CHRISTMAS TREE lights are switched on outside Number 10 Downing Street on December 8 by Sarah Brown (top left), wife of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was assisted by members of the Scouts and Guides.
AT HOME
The Banking Association of SA calls strongly for the gazetting of the financial sector charter to ensure banks carry out its broad-based objectives. Resources stocks lift the JSE by 7% to 20 643, with Anglo American and Billiton up 14% and Sasol up 11,5%. President Kgalema Motlanthe sacks prosecutions director Vusi Pikoli despite the Ginwala inquiry finding the state had failed to show he was unfit to hold office. SA's demands for greater tariff liberalisation from renewed Doha trade talks are rejected by the US and EU. SA Revenue Service officials seize 60 t of clothes in Sasolburg, illegally imported from China via Botswana. Minerals & energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica says government will protect community rights when the mining charter is renegotiated next year.ABROAD
World markets rise after US president-elect Barack Obama proposes an infrastructure spending plan to lift the economy and create 2,5m jobs. US nonfarming jobs fell by 533 000 in November, the biggest drop in 30 years. Nearly 2m jobs have been lost since the US went into recession a year ago. British, French and EU leaders discuss a €200bn economic stimulus plan. Rioting breaks out across Greece in protest at the death of a youth shot by police. The White House reviews a congressional proposal to give ailing US automakers a total of US$15bn in federal loans. A Russian warship, the Admiral Chabanenko, enters the Panama Canal for the first time since World War 2. The EU extends a travel ban to 11 more Zimbabwe officials (171 in all) and joins calls for President Robert Mugabe to step down. OJ Simpson is jailed for at least nine years for robbing sports memorabilia stores at gunpoint. British scientists develop a material which can be squirted into broken bones, where it hardens within minutes to form a biodegradable scaffold over which the body's own bone grows. The new material could help remove the need for painful bone grafts in many cases. Honda pulls out of F1 racing citing the cost. Died: Mike Terry (61) who led Britain's Anti-apartheid Movement for two decades.SPORT
Henrik Stenson wins the $1,2m Nedbank Golf Challenge by nine shots over Kenny Perry at Sun City. The Boks beat New Zealand 12-7 in the World Sevens series final in George. WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao beats Oscar de la Hoya in eight rounds in a welterweight bout in Las Vegas. The O'Neill World Cup of Surfing is won by CJ Hobgood (US) at Sunset Beach, Hawaii, with Tom Whitaker (Australia) second, Marcus Hickman (Hawaii) third and Jordy Smith (SA) fourth. England cricketers have arrived in India to resume their tour following the Mumbai terror attacks; while the European PGA drops the Indian Masters from its schedule. In PSL soccer, Santos beat Kaizer Chiefs 2-1, Bay United and Bloem Celtic draw 1-1, and Moroka Swallows beat Mamelodi Sundowns 1-0.
