News Headlines - 24 December 2012

▽BBC News - Queen's Christmas message hails Olympic stars

The Queen is to pay tribute to the nation's Olympic and Paralympic athletes in her Christmas broadcast. She will hail the "splendid summer of sport" and highlight how the sportsmen and women allowed spectators to feel part of the "excitement and drama".

▽Hospital Christmas for Mandela as rumours fly | Mail & Guardian

Former President Nelson Mandela will spend Christmas Day in hospital, the presidency has announced.

▽David Cameron cites Gospel of John in Christmas message | The Guardian

David Cameron has issued one of the most overtly religious Christmas messages of any recent British prime minister, citing in it the Gospel of John. Cameron, who famously said in 2008 that his Anglicanism "sort of comes and goes", said the gospel tells the world that Jesus Christ was "the light of all mankind".

▽Facebook paid ￡2.9m tax on ￡840m profits made outside US, figures show | The Guardian

Facebook has become the latest multinational to come under the spotlight for its tax affairs after figures revealed it paid just ￡2.9m in tax on profits of more than more than ￡800m. Filings for Facebook Ireland, through which all of the social network's profits outside the US are channelled, show it paid the Irish tax authority €3.2m (￡2.9m) last year.

▽ITV makes move into US cable market | guardian.co.uk

ITV's share price hit a high not seen in more than five years in early trading on Monday, after the broadcaster confirmed a deal worth as much as $111m (￡68m) to buy reality TV show maker Gurney in an expansion of it US production operation. ITV's share price hit 108.64p in early trading, a level not seen since September 2007 before the company's stockmarket value was hobbled by the recession, after it confirmed it would take an initial $40m, 61.5% stake in Gurney.