Standard & Poor's downgrades South Africa's long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating from 'BBB+' to 'BBB' and the long-term local currency rating from 'A' to 'A-'. (RIA Novosti)
International relations
The European Union wins the 2012 [[Nobel Peace Prize]; "for over six decades [having] contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe". (The Telegraph)
Law and crime
The British government is dragged into
the nationwide scandal surrounding former BBC presenter and DJ Jimmy Savile, who faces hundreds of allegations surrounding his conduct in the presence of teenage girls. (The Guardian)
The UK's largest independent investigation into police wrongdoing will be conducted following a damning report into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. (BBC)
The high court of Botswana overturns a customary law which prevented women from inheriting the family home. (IRIN)
