We're following events in Saudi Arabia, where attackers have stormed the US consulate in Jeddah, killed four Saudi guards and taken 18 local staff hostage. It's the latest in a long series of attacks on westerners in the kingdom.
On Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist party leader Ian Paisley and Tony Blair hold make-or-break talks on a deal to revive power sharing at Stormont. Sarah Left examines what's at stake.
On the arts front, the Turner Prize will be awarded tonight. This year's controversy is provided by Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell's digital model of Osama bin Laden's mountain hideaway, but the favourite to win is Jeremy Deller. We'll have the result live between 8 and 9pm, and in the meantime check out our special report, with profiles, reviews and gallery of the shortlisted artists' works. Turning to opera, Milan's refurbished La Scala opera house reopens tomorrow with a rare Salieri performance, but no amount of pomp can disguise the fact that Italian opera is in decline, writes Martin Kettle.
Here on Newsblog today we're publishing Jane Perrone's recommendations on ethical Christmas presents, gleaned from around the blogosphere. And we're touched by the dropping of 100 million paper birds on southern Thailand in a peace gesture. Paddy Allen's task for the day is to create an interactive graphic showing how the origami birds were made.
