North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died.

  It was a very cold,but sunny day today, too. I left home at 9:30 for my usual walking exercise, and on the way, I dropped in at the post office to buy 30 New Year cards. I had printed about 40 cards at home, which I am going to send to my friends and old students, but found I needed some more.
  At the news hour of NHK at noon, big news of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's death was reported. Kim Jong Il was 69 years old. He was traveling somewhere, and, on the way, he seems to have died all of a sudden. He was suffering from diabetes and had been attacked by stroke twice before.