NO MORE AMNESTY: Even though Asif Ali Zardari still has immunity as president, the court ruling means his eligibility to hold the post can now be challenged
Pakistan’s president faced fresh calls to step down yesterday after the Supreme Court struck down an amnesty that had protected the increasingly unpopular leader and several of his political allies from corruption charges.

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China’s rules on the forced demolition of homes are under attack after a Beijing man set fire to himself to protest against confiscation of his family’s home, while legal experts urged reforms to better protect residents.

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The trial of a suspected gang boss as part of a sweeping crackdown on mafia activities in Chongqing has taken an unexpected twist with the arrest of his lawyer on charges of fabricating evidence.

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PIECE OF THE PIE: Ethnic minorities in economically deprived regions are seeking states of their own after the government agreed to create a new state in the south
From scores fasting in demand of a new state in India’s hilly northeast to a powerful chief minister suggesting her region be split up, the map of the nation is facing an overhaul.

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Three journalists for the Guardian were released unharmed on Wednesday after being kidnapped last week by an armed gang in a rugged and remote part of eastern Afghanistan, the newspaper said.

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TIME RUNNING OUT: Today is the deadline for negotiators to come up with a plan for global leaders to sign. Some are already expecting a blame game if the talks fail
Danish hosts re-launched UN climate talks yesterday after the US backed a US$100 billion global fund to support poor countries and world leaders gathered for a final effort to reach a deal.

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INCORPORATE THE OLD: Because they didn’t want Germans celebrating the birth of a Jew, Nazis tried to bring back pagan traditions while adding a touch of their own
Presents wrapped in paper covered with Nazi symbols nestling beneath a tree adorned with swastikas and grenade-shaped baubles: Welcome to Christmas under Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.

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Santa Claus should snack on his reindeer’s carrots, get off his sleigh and jog as portrayals of the portly brandy-drinker promote obesity, drunk-driving and other unhealthy behaviors, an Australian doctor said.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that the presidents of Russia and the US were unlikely to sign a new treaty to curb their nuclear arsenals when they meet in Copenhagen this week.

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Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert offered to swap Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip and West Bank in exchange for settlement blocs in the West Bank, the Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday, in the most detailed account of the former Israeli leader’s proposed concessions.

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Two common forms of cancer have been genetically mapped for the first time, British scientists said on Wednesday, in a major breakthrough in understanding the diseases.

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CONTROVERSIAL: A senior Republican said ‘Time’ magazine’s selection of the Fed chairman, whose financial bailouts have raised ire in Congress, was a reward for failure
Time magazine named US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke “Person of the Year” on Wednesday, giving him a high-profile boost as he tries to fend off proposals that might weaken the Fed’s independence.

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Two hundred sailors raided an upscale apartment complex and killed a reputed Mexican drug cartel chief in a two-hour gunbattle, one of the biggest victories yet in Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s drug war.

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TOLERANCE: While 70 percent of the world’s people are subject to religious repression, a Pew Research Center survey ranked Taiwan among the freest in the world
In Indonesia, Muslim groups burn down a mosque belonging to the minority Ahmadiyya. In Singapore, the government refuses to recognize Jehovah’s Witnesses. In Belgium, 68 religion-based hate crimes are reported in 2007 alone.

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A two-year-old boy has as many as 50 metal sewing needles inside his body, apparently stuck there one by one, a doctor treating him said on Wednesday. Brazilian media said the boy’s ex-stepfather was detained.

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The massacre of 30 media workers in the Philippines last month made this year the deadliest year ever for journalists, a report released yesterday showed.

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Asians, Africans and Native Americans may be less likely to benefit from pioneering stem cell research than people of European origin, thanks to a lack of racial diversity in cell stocks, a US study said on Wednesday.

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■NEW ZEALAND

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