CNN: Two more states allow same-sex civil unions
Several same-sex couples came together in the first minutes of New Year's Day in Honolulu to become the first in the state's history to enter into civil unions.
"We really don't want to wait any longer because we have been together for 33 years waiting for the opportunity and our rights and everything that goes with it," said Donna Gedge, who was with her partner Monica Montgomery, speaking to CNN affiliate KITV. "So why wait?"
The couple told CNN last week about their plans to stay up late for the ceremony.
With Hawaii and Delaware joining the list Sunday, five states now recognize same-sex civil unions, while six other states and Washington, D.C., allow same-sex marriage, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
BBC: Nigeria's Ebonyi state ethnic clashes: 50 killed
At least 50 people have been killed in eastern Nigeria in clashes between rival ethnic groups, officials said.
A government spokesman said the violence in the state of Ebonyi took place between the Ezza and Ezilo peoples due to a land dispute.
Dozens of riot police have been deployed to the area, officials said.
The attacks came hours after a state of emergency was declared in parts of the country due to an unrelated spate of attacks by Islamist group Boko Haram.
BBC: Arab Parliament urges end to Syria monitors' mission
An advisory body to the Arab League has called for the organisation's observers to be withdrawn from Syria because of the ongoing crackdown on protests.
The speaker of the Arab Parliament said the monitors had to leave "considering the continued killing of innocent civilians by the Syrian regime".
There has been no let-up in the violence since the observers started their work on Tuesday.
Their mission is to monitor a peace plan drawn up by the Arab League.
CNN: 4 killed as violence persists in Pakistan
Explosions in western Pakistan killed four people Sunday, including a young boy, authorities said.
A blast in Pakistan's volatile Balochistan province left three members of the country's security forces dead, and two more wounded, military and police officials said. The victims were part of a convoy escorting civilians through the Zain Koh area of Dera Bugti, said Ghulam Muhammad Baloch, a police official.
The Dera Bugti attack came just two days after an explosion outside the home of a former lawmaker in the provincial capital of Quetta killed 13 people.
Also Sunday, a 7-year-old boy died in a roadside bombing in Pakistan's tribal Bajaur agency, said Islam Zeb, a government official. Three others were wounded in that attack.
Sacramento Bee: Argentine governor dies of shots to head
The ruling party governor of Argentina's prime oil-producing province was killed early Sunday of gunshots to the head, and his wife was being questioned by police.
The gun fired as Rio Negro Gov. Carlos Soria and his wife Susana were in their bedroom after spending New Year's Eve at their home in General Roca, authorities said. Emergency personnel found him bleeding in bed and took him alive to the local hospital, where he was declared dead just before 5 a.m., local media reported.
The governor's spokesman, Julian Goinhex, reported the death but gave no further details about what happened to the 62-year-old Soria, who won election by a wide margin in October and was inaugurated on Dec. 10 as part of the nation's ruling Front for Victory, displacing the Radical Party that had long controlled the province.
Soria will be succeeded by his vice-governor, Alberto Weretilneck. In an interview with Radio 10, Weretilneck called the shooting a domestic accident and said Soria and his wife were alone at the time.
BBC: MSF (Doctors Without Borders) fears for South Sudan staff caught in Pibor violence
Medical charity MSF says it is "extremely worried" after losing contact with some 130 staff in the town of Pibor in South Sudan.
An MSF spokesman said he believed they had fled into the bush after fighters from the Lou Nuer ethnic group attacked the town, home to the Murle group.
A hospital was reportedly set alight.
UN troops and the South Sudanese army were unable to prevent the attack, which follows a wave of violence linked to cattle rustling
Guardian: Iran reports successful medium-range missile test
Iran has claimed to have successfully tested a new medium-range ground to air missile during naval exercises in the Gulf, amid rising tensions over the country's nuclear programme.
State news agency Irna on Sunday quoted Iran's naval commander, Mahmoud Mousavi, as saying the missile was equipped with the latest technology and intelligent systems. The missile test was made during 10 days of naval exercises to the east of the Straits of Hormuz, the narrowest section of the Gulf, which Iran has threatened to close in the event of western sanctions on its oil exports.
The exercises come a few weeks before EU foreign ministers meet to consider further sanctions, possibly including an oil embargo against Tehran, after an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report in November confirmed western allegations that Iran had worked on nuclear weapons designs, at least until 2003, and may have carried out experiments more recently.
Amid constant speculation that Israel or the US could use air strikes against Iran's nuclear programme, Iran has attempted to buy long-range surface to air missiles from Russia. After Moscow cancelled the deal to sell its S-300 missiles last year, Tehran said it would develop its own as an independent deterrent against attack. Sunday's announcement appeared designed to show it was making progress.