In the news

Hugo Chavez, the 58-year-old Venezuelan president, continued to recover from a cancer-related operation in Cuba, with the Venezuelan government saying his condition is becoming increasingly stable after he experienced a respiratory infection and suffered bleeding during the operation.

Alan Kimble Fahey, a man who built a quirky Mojave Desert compound known as Phonehenge West, was sentenced to nearly 18 months in jail because he failed to pay for its demolition, Los Angeles County prosecutors said.

Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and the spiritual leader of the world’s 80 million strong Anglican Communion, threw his support behind stricter gun laws in the U.S., telling a BBC program that the easy availability of powerful weapons draws vulnerable people toward violence.

Louis Graham, an 85-year-old Tennessee World War II veteran who grew up in Ohio and left high school in 1944 without graduating to join the Navy, was awarded a diploma from Lakota West High School, which now serves the then-rural area where Graham grew up.

Sen. Mark Kirk, the 53-year-old Illinois Republican, briefly returned to his Senate office for the first time since suffering a stroke last January and met with aides in advance of his anticipated return to work when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order giving federal employees the day off on Christmas Eve, which falls on Monday, with exceptions applying for employees asked by their departments and agencies to work for reasons of national security, defense or other public needs.

Renato Seabra, 23, a Portuguese former fashion model who was convicted of murdering and mutilating his journalist companion, 65-year-old Carlos Castro, in a Times Square hotel last year, was sentenced in Manhattan to 25 years to life in prison.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/23/2012

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