1. Questions raised about Romney's disposal of records.
New questions are being raised about Mitt Romney's last days as governor of Massachusetts and the way he handled records of his administration. Those same questions are following Romney on the campaign trail, raising concerns by some about how transparent he would be if elected president. The office of Romney's successor, Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, sent CNN documents showing that Romney's administration spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to completely replace computers in his office, just before Patrick assumed the governorship in January of 2007. The documents are two lease agreements for the computers. The first one, from 2005, shows the state paid just over $107,000 for the computers. That agreement was supposed to last three years.
2. European nations could lose powers, EC head's memo says.
European nations could be penalized by being stripped of some powers if they fail to manage their budgets, according to a memo from European Commission President Herman Van Rompuy leaked Tuesday. The confidential memo, sent out to leaders ahead of the final European Council meeting of the year at the end of the week, comes only a day after the leaders of Germany and France agreed in Paris on a new fiscal pact they say will help prevent another debt crisis. But Van Rompuy's proposals, details of which were obtained by CNN, are perhaps even stricter than those of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
3. Gorbachev calls for new Russian elections.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, called Wednesday for new parliamentary elections in Russia over concerns about vote fraud. "Mikhail Gorbachev is very concerned about how the situation in Russia is developing," spokesman Pavel Palezhchenko told CNN. "People don't believe that the will of the people is reflected in the results." He confirmed a report by the Russian news agency Interfax, which quoted the former Communist party general secretary as saying the elections were unfair and new elections were needed.