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Defense Secretary Panetta and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined by Hillary Clinton’s State Department, are fully committed to avoiding the outbreak of war over the Strait of Hormuz. Shown: Navy personnel man a machine gun aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey, as it transits through the Strait of Hormuz, November 2011.

Crews from the Wisconsin Air National Guard's 128th Air Refueling Wing conduct an in-flight refuel with a Marine F-18 Hornet from the Marine Fighter Attack 314 out of Miramar, Calif. The Marines served as adversaries to pilots of the Madison-based 115th Fighter Wing during simulated combat over the course of a two-week joint training exercise at Naval Air Station Key West, Fla.

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, arrives for a news conference Dec. 22 to announce that he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., negotiated a deal on the payroll tax cut that was set to expire at the end of the year.

For Chinese across the world, they celebrate and receive good fortune during Chinese New Year after cleaning the house to sweep away ill-fortune. On Lunar New Year's Eve, a surge of worshipers wait in front of a temple for expecting to be the first places the first incense stick into the incense burner and pray for good luck right after midnight. Traditionally, the celebration of Chinese New Year lasts for fifteen days and ends with the Lantern Festival. During Chinese New Year period, people greet each other by saying Gong He Xin Xi or Xin Chun Kuai Le (both mean” happy new year”in Chinese.) Children receive red envelopes filled with money from the elders when they greet the elders.

Today in the Vatican Benedict XVI received a group of prelates from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (Regions 4 and 6), at the end of their "ad limina" visit. Extracts from his English-language remarks to them are given below.

With new legislations coming into effect on 1 January 2012, changes in the Hungarian Government has incited negative responses from both its people and representatives from the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

UNIFIL on patrol in southern Lebanon

Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous (centre), visiting a UNAMID team site at Shangil Tobaya in North Darfur

When Pope Benedict XVI goes to Latin America in March, Mexico is an obvious choice, with nearly 100 million Catholics.