• Melanie Phillips says the West’s selective conscience is appalled by Assad’s slaughter but fails to condemn the persecution and murder of Christians across the Middle East and north Africa
• A man has pleaded guilty to murdering a couple who were found stabbed to death close to the Matalan store in Cardiff where they worked
• Fifa has carried through its threat to fine the English, Scottish and Welsh football associations for displaying poppies at matches which coincided with Remembrance Day
• Southern Water has been fined £2 million after raw sewage swamped a popular beach in Kent over a bank holiday weekend
• President Duterte is proposing to bring back capital punishment, saying he wants to execute half a dozen prisoners a day. Catholic leaders in the Philippines have denounced the plan as barbaric
Advertisement
• Pope Francis is facing a “systematic campaign to delegitimise him” as conservative cardinals line up to oppose his liberal reforms on divorce and homosexuality
• The mysterious woman behind the scandal engulfing South Korea’s president has gone on trial on charges including corruption and receiving confidential documents
• An Australian couple’s Sunday morning lie-in was abruptly interrupted when a kangaroo burst through their window, jumped on their bed and then led them on an increasingly destructive chase around their home
• German business confidence is at its highest since February 2014
• Brewin Dolphin has bought the ailing private bank Duncan Lawrie for £28 million
Advertisement
• Sir Dave Brailsford, the Team Sky boss, is among top cycling figures giving evidence over doping in the sport to MPs today
• A verdict is expected in the RFU investigation into the head injury suffered by George North, the Northampton Saints and Lions winger
• How do clubs which spend Christmas at the top of the Premier League fare come the end of the season? We’ll run the rule over the fate of festive table-toppers in previous years
• As A&E wards and surgeries come under increasing pressure leading up to Christmas, Dr Mark Porter has advice on how to cope with the majority of winter illnesses