obama said: “We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. While I will always fall short of Madiba [Nelson Mandela’s clan name], he makes me want to be a better man.”
On his way to the podium, Barack Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castro, an unprecedented gesture between the leaders of two nations that have been at loggerheads for more than half a century.
In his address, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said there was “sorrow for a mighty loss and celebration of a mighty life”.
Ban Ki-moon said: “South Africa has lost a hero, it has lost a father… He was one of our greatest teachers. He taught by example. He sacrificed so much and was willing to give up all he had for freedom and democracy.”
Nelson Mandela’s widow, Graca Machel, arrived at the stadium to huge cheers as she was shown on the big screen.
There were cheers too of “Winnie! Winnie!” for ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who hugged and kissed Graca Machel.
However, there were boos for current President Jacob Zuma.
He will make the keynote address. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao, President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia and Indian President Pranab Mukherjee are also making speeches.
Raul Castro will also speak, reflecting the fact that under his brother, Fidel, Cuba was a staunch critic of apartheid, and Nelson Mandela had expressed gratitude for that support.
The memorial service, which had been due to start at 11:00, will last about four hours, according to the official programme.
Correspondents say that the heavy rain, security and transport issues and the fact that Tuesday was not declared a national holiday have kept the numbers down.
Nelson Mandela’s body will lie in state in Pretoria on the following three days and a state funeral takes place on Sunday in his home village of Qunu in Eastern Cape province.
More than 100 current or former heads of state or government will attend the funeral or the national memorial, according to the South African government.
Among those not attending the memorial events will be Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who cited high travel and security costs.
However, there will be suspicion that he wishes to avoid the potential for anti-Israeli protests.
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The Sao Paulo truth commission, a group of councilors from the city’s assembly, is due to present a full report into the case on Tuesday.
The proof of the alleged conspiracy was found after analyzing more than 90 pieces of evidence, the group says.
At the time, the former president had just regained his political rights.
Juscelino Kubitschek, who famously relocated Brazil’s capital from Rio de Janeiro to the especially designed Brasilia, died on August 22, 1976, following a car accident on a motorway between Rio and Sao Paulo.
For decades, there have been rumors that JK, as the Brazilian President from 1956 to 1961 was known, had been the victim of a murder conspiracy.
The 73-year-old centrist politician was a popular opposition leader.
The report of the Sao Paulo Truth Commission presents the findings of an investigation which allegedly uncovered fake records, procedural errors and contradictions.
“We have no doubt that Juscelino Kubitschek was a victim of a conspiracy, a plot and a political crime. There is documentary proof and important testimonies in the more than 29 pages of the report,” Sao Paulo councilor Gilberto Natalini told the news website Terra.
Among the evidence is testimony from the driver of the bus that crashed into the former president’s car.
He is said to have told the investigators he had been offered money in exchange for admitting guilt for the accident.
Another witness reportedly told the commission he briefly saw a bullet hole in the head of Juscelino Kubitschek’s driver during an exhumation procedure in 1996.
A national Truth Commission of the Brazilian Congress is also looking into the death of Juscelino Kubitschek and a number of other human rights abuses that allegedly took place during Brazil’s military rule.
The remains of Juscelino Kubitschek’s successor, Joao Goulart, another opposition leader, were recently exhumed as part of the investigations into whether he was murdered.
The commission’s findings are not expected before May 2014.
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The lowest temperature was recorded on August 10, 2010, and has been measured by satellite to be a bitter minus 93.2 Celsius (-135.8F).
Researchers say it is a preliminary figure, and as they refine data from various space-borne thermal sensors it is quite likely they will determine an even colder figure by a degree or so.
The previous record low of minus 89.2C was also measured in Antarctica.
This occurred at the Russian Vostok base on July 21, 1983.
It should be stated this was an air temperature taken a couple of metres above the surface, and the satellite figure is the “skin” temperature of the ice surface itself. But the corresponding air temperature would almost certainly beat the Vostok mark.
“These very low temperatures are hard to imagine, I know,” said Ted Scambos from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.
Dr. Ted Scambos was speaking in San Francisco at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, the largest annual gathering of Earth scientists.
He and colleagues have been examining the data records from polar orbiting satellites stretching back some 30 years.
They find the coldest moments in Antarctica occur in the dark winter months at high elevations, where the extremely dry and clear air allows heat to be radiated very efficiently out into space.
It is evident that many super-cold spots are “strung out like pearls” along the ridges that link the high points, or domes, in the interior of the continent.
They are not quite at the ridge crests, but set slightly back down the slope.
The cold pockets run in a line for hundreds of kilometres between Dome Argus [Dome A] and Dome Fuji [Dome F]. They all achieve more or less the same low temperature between minus 92C and minus 94C. The minus 93.2C figure is the temperature event in which the team has most confidence. It was recorded at a latitude of 81.8 degrees South and a longitude of 59.3 degrees East, at an elevation of about 3,900m.
One of the spacecraft instruments being used in the study is the Thermal Infrared Sensor on the recently launched Landsat-8.
By way of comparison, the hottest recorded spot on Earth – again by satellite sensor – is the Dasht-e Lut salt desert in southeast Iran, where it reached 70.7C in 2005.
The coldest place in the Solar System will likely be in some dark crater on a planetary body with no appreciable atmosphere. On Earth’s Moon, temperatures of minus 238C have been detected.
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Family friend Richard Gale said Eleanor Parker died on Monday due to complications from pneumonia in Palm Springs.
Eleanor Parker was Oscar-nominated three times, in 1951, 1952 and 1956.
Her co-star Christopher Plummer described her as “one of the most beautiful ladies I have ever known – both as a person and as a beauty”.
“I hardly believe the sad news, for I was sure she was enchanted and would live forever,” he said.
Eleanor Parker was discovered at the Pasadena Playhouse and was signed to a contract at Warner Bros where she played minor roles until she was cast in the lead of 1946 film Of Human Bondage.
However, the film flopped and Eleanor Parker did not secure her real breakthrough performance until 1950 in Caged.
Her portrayal of an inmate in a brutal prison, who arrives as a young innocent but becomes a tough convict, brought her first best actress Oscar nomination.
Eleanor Parker’s second Academy nod came the following year as Kirk Douglas’s frustrated wife in Detective Story.
A string of successful films followed including Scaramouche with Stewart Granger and Valley of the Kings with Robert Taylor.
Eleanor Parker then scored her third Oscar nomination for her role as opera star Marjorie Lawrence in 1955’s Interrupted Melody, where she learnt to lip-sync nine arias in three languages.
Her last memorable role was in 1965’s The Sound of Music, starring opposite Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews.
Eleanor Parker’s last credit was the 1991 TV movie, Dead on the Money.
Demonstrators have been calling for Yingluck Shinawatra to resign and be replaced with a “people’s prime minister”.
Yingluck Shinawatra won the last polls in 2011, but protesters say ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra remains in charge.
Thailand is facing its largest political turmoil since 2010.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Yingluck Shinawatra urged protesters to stop and “use the electoral system to choose who will become the next government”.
“I must do my duty as caretaker prime minister according to the constitution,” she said.
She added: “I have retreated as far as I can – give me some fairness.”
On Monday, around 150,000 protesters had converged around the government headquarters in what they had described as a final push to unseat the government.
On the same day, Yingluck Shinawatra announced that she would dissolve parliament and call elections, now set for February 2.
However, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former opposition politician, said that the demonstrations would continue.
“We will select a people’s prime minister and set up a government of the people and a people’s assembly to replace parliament,” he said late on Monday.
On Tuesday the streets were quiet and the number of protesters had diminished significantly.
However, a small core of protesters remained outside government buildings, correspondents said.
Yingluck Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai party has a majority in parliament, and draws significant support from Thailand’s rural areas. The party is seen as well-placed to win February’s election.
Anti-government protesters say Yingluck Shinawatra’s party is controlled by ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
They accuse it of using public funds irresponsibly to secure votes and want her government to be replaced with an unelected “People’s Council”.
Thaksin Shinawatra, a polarizing politician, is in self-imposed exile after he was overthrown in a military army coup in 2006 and convicted of corruption.
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According to Barron Hilton, 24, he plans to sue Lindsay Lohan, 27, and writer Ray Lemoine, who he believes carried out the attack at LiLo’s behest.
Police have been attempting to speak with Lindsay Lohan and Ray Lemoine, but haven’t yet had any luck tracking them down.
In a statement to TMZ, Ray Lemoine insists Lindsay Lohan had nothing to do with incident, and says things only became physical with Barron Hilton when he refused to leave Lemoine’s rented house and put his dukes up.
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“Had a blast meeting the Duck Commander gang as well as the great folks who came to the book signing yesterday evening,” Sarah Palin wrote Sunday on Facebook.
Sarah Palin recently released a book, Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas.
For the second year in a row A portion of the 1,000 cards were sold to the My Starbucks Rewards Gold-level customers who were given VIP access to the site, allowing them to purchase cards one hour before they were on sale to the general public.
According to USA Today, what’s really causing disappointment was that online retailer Gilt accidentally put the Starbucks cards for sale one day before the publicized date and began selling them on December 5.
NBC News reported that Gilt Group claims that 500 cards were sold to the general public at 12 p.m. on December 6. Four hundred were made available for the VIP customers one hour prior, and only 100 were sold when the link accidentally went live a day before the sale.
“I’m not speculating on what we could have done differently,” Starbucks spokeswoman Linda Mills said to USA Today.
She explained Starbucks was obligated to honor those premature sales.
“It was unfortunate that the link went up early.”
Gilt Group claims a technical issue caused the link to go live after a “sale preview” page had a snafu.
One eBay seller has listed a stainless metal card at a “Buy It Now” price of $4,500. The card was produced in last year’s batch and is marked No. 19.
In 2012, Starbucks created 5,000 stainless steel gift cards.
This year, Starbucks decided to make the cards even more exclusive, producing only 1,000 of the rose-colored cards. More than 11,000 people are reportedly on the waiting list for this year’s limited stock.
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Mohammed Badie was seized along with other Brotherhood figures after the Egyptian army ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July.
Hundreds of Mohamed Morsi’s supporters were killed in clashes following the ousting.
Mohammed Badie, who is the movement’s General Guide, denied the Brotherhood had acted violently.
He is facing charges of inciting violence and murder over the deaths of eight anti-Brotherhood protesters outside the movement’s headquarters in Cairo.
Mohammed Badie was in court in Cairo along with other Brotherhood figures.
He asked why the death of his son and the burning down of Brotherhood offices were not being investigated instead.
Mohammed Badie was a prominent figure at the Brotherhood’s protest camps in Cairo, but went into hiding as the military-backed interim government increased its efforts to shut down the protests.
His 38-year-old son Ammar was killed in the protests.
In a separate case, Egyptian prosecutors referred the secular activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and 24 others for trial.
They are accused of breaking Egypt’s new laws against protests by demonstrating without permission last month.
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A match in southern Brazil was stopped by fan violence in the stands, police fired rubber bullets to contain the crowd and an injured man was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital.
A doctor said two other fans were hospitalized in serious condition and one was treated for a minor injury at the stadium in the southern city of Joinville.
TV images showed seemingly unconscious men being kicked in the head despite appeals from football players.
A helicopter landed on the pitch to transport an injured man to hospital.
The shockingly violent scenes, broadcast live to millions of homes on Sunday afternoon, are bound to raise questions about Brazil’s ability to keep fans safe during next year’s World Cup, correspondents say.
The brawl in the Arena Joinville, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, started during the first half of the match.
One of Atletico Paranaense’s players was filmed crying after witnessing fans being viciously beaten.
“I’ve been playing for 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like this in person. We will have a World Cup in our country and we know these images will be shown everywhere,” defender Luiz Alberto told reporters.
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Thousands of car fans revved their engines in Paul Walker’s honor at the event in Santa Clarita on Sunday.
Paul Walker’s Fast & Furious co-star Rick Yune was among those who attended.
The actor and his friend Roger Rodas both died when Rodas’ Porsche crashed and burst into flames last Saturday.
“We mourn his loss, but maybe we could just remember how great a guy this guy was and celebrate his life,” Rick Yune said at the event, which was organized through social media.
It had been due to start at midday, but people arrived hours early to leave flowers, candles, stuffed animals and other tributes. A crowd of around 5,000 people had gathered by the afternoon.
Police said the event was mostly peaceful, although a man was arrested for carrying a partially hidden and loaded gun and there were several tickets issued for illegal parking.
The memorial concluded with a cruise through the area, 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Paul Walker and Roger Rodas, who bonded over a passion for fast cars, were driving in Rodas’ Porsche following an event for Walker’s charity, Reach Out WorldWide.
The car crashed into a pole and tree and burst into flames. Investigators believe speed was a factor.
Coroner’s officials revealed Paul Walker died from a combination of injuries suffered in the impact and burns from the resulting fire, while Roger Rodas died from “multiple traumatic injuries”.
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If a user selected a negative emotion from Facebook’s list of feelings in a status update then the “Like” button would change to “Sympathize”.
A Facebook engineer said at a company event that the button had been created as part of an internal project.
But he later went on to say there were no plans to launch it at the moment.
Facebook were holding a “compassion research day” where members of the public and researchers are invited along to “improve [Facebook’s] understanding of the driving forces and benefits of compassion”.
In a Q&A session an audience member asked if Facebook had thought about changing the “Like” button when it felt inappropriate in relation to what a user had posted, for example when someone had written that their parents had died.
Dan Muriello, a software engineer at Facebook, said another engineer had worked on a hackathon project “a while back” to change the “Like” button to “Sympathize”.
It would not work for every post he said but if you tag a status with certain emotions from a fixed list then the “Like” button would change.
“A lot of people were very excited. But we made a decision that it was not exactly the right time to launch that product. Yet,” he said.
Facebook hackathons are events where the company’s engineers get together and brainstorm new ideas, like Facebook Chat and the “friend suggester” facility.
More police are being bussed in with priests urging them not to use force.
The tense stand-off follows weeks of demonstrations after a government U-turn on a free trade deal with the EU.
President Viktor Yanukovych said a short while ago he would hold talks involving the opposition on Tuesday.
A statement on the president’s website said Viktor Yanukovych would hold talks with three of his predecessors on Tuesday to try to find a compromise.
The protesters have given Viktor Yanukovych 48 hours to dismiss the government and are demanding new elections for the presidency and government.
They have condemned Viktor Yanukovych for refusing to sign an association agreement with the EU last month. He said he shelved it because it would put trade with Russia at risk.
Protesters are blockading government buildings with cars, barricades and tents.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will be in Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday “to support a way out of the political crisis”.
President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said in a statement that he had spoken to Viktor Yanukovych over the telephone and asked him “to show restraint”.
Jose Manuel Barroso said he had asked him “to not use force against the people that are demonstrating peacefully, to fully respect the freedoms that are so important for all of us in Europe”.
Hundreds of thousands of people took part in Sunday’s protest – the biggest so far in nearly three weeks of opposition demonstrations in Kiev.
During the evening, a group of protesters smashed the city’s statue of the Russian revolutionary leader Lenin, and brought its dismembered parts as trophies to Independence Square.
The statue stood at the top of Shevchenko Boulevard, and was toppled with metal bars and ropes, then smashed up with hammers. No arrests were reported in the incident.
These are the biggest street protests in Ukraine since the 2004 Orange Revolution, which swept pro-Western leaders to power, though Viktor Yanukovych made a comeback in 2010.
Many of the protesters suspect Russia’s President Vladimir Putin of trying to model a new Russian-led customs union on the Soviet Union. So far only Belarus and Kazakhstan have joined it.
The opposition party of jailed former PM Yulia Tymoshenko has urged people to “chase” the president “until he falls”.
Meanwhile the Ukrainian Security Service said it was investigating some politicians on suspicion of what it called “actions aimed at seizing state power”.
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A total of 1,073 people turned up at Iasi’s Palas shopping center to break the record.
The previous record was staged in Ammanford Town Centre in the UK, where 762 elves gathered on November 17, 2012.
Most of the participants were high school students between 11 and 18. For their dance performance, they rehearsed more than 180 hours, over a six-week period.
The youngest participant was a four-month old baby.
The costumes were worked on for about three months and over three kilometers of fabric were used. Claire Burgess, the official representative of Guinness World Records, confirmed the record.
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The country is observing a series of commemorations over the next week, leading up to the funeral on Sunday, December 15.
More than 100 current or former heads of state or government are expected to attend the funeral or Tuesday’s national memorial.
The foreign ministry says that 91 current heads of state or government have confirmed they are coming to South Africa, along with “10 former heads of state, 86 heads of delegations and 75 eminent persons”.
Presidents Barack Obama and Francois Hollande along with UK’s PM David Cameron will be among those attending Tuesday’s memorial.
Three former US presidents, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, will also be there.
On Saturday, Cuban state media announced that President Raul Castro would be one of those attending Nelson Mandela’s funeral.
Under Raul Castro’s brother Fidel, Cuba was a staunch critic of apartheid, and Nelson Mandela had expressed gratitude for his support.
Tuesday’s memorial service is likely to be one of the biggest such gatherings of international dignitaries in recent years.
Among those on the list are UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, German President Joachim Gauck, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Crown Prince Felipe of Spain.
World leaders, global figures and celebrities will join 95,000 ordinary South Africans at the memorial service at FNB stadium in Soweto, where Nelson Mandela made his final major public appearance during the 2010 football World Cup.
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and India’s President Pranab Mukherjee will also be coming.
Leading celebrities in the anti-apartheid movement Peter Gabriel and Bono are also expected to attend.
Nelson Mandela’s body will lie in state in Pretoria on the following three days and he will be given a state funeral on Sunday.
A smaller number of international dignitaries including the Prince of Wales will attend the burial in the Eastern Cape village of Qunu, where the late president grew up.
Mourners have gathered every day outside Nelson Mandela’s house in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton.
Well wishers have lit candles there and laid thousands of wreaths of flowers at Nelson Mandela’s old home in Soweto.
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In an interview with BBC, Makaziwe Mandela revealed the former president’s wife Graca, the children and grandchildren were there “even at the last moment”.
Makaziwe Mandela said: “Until the last moment he had us, you know… The children were there, the grandchildren were there, Graca was there, so we are always around him and even at the last moment, we were sitting with him on Thursday the whole day.
“I think from last week, Friday until Thursday, it was a wonderful time, if you can say the process of death is wonderful. But Tata [Nelson Mandela] had a wonderful time, because we were there.
“When the doctors told us I think Thursday morning… that there was nothing that they could do, and said to me <<Maki call everybody that is here that wants to see him and say bye bye>>, it was a most wonderful day for us because the grandchildren were there, we were there.”
Makaziwe Mandela paid tribute to the doctors for the 24-hour care.
Nelson Mandela’s daughter said: “It was like there were soldiers guarding this period of the king – yes my father comes from royalty – without them knowing they were actually practicing our rituals and culture, they were there in silence and when we as family members come in they would excuse themselves and just a few of them would be there to give us the time to be around my dad’s bed.”
Makaziwe Mandela said that, for the past few months, she would tell her father that she loved him and that would see him again tomorrow.
“And maybe he would open his eyes for just a second and close those eyes,” she said.
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According to early estimates, Frozen took $31.6 million over the weekend, with the Hunger Games: Catching Fire sequel slipping to second place with $27 million.
The only new wide release was Out of the Furnace, which took $5.3 million to earn third place.
The steel-town drama stars Christian Bale and Casey Affleck.
Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World and Vince Vaughn’s Delivery Man rounded out the top five.
Despite opening in just four cinemas the Coen brothers’ latest film, Inside Llewyn Davis, scored one of the year’s highest per-cinema averages, taking $100,500.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom continued to play in four cinemas in its second week of limited release, averaging $19,400 per cinema.
Producer Harvey Weinstein has said he will not alter the film’s release date to take advantage of Nelson Mandela’s death to boost sales for his biopic.
The film is due to be rolled out to about 850 cinemas on Christmas Day.
With Oscar season approaching, the website stated Weinstein was “keen to shun” any suggestions he had acquired the film recently “with an eye to Mandela being close to his demise”, adding he had acquired the rights to make it in 1999.
The weekend was typically quiet placed between Thanksgiving and Christmas, however takings were still up 16.9% on last year.
Next week sees the release of Peter Jackson’s second Hobbit film, The Hobbit: The Desolation of the Smaug.
The first, An Unexpected Journey, debuted with $84.6 million last year.
North American box office Top 5:
1. Frozen – $31.6 million
2. Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $27 million
3. Out of the Furnace – $5.3 million
4. Thor: The Dark World – $4.7 million
5. Delivery Man – $3.8 million
Source: Hollywood.com
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The dramatic images show Jang Sung-taek being escorted from a party session by uniformed guards.
The television accused Jang Sung-taek of forming factions against the state, corruption and “depraved” acts such as womanizing and drug abuse.
Analysts say such a public dismissal is unique and could signal a wider purge.
It is the biggest upheaval in North Korea’s leadership since Kim Jong-un succeeded his father Kim Jongil two years ago.
The KCNA state news agency said the decision was announced after a meeting of the ruling communist Korean Workers’ Party Politburo over the weekend.
News of Jang Sung-taek’s dismissal filtered out in South Korea last week along with reports that two of his close aides had been executed for corruption. It is unclear when these latest images date from.
The KCNA report accuses Jang Sung-taek of being part of a faction working against the North Korean state.
“Jang pretended to uphold the party and leader but was engrossed in such factional acts as dreaming different dreams and involving himself in double-dealing behind the scenes.”
It also accused Jang Sung-taek of offences such as financial mismanagement and selling off national resources for his personal gain, but it also denounced him for leading what it called “a dissolute and depraved life”.
“Ideologically sick and extremely idle and easy-going, he used drugs and squandered foreign currency at casinos while he was receiving medical treatment in a foreign country under the care of the party,” the KCNA report said.
It added that Jang Sung-taek had “improper relations” with several women and “was wined and dined at back parlors of deluxe restaurants”.
Such an official announcement detailing a leader’s alleged crimes is unique.
Almost overnight, Jang Sung-taek has morphed from uncle and mentor to North Korea’s young leader, to “anti-revolutionary” criminal outcast.
The move could be seen as the latest in a series of carefully calibrated moves to demonstrate Kim Jong-un’s control, yet another sign of his authority and an assertion of his independence.
Jang Sung-taek is reported to have been stripped of all his positions and expelled from the party.
On Saturday, North Korean state TV was also reported to have removed footage of Jang Sung-taek from a documentary.
In a surprise decree published on the Kremlin’s website on Monday, President Vladimir Putin announced it would be replaced by a news agency called Russia Today.
Russia Today will be headed by journalist and keen Kremlin supporter Dmitry Kiselev.
The state-owned Voice of Russia radio station has also been closed. The decree was effective immediately.
Sergey Ivanov, the head of the Kremlin administration, has told journalists in Moscow that the news agency is being restructured in order to make it more economical while increasing its reach, Interfax reports.
He was quoted as saying that the agency, which is being dissolved and reorganized as International News Agency Russia Today, needs to make “more rational use of public money” and that it has to be more effective.
“Russia pursues an independent policy and robustly defends its national interests. It’s not easy to explain that to the world, but we can and must do this,” Sergey Ivanov said.
During Vladimir Putin’s time as Russia’s leader, RIA Novosti has tried hard to produce balanced coverage for Russian and international audiences.
Although state-owned, RIA Novosti has reflected the views of the opposition and covered difficult topics for the Kremlin.
Dmitry Kiselev is known for his ultra-conservative views, including recently saying that gay people should be banned from giving blood, and that their hearts should be burnt rather than used in transplants.
Reporting on its own demise, RIA Novosti noted in its news report that “the move is the latest in a series of shifts in Russia’s news landscape, which appear to point toward a tightening of state control in the already heavily regulated media sector”.