NORMAL CITIZEN: The ousted prime minister says he wants to return to Thailand and that he does not seek a return to life in politics. Unless the situation changes
Deposed Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday he wanted to return to Thailand in February, as he called for reconciliation with the military following weekend elections.

[ FULL STORY ]

Fourteen sailors aboard a ship carrying toxic chemicals were missing yesterday after their vessel was thought to have sunk in South Korea's southern waters.

[ FULL STORY ]

THE LONG WAIT: Cambodians hoping to find justice fear that the aging Khmer Rouge leaders facing accusations of genocide could die before their sentences are announced
More than 600 Buddhist monks and nuns, as well as Muslim leaders, marched to Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal yesterday to demand speedier trials of Khmer Rouge cadre.

[ FULL STORY ]

China and India completed their first-ever joint military exercises yesterday with a drill in which they "wiped out" a group of supposed terrorists along their border, state media reported.

[ FULL STORY ]

Japanese prosecutors have taken over the investigation of four military instructors who allegedly leaked sensitive defense technology in a widening scandal, police said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

Pakistani rebels ambushed a pickup truck in the remote southwest, killing at least four people and injuring three, authorities and the militants said yesterday.

[ FULL STORY ]

OFF THE HOOK: After an investigation ordered by the Israeli army's chief of staff, prosecutors said the bombing of Lebanon was not in violation of international law
Israeli military prosecutors announced on Monday that they would not press charges over the army's use of cluster bombs during the war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, actions that had been widely criticized by human rights organizations.

[ FULL STORY ]

In the Kenyan slum of Kibera these days, the ancient cadences of the Muslim call to prayer compete with election propaganda blaring from loudspeakers.

[ FULL STORY ]

Turkish police thwarted a bomb attack in Istanbul, arresting a 25-year-old man carrying explosives in his backpack outside a subway station, the city's mayor said.

[ FULL STORY ]

Pope Benedict XVI urged the faithful to set aside time in their lives for God and the needy as he ushered in Christmas early yesterday by celebrating Midnight Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

[ FULL STORY ]

CALL FOR PEACE: In a Christian church in Baghdad, a far from capacity crowd listened to a sermon that veered from the traditional to address Iraq's ongoing violence
Inside a beige church guarded by men with the AK-47s, a choir sang Christmas songs in Arabic. An old woman in black closed her eyes while a girl in a cherry-red dress, with tights and shoes to match, craned her neck toward rows of empty pews near the back.

[ FULL STORY ]

US military officials in Iraq said on Monday that they had no operational reports that Turkey bombed northern Iraq on Sunday, contrary to Kurdish claims of Turkish airstrikes that day.

[ FULL STORY ]

PARLIAMENTARY SEAT: While Fidel Castro hinted last week that he would not cling to power, Raul said Fidel was healthy and had the support of Communist Party leaders
Acting Cuban President, Raul Castro said on Monday that Communist Party leaders support his brother Fidel's re-election to parliament, saying he is exercising two hours daily and gaining weight while keeping his mind healthy with reading and writing.

[ FULL STORY ]

Issameldin Mohamed, a native of Egypt, explained that he was not entirely sure that suing the US government was a good idea.

[ FULL STORY ]

It is a basic tenet of university research: Economists do joint studies, chemists join forces in the laboratory, political scientists share ideas about other cultures -- but rarely do the researchers cross disciplinary lines.

[ FULL STORY ]

Families of Colombian hostages held by leftist rebels awaited news about the fate of their loved ones yesterday after an anticipated release of three captives suffered a last-minute delay.

[ FULL STORY ]

ABUSE OF POWER: Prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 140 former officials who worked for military dictatorships or the secret services in six South American states
Italian police made one arrest on Monday as prosecutors issued warrants for 140 former South American leaders and officials accused of being behind a regionwide crackdown on dissent in the 1970s and 1980s, news reports said.

[ FULL STORY ]

■ INDIA

[ FULL STORY ]