CONCILIATORY MOVE: Derek Sikua has promised to soothe strained relations with Australia by repatriating Attorney-General Julian Moti to face child abuse charges
Former education minister Derek Sikua was elected prime minister of the Solomon Islands yesterday, and immediately moved to repair ties with regional powers that became strained under his ousted predecessor

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PARLIAMENTARY LANDSLIDE: Not a single opposition party won a seat in Sunday's polls. Former parliamentary speaker Omurbek Tekebayev said his party would sue
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's party has won a crushing majority in parliament while his foes have failed to win a single seat, according to official returns released yesterday.

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MISSING NEPALESE: Rights activists and UN officials say an organized investigation should be conducted at a site in a national park 15km north of Kathmandu
Nepal's human rights commission said yesterday it had found what may be a burial or cremation site of civilians who disappeared during the country's decade-long war against Maoist rebels.

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Myanmar's junta chief Than Shwe has told the nation's soldiers to be prepared to sacrifice their lives for the country in an unusually tough speech at a graduation ceremony, state media said yesterday.

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Greenpeace yesterday called on Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to contact his Japanese counterpart Yasuo Fukuda and demand a halt to whaling in waters off Antarctica.

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More than a dozen ethnic Indian activists shaved their heads outside a Malaysian temple yesterday to protest the detention of their leaders under the tough Internal Security Act (ISA), organizers said.

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'HOT PURSUIT': Under an agreement, Turkey is to analyze US data, decide whether it will take military action, then notify the US of its actions, which it did not do recently
US and Turkish military officials were working to streamline procedures for any future attacks against rebels in northern Iraq after top US officials in Baghdad were angered about how Sunday's Turkish bombing unfolded.

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TERRITORY: While the Russians contended any action outside the council would be illegal, others insist the 1999 resolution allows for independence
Hopes dimmed for an agreement from the UN Security Council over the future of Kosovo, with Western diplomats saying negotiations were deadlocked and talks would continue in European capitals.

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Spain's anti-terrorism court convicted 47 people on Wednesday of supporting ETA, as judicial authorities maintained pressure on the Basque separatist group six months after it ended a ceasefire.

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'HIT SQUAD': Initial corruption charges against Zuma were dropped last September, but officials say they now have enough evidence to charge the newly elected leader
There is enough evidence to charge newly elected ANC leader Jacob Zuma with corruption, the head of South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority said yesterday.

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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's residence is being outfitted with a bunker that can withstand a nuclear or chemical attack, an Israeli daily reported yesterday.

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WAIVER DENIED: State officials threatened to sue the US government for turning down its request to implement rules for reducing car emissions by 30 percent by 2016
The US government on Wednesday rejected a request by California allowing it to introduce tough new vehicle emissions standards, dealing a blow to the state's hopes of slashing greenhouse gas levels over the next decade.

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With the first showdown only days away, US presidential hopefuls will take a break for Christmas and let their TV ads propagate some holiday cheer, but not without political undertones.

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Colombia's Marxist guerrillas told President Alvaro Uribe to step down if he wanted to guarantee a deal to free rebel hostages held for years in jungle camps.

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GANG ASSAULT: Jamie Leigh Jones told Congress how she was gang-raped by KBR co-workers in in 2005 and imprisoned by KBR security after reporting the incident
An American woman who said she was raped by US contractors in Iraq testified in Congress on Wednesday, saying that she was kept under armed guard in her trailer after reporting the incident.

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■ PAKISTAN

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