Daily Update

- Russia's order that struggling energy giant Gazprom cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine leaves hundreds of thousands in the cold across the Balkans and draws heavy criticism from western European leaders, whose nations are significant consumers of Russian energy

- Ghana has peacefully elected opposition candidate John Atta Mills as the nation's new president; Mills seemed to invoke U.S. President-elect Obama when he declared that "There is no NPC Ghana, there is no NPP Ghana...There is one Ghana."

- The Los Angeles Times has an article that explores the possibility of Hezbollah being drawn into the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict

- The Economist briefly examines the ever-worsening effects of mankind's actions on the health and biodiversity of the oceans in "Troubled Waters"

- Faced with scandals, riots, and rising extremism, the Greek government "reshuffles", although Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis keeps his job for himself