ALEPPO ROCKED BY SUICIDE BOMBERS It's another worrying development in Syria's civil war: the county"s largest city and commercial capital has been rocked by four powerful suicide car bomb blasts, killing dozens of people and causing massive damage. Aleppo has seen a recent spike in fighting, but unlike Damascus it has not suffered from frequent suicide attacks. Three of the blasts happened in a central square in an area of the city controlled by government forces, leaving huge craters and piles of debris from severely damaged buildings, one of which appears to be entirely demolished. Many of the casualties are reported to be civilians. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet.

SOCIAL UNREST IN TEHRAN Police in Tehran have clashed with demonstrators protesting against the government's handling of the country's currency crisis. It's another sign that the Iranian regime is under real pressure as a result of U.S. and international financial sanctions over its nuclear program. The value of Iran's currency has nosedived by 60 per cent this year, and by 30 per cent over the past week alone. President Ahmadinejad has come under attack over the crisis, amid concerns from ordinary people that the country's economy is heading off a cliff, as well as attacks from his political opponents over the government's performance.

PROTESTOR SCALES ST PETER'S IN ROME An Italian man has grabbed global headlines by climbing out of a viewing platform and scaling the 42-feet-high dome of St. Peter's Basilica. Marcello Di Finizio says he's protesting against government austerity cuts that he claims are hurting his business.

SUPERSONIC CAR DESIGNED TO BECOME WORLD'S FASTEST Engineers in England are testing an engine they hope will power a rocket car and break the land speed record. The engine is a combination rocket, race car engine and fighter jet afterburner that generates six times more power than all the cars in an Indy car race combined. ABC's Nick Schifrin has filed on the story.

CIA OFFICERS IN MEXICO TARGETED BY CARTEL? The Associated Press is reporting what many first suspected: federal police in Mexico who fired on a U.S. embassy vehicle in August and wounded two CIA officers may have been working for organized crime in a targeted assassination attempt. Mexican police have said in the past that their agents fired on the vehicle by mistake, thinking it belonged to a band of kidnappers they were pursuing.

TYSON KNOCKED OUT OF NEW ZEALAND Mike Tyson was scheduled to address a motivational speaking event in Auckland in aid of a charity next month, but the government of New Zealand has revoked his visa because of his 1992 rape conviction. The former boxer has said he wanted to meet the country's indigenous Maori people, whose history of facial tattoos are said to have inspired his own tattoo.