Nation: Even while he considers changes to intelligence practices revealed by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, President Obama declined to say whether he would consider amnesty for Snowden, who set the whole debate in motion. “As important and as necessary as this debate has been, it is also important to keep in mind that this has done unnecessary damage to U.S. intelligence capabilities and U.S. diplomacy,” Obama said in his last press conference of the year. He said he would leave it to the courts and the Justice Department to decide what to do about Snowden, who’s living in Russia to dodge a US indictment.

• Accused Colorado theater shooter James Holmes has been ruled competent to stand trial. The ruling is based on the defendant’s basic ability to understand and communicate with lawyers, and not whether he was sane at the time of the shooting that killed 12 people.

Gravity: Two astronauts on the International Space Station took a walk today to repair a failed cooling pump that forced the shutdown of part of the station. As a precaution, they had to improvise snorkels inside their helmets because one astronaut recently came close to drowning when his helmet filled with water.

Econ 101: The Commerce Department raised its estimate of third quarter growth to 4.1%, the biggest leap in two years. It’s considered evidence of accelerating growth, although the annual rate is still a sluggish 2.5%.

Now Utah: Same-sex couples in Utah married yesterday within hours after a federal district court judge ruled that Utah’s ban on gay marriage approved in a 2004 referendum is unconstitutional. The state filed an appeal soon after. Judge Robert J. Shelby said Utah’s ban infringes on the 14^th amendment rights of gay citizens to equal protection of the law. Shelby said Utah’s “current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry.”

World: Former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was released from prison yesterday and went immediately to Germany. Khodorkovsky said he had asked President Vladimir Putin for clemency because his mother has cancer. He used to run the now-defunct Yukos oil conglomerate, but got into trouble using his wealth to fund opposition to Putin.

• Two sisters who worked as assistants to British “kitchen goddess” Nigella Lawson were acquitted of bilking their employer of a million dollars. The trial revealed an unflattering picture of Lawson and her art-dealer ex-husband Charles Saatchi, who was portrayed as an explosive bully. The jury decided that the sisters’ spending on their employer’s account was part of Lawson’s drug-addled excessive life. Testimony revealed that she used cocaine and marijuana. She had her assistants roll the bones because she didn’t know how.

The Gun Guy: The infamous George Zimmerman recovered his guns from the police after domestic violence charges were dropped by his girlfriend. Florida cops handed over three pistols, a shotgun and an AR-15 assault rifle to the man who killed teenager Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman’s girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, was with him when he recovered the guns. She was heard on the 911 tape the day of his arrest saying to Zimmerman, “You put your gun in my freakin’ face!”

.Gov: Police in Massachusetts pulled over what they thought was a suspicious car and found it loaded with heroin packets marked “Obamacare”.

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