* Obama's panel says the NSA shouldn't collect phone data, but critics see a path to continue untargeted spying. * Drone strike kills a dozen and injures more at a wedding in Yemen—the kind of strike that fuels rather than diminishes al Qaeda. * Patriarch of Duck Dynasty
* This November was the warmest one since 1880; in fact, the 10 warmest Novembers on record have happened in the past 15 years. * Map of mishaps that have occurred so far during the 2014 Sochi Olympic torch relay. * Unsuccessfully marketed as an American patriot, Snowden has now rebranded himself as
* Federal district judge says the NSA's program of tracking all Americans’ phone calls most likely violates the Constitution. * The Pentagon's JROTC program recruits future soldiers from high schools in struggling neighborhoods. * Detroit-area high school is nation's first entirely "flipped" school. * U.
* Kim Jong Un's uncle was the first in a series of expected executions in North Korea—the youth are killing off their elders. * DPRK: "Despicable human scum Jang, who was worse than a dog, perpetrated thrice-cursed acts of treachery." * Why Uncle Jang's death
* Masquerading sign-language interpreter at Mandela memorial tells interviewers he's schizophrenic. * Movie sets circa 1940 used white-coated cornflakes for snow; the cracking was so loud that dialogue had to be overdubbed. * Aviation schools offer advanced programs in drone piloting. * Google's top execs used tax-subsidized
* Women between 15 and 44 are more likely to be injured or die from male violence than from traffic accidents, cancer, malaria, and the effects of war combined. * Who is the next Mandela? * Australia overturns federal same-sex marriage law, declaring all unions that took place under it invalid. * Russian
* Putin amps up Russia's military presence in the Arctic, a "Cold War-like" response to Canada's interest in the North Pole. * The coldest place on earth is an Antarctic plateau measuring -93.2 °C (-135.76 °F). * Winter cold is no impediment to New
* Canada pushes against Russia and Denmark to claim the North Pole, but still must prove its continental shaft connects. * Chinese state media issues a list of the five "surprising benefits" of smog. * The U.S. poverty rate has reduced dramatically since 1967, but has stayed the same—15%
* Ukraine sends interior troops into Kiev, where protesters still block entrances to some government buildings. * A trip through the periodic table partially explains why we value gold over almost everything else. * Nadine Gordimer: "What is missing in the general view of Mandela is his wit, his quick humor."
* Nelson Mandela, dead at 95 from a lung infection, "was, quite simply, a wonderful man." * Zakes Mda: Mandela was a man of contradictions, and his followers are trampling on his legacy. * Past and present Africa correspondents from the New York Times reflect on Mandela. * Prince William and the
