Your wrap of the world stories that broke overnight.
1. The new Star Wars film has shattered a US film box office record in what the New York Times describes is "an astounding display of cultural and commercial domination on a global scale". The Force Awakens has pulled in about
US$517 million ($767 million) in ticket sales in three days, including US$238 million in the US alone. It beats Jurassic World's record of US$208 million. Worldwide Jurassic World had a slightly bigger global opening - US$525 million - but the dinosaur-themed film opened in China on its first weekend. The BBC says The Force Awakens won't get to the world's second biggest cinema-going territory until January 9.
2. Weather conditions have eased in Victoria this morning with a cool change but 10 homes have been confirmed destroyed in the Scotsburn fire. Three firefighting crews were lucky to escape the fire in the Ballarat area. Meanwhile, Spanish firefighters are battling about 100 bushfires in the northwestern Asturias region.
3. The jabbing continues between Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. At the Republican debate last week, Bush said Trump cannot "insult his way to the presidency". Trump came back, calling Bush "dumb as a rock". Bush yesterday referred to Trump as "a jerk" and today said "it is a little liberating to be able to post up against a guy who is not qualified to be president".
4. The release of a man convicted over the notorious 2012 gang-rape case of a student on a bus in New Delhi that resulted in her death has sparked protests in India. The man who was 17 at the time and tried as a juvenile, was sentenced in 2013 to three years in a youth reform centre. Legal challenges failed to prevent his release. The BBC says four adults convicted in the case are appealing against death sentences. A fifth died in prison.
5. A baby girl who was born 12 weeks prematurely in Britain so her mother could be treated for cancer has died. Three months after becoming pregnant with Ally Louise Smith, Sky News reports Heidi Loughlin discovered she had breast cancer. Doctors advised her to start chemotherapy. Because the treatment would have harmed her baby she was given the option to terminate the pregnancy. Instead she decided on a less effective treatment which would not harm the baby. She had to have an early caesarean because the treatment was not working.
6. An Air France bomb scare on a plane from Mauritius to Paris that forced an emergency landing in Mombasa was a false alarm, the airline's chief executive, Frederic Gagey, said. A suspicious device was found in the toilet of the Boeing 777 Flight AF463 which had 459 passengers and 14 crew on board. A Kenyan police official said the device looked like a cardboard box with a stopwatch taped to it.
7. The Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which is fighting for the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, is blaming Israel for a rocket attack that killed Samir Qantar near Damascus. The militant spent three decades in prison in Israel for killing three Israelis. An Israeli minister has neither confirmed nor denied that the country was involved. The Israeli Defence Force said three rockets were later fired from Lebanon into Israel and it responded with artillery rounds into southern Lebanon.
8. Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam, got past three police checks in France as he fled to Belgium hours after the attacks in November, AFP says. And Reuters reports Britain is considering greater legal protection for police if they shoot suspected criminals. Prime Minister David Cameron ordered a review of laws after the mass shootings in Paris last month. Just over 2000 of London's 31,000 officers are armed.
9. Malaysia's first Islamic-compliant airline, Rayani Air, has begun operations with a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi, AFP reports. In-flight meals are halal and alcohol is prohibited. Muslim flight crew wear the hijab and there are prayer recitals before take-off.
10. The woman expected to become Taiwan's next president kicked off an election campaign with supporters bringing donations in piggy banks to a rally. Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party would be the country's first female president if elected in January. The DPP first started using piggy banks during the 2012 election as a grassroots funding initiative.
