1. Zuckerberg vows to give away fortune

    Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced on December 1 that he is a dad and pledged* to give away his fortune to make the world a “better place” for his daughter and others.

    In a letter to new baby Maxima posted on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan said they were going to give away 99 percent of their company shares — estimated value US$45 billion — during their lives in an effort to make a happy and healthy world.

    “Max, we love you and feel a great responsibility to leave the world a better place for you and all children. We wish you a life filled with the same love, hope and joy you give us. We can’t wait to see what you bring to this world,” the letter said.

    2. 14 dead in US shooting

    A heavily armed man and woman dressed for battle opened fire on a holiday banquet for his co-workers, killing 14 people and seriously wounding more than a dozen others in a precision assault, authorities said on Thursday. Hours later, they died in a shootout* with police.

    Authorities were trying to determine a motive*, which could include workplace violence or terrorism.

    The shooting happened on December 2 at a social services center for the disabled where the suspect’s colleagues with the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health were renting space for a celebration. It was the nation’s deadliest mass shooting since the attack at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, three years ago that left 26 children and adults dead.

    3. UK launches airstrikes on IS in Syria

    Britain has carried out its first airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, hours after MPs voted overwhelmingly to authorize* military action.

    Four RAF Tornado jets were seen taking off from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus and the Ministry of Defense later confirmed it had carried out the “first offensive* operation over Syria and have conducted strikes.”

    4. Obama tells nation IS will be defeated

    U.S. President Barack Obama, in a rare primetime speech designed to reassure a jittery* nation, vowed that America will destroy the Islamic State (IS) group and hunt down its followers at home or abroad.

    Facing questions about his leadership and strategy, Obama harnessed* the highest trappings of U.S. power to calm a country put on edge* by a rampage* in California that killed 14 people.

    “After so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure,” Obama said in a solemn address from the Oval Office, adding that the San Bernardino massacre was evidence of an “evolving” and increasingly homegrown threat.

    5. Venezuela opposition wins voting

    Venezuela’s opposition won control of the National Assembly by a landslide*, delivering a major setback* to the ruling party and altering the balance of power after almost 17 years of socialist rule.

    The opposition coalition won at least 99 seats in the incoming 167-seat legislature, electoral authorities announced on Sunday. The ruling socialist party won just 46 seats. The 19 remaining races remain up for grabs but if enough are won by the opposition it could give the coalition a two-thirds super majority needed to strongly challenge President Nicolas Maduro’s grip on power.

    6. Latvian PM Straujuma resigns

    Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma said on Sunday that she was resigning her post after political squabbles* within her center-right ruling coalition and dissatisfaction about her leadership.

    Straujuma made the announcement after meeting with the country’s President Raimonds Vejonis. She gave no more details. Straujuma’s ruling coalition won a 2014 general election after taking a hard-line over the actions of Russia, its neighbor and former ruler, in Ukraine.(SD-Agencies)