Need to know: Pakistani soldiers entered the Taliban headquarters in South Waziristan on Friday, as gunmen wounded an army brigadier and his driver in a shooting in the capital. The army went on the offensive in South Waziristan, a lawless ethnic Pashtun region on the Afghan border, on Oct. 17, aiming to root out Pakistani Taliban militants behind a wave of violence in urban areas.

Two soldiers are missing in western Afghanistan after failing to return from a routine resupply mission two days ago, Nato officials have said. 

Want to know: Countries most vulnerable to climate change said Friday, the fifth and final day of U.N. climate talks in Spain, they were incensed that rich nations were rethinking the timetable for concluding a global treaty that would hold them to legally binding targets for cutting emissions. 

A Danish journalism student has been arrested in Iran after covering anti-government protests. The Danish Union of Journalists named the student as Niels Krogsgaard, 31.

Dull but important: Israeli and Arab commentators, considering the reasons behind Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' decision not to stand in forthcoming elections, have said his position was made untenable this week after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to the region. Newspapers from Israel and the Palestinian territories agree that the apparent softening of U.S. rhetoric on the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank left Abbas with no choice but to stand down. The BBC has a round-up.

Just because: The ruling party of President Robert Mugabe plans to introduce a law that will force foreign-owned companies to allocate a majority stake to black Zimbabweans. Any foreign-owned company worth more than $500,000 will be required to transfer 51 percent ownership to black Zimbabweans within 60 days, according to a draft law published in the capital, Harare, that seeks to amend and enforce the Indigenization and Empowerment Act, passed by parliament in 2007. 

Wacky: Bears in an eastern German zoo have lost their fur, but international experts cannot work out why. One thing's for sure: they don't make for pretty holiday snaps. 

Reporter's Dispatches