RELIGIOUS TENSION: The violence was reportedly sparked by the injury on Monday of a Hindu leader and accusations that Christians were bribing people to change their faith
Hundreds of federal police were deployed in India's eastern state of Orissa yesterday as Hindu hardliners burnt and damaged 12 churches in communal clashes, killing at least one person, police said.

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TRUCE?: Caesar Rafael, formerly abducted and released by the New People's Army, was killed during a Christmas truce between the government and the communists
A northern Philippines town mayor who was once abducted by communist guerrillas was shot dead in a Christmas Day ambush on Tuesday, police said.

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The navy detained an Indonesian-registered ship off the eastern coast of Sri Lanka to investigate any possible ties with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels as fighting in the north killed 15 guerrillas, the military said yesterday.

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Three years after Indian Ocean nations were lashed by massive tsunamis, somber ceremonies were held yesterday to recall those lost in one of the worst natural catastrophes in modern times.

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A huge search operation was underway yesterday after hundreds of people went missing and at least 15 died when a crowded bridge collapsed in Nepal, officials said.

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A Japanese rail operator said yesterday it plans to introduce the world's fastest train by 2025, a next-generation maglev built at a cost of US$45 billion.

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DISCREPANCIES: The Turkish military claimed between 150 and 175 'terrorists' had been `rendered ineffective,' while the PKK said only five militants and two civilians were killed
The Turkish military on Tuesday claimed to have inflicted massive losses on Kurdish rebels in bombing raids in northern Iraq as Iraqi Kurdish officials reported a fresh Turkish air strike.

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Leaving the hard-line regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad behind, 40 Iranian Jews landed in Israel after a secret journey to new homes in the Jewish state and reunions with family they had not seen in years.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to the Egyptian city of Luxor on Tuesday aboard a private jet accompanied by his new love, ex-supermodel Carla Bruni, to spend Christmas on the banks of the Nile.

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DIPLOMATIC TIES: Parliament was to debate a resolution yesterday that would bind Serbian officials to never accept Kosovo's independence
Serbia plans to adopt a set of retaliatory measures against Western states if they recognize Kosovo's independence, including the possibility of severing diplomatic ties with the US and EU countries, officials said on Tuesday.

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A small bomb damaged the office of Spain's governing party in a Basque town an hour after authorities received a warning call from the armed separatist group ETA, an official said on Tuesday. No injuries were reported.

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Russia's military on Tuesday successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads -- a weapon intended to replace the aging Soviet-era missiles.

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FALLING STATISTICS: Despite the large number of victims in Tuesday's blasts, the US military said violent attacks in Iraq had dropped by 60 percent since June
Two separate suicide attacks in Iraq killed at least 34 people and wounded scores more on Tuesday, local and US military authorities said, shattering more than a week of relative calm.

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NOT HOME FOR CHRISTMAS: Relatives of kidnapped Colombians, including the three that FARC rebels promised to release, spent another holiday without their loved ones
Colombia's most famous hostage, former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, turned 46 on Tuesday, with her family worrying for her health as she marked her sixth birthday as a hostage in a rebel jungle camp.

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A tiger that mauled a zookeeper last year escaped from its pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing one man and injuring two others before police shot it dead, authorities said.

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After a day off for Christmas celebrations, US presidential contenders hit the campaign trail full tilt yesterday, just days before voters in key states begin to narrow the field of White House hopefuls.

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Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay on Tuesday identified Iran as the origin of weapons used by rebels against the international coalition in Afghanistan.

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■ SOUTH KOREA

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