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Mayor Michael Bloomberg's inauguration as a newly-minted city councilman, unknown to most outside his Brooklyn district and a small circle of political operatives.
• He is now Bloomberg's successor, elected by a record margin, supported by a former --and perhaps a future -- U. S. president, and hailed as the face of a progressive movement that pledges a significant realignment of the nation's largest city.
• De Blasio's improbable climb, which included a stint in an obscure public watchdog post and a stunning political comeback last summer, will reach its pinnacle at noon on a cold New Year's Day when he is sworn in by former President Bill Clinton.
• When de Blasio's completes the oath, the second he'll have taken in 12 hours, he will become the first Democratic mayor of New York since 1993 and be poised to enact sweeping changes to a city that became safer and cleaner than ever yet more economically divided during Bloomberg's 12 years in office.
• The inauguration was expected to be a joyous day for city Democrats, who outnumber Republicans in the city by a margin of 6-to-1 but have been shut out of power since David Dinkins left office two decades ago.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. is racing to keep pace with stepped-up activity in the once sleepy Arctic frontier, but it is far from being in the lead.
• Nations across the world are hurrying to stake claims to the Arctic's resources, which might be home to 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its untapped natural gas. There are emerging fisheries and hidden minerals. Cruise liners filled with tourists are sailing the Arctic's frigid waters in increasing numbers. Cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route, one of two shortcuts across the top of the Earth in summer, is on the rise.
• The U.S., which takes over the two-year rotating chairmanship of the eight-nation Arctic Council in 2015, has not ignored the Arctic, but critics say the U.S. is lagging behind the other seven: Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Canada and Denmark, through the semiautonomous territory of Greenland.
• "On par with the other Arctic nations, we are behind -- behind in our thinking, behind in our vision," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said. "We lack basic infrastructure, basic funding commitments to be prepared for the level of activity expected in the Arctic."
• At a meeting before Thanksgiving with Secretary of State John Kerry, Murkowski

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