Back in work? Here's the news you missed over the Christmas break

Back to work and wondering what you missed (as well as what you're missing sat in this dive, with rubbish everywhere, and a computer from the noughties, you poor soul)? Photograph: Roger Tooth/Guardian

Are you back in the office after a nice break from the news? Pretty sure you caught every edible treat, but wondering what you may have missed in the news? Well here's a quick roundup to bring you up to speed.

The big rolling stories of the festive period were the saga of the fiscal cliff and the death of a gang rape victim in India. The repercussions of these continue. But here's some other stories you may have missed over the past 10 days:

In the UK

• City council leaders said deeper cuts would spark civil unrest

and

• Family judges sought protection from parents in 'unsafe' courts

Thinking about Europe

• David Cameron's moves could make EU fall apart, warned Herman Van Rompuy

and if he doesn't quite achieve that

• Cameron 'risks leading Britain out of EU by accident', said a veteran of the Maastricht treaty negotiations

Nick Clegg had other ideas, warning Cameron

• 'Britain must stay in Europe'

While in Europe itself …

• France's 75% 'supertax' was thrown out as unfair and unconstitutional

and

• Germany is 'exporting' old and sick to foreign care homes

Further afield

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, in Aleppo, found

• Syrian rebels sidetracked by scramble for spoils of war

while

• Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made his political debut at emotional rally in Pakistan

and

• UK was urged to spend Afghan withdrawal savings on defence

In lighter news

• New Year honours celebrated Olympians and Paralympians

and, more surprisingly

• The man who presided over the FSA during the banking crisis was rewarded too

Meanwhile

• Michael Buerk savaged the BBC's coverage of Queen's diamond jubilee

and

• Peter Higgs criticised Richard Dawkins over anti-religious 'fundamentalism'

while

• A petition urged the US to keep Piers Morgan 'because UK doesn't want him'

In somewhat more historic news …

Archives revealed

• Margaret Thatcher's role in a plan to dismantle the welfare state

and

• Thatcher was ready for a Falkland Islands deal

… and in the biggest never ending story of 2012

• Gangnam Style passed 1bn views on YouTube

Meanwhile in notable deaths, births and marriages …

The festive season saw the passing of

• Former Times editor William Rees-Mogg

• General (Stormin') Norman Schwarzkopf

and

• Cricket great Tony Greig and broadcaster Christopher Martin-Jenkins

while

• Kate Winslet wed her third husband, Ned Rocknroll

There were no particularly high-profile births, although

• Kanye West announced that Kim Kardashian was pregnant

Also in the news

• Mark Zuckerberg's sister learned a life lesson (and a bit about privacy) after a Facebook photo flap

and

• Facebook stopped its new year message tool after a student was able to read private messages meant for other users

while

• Apple boss Tim Cook's pay package shrank by 99%

That's certainly enough news.

Here's some of the best comment pieces you might have missed too:

• Yair Rosenberg: Homeland is not Islamophobic despite what some critics claim

• George Monbiot: The day my inner anarchist lost out to the bourgeois me

• David Mitchell: I love not driving, and instinct tells me I'm a safer man for it

• Richard Seymour: Dental nurse sacked for being irresistible – all perfectly legal in Iowa

• Michael Wolff: The truth about Zero Dark Thirty – this torture fantasy degrades us all

and

• Priyamvada Gopal in Bangalore: After the death of the Delhi rape victim, the fight for women's rights must go on

And in sport …

• Transfer window: Premier League club-by-club guide

• The 100 best footballers in the world - interactive

and

• After 16 years in front of the TV, Martin Kelner pulled the plug

Finally, in video

• A shark sighting closes Sydney's Bondi Beach

• A Russian plane crash is caught on camera

and

• Pussy Riot's Yekaterina Samutsevich looks back

That's you up to date. But if even that's not enough to occupy you, you might also want to check out …

The best of the best of 2012

• 2012 in viral videos

• The best goals of 2012

• The best apps of 2012

• Steve Bell's year in cartoons

• Science Weekly podcast: 2012, a year of discoveries and exploration

Here's to a busy 2013!