Brighten up there with sunshine. Wednesday morning, frost. And by this stage, fog. Tributes to the singer George Michael one of the biggest stars in British Music who has died at the age of 53. Todays other news russia begins a day of National Mourning for those who died when a Military Plane crashed into the black sea. Will Boxing Day Sales deliver . Good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. One of the biggest pop stars of the 80s and 90s, George Michael, has died. He was 53, and is believed to have had Heart Failure. He rose to fame as one half of the group, wham and went on to have a successful solo career. He sold 100 million albums worldwide and had 11 uk number ones. Nick quraishi looks back at his life. His popularity was not limited to his fans. Fellow musicians were equally overwhelmed by his talent. Here he is rehearsing for the 1992 Freddie Mercury tribute concert. According to his publicist, he passed away peacefully on christmas day. He died of Heart Failure. Andrew ridgely
if you watched the grammys last night you know it was a soulful tribute to whitney houston. one performer there still too shaken up to sing and we ll talk about all the winners from last night. a massive budget battle. an election preview. it seems to be. the president is unveiling his final spending plan before the 2012 election today. and you know what, it s mot even delivered to capitol hill and the gop is already on it. what are they going to say about it and how do we know this will be the preview of the general election campaign? and lin han sanity. look at this guy. knicks new sensation, jeremy lin, making headlines on the other side of the globe as well. keep your eyes on that one. this is one of those sensations that just sort of came out of know where. did you know about him before they wrote about him this weekend. never heard a thing about him. i don t know a lot about basketball. i do. i couldn t believe i didn t know this guy. wait until you hear
wednesday october 12th. american officials are outraged and say iran will pay. this texas used car salesman is the unlikely suspect in an alleged assassination plot backed by iran. the u.s. claims that mons orr arbab arbabsiar was going to kill the ambassador of the united states. saying ar baubs yea wanted to blow up a restaurant killing the diplomat and potentially many americans right along with him. officials gathered in washington and gathered the diplomatic corps at the state department to ensure them they are safe. the obama administration is also deciding how to respond to iran. it s an outrage that violated one of the fundamental premises of which nations deal and that is the sanctity and safety of their diplomats. this is really over the top. they have to be held accountable. the u.s. linking the alleged plot to the elite quds force that is part of iran s revolutionary gad, but it is far from clear if quds was acting on its own or from top iranian leaders. iran