CONTROVERSY: Malaysia's highest court ruled that civil and Islamic courts had equal standing and turned down a Malaysian Hindu's plea to stop her Muslim-convert spouse
Malaysia's highest court yesterday rejected on technicality a Hindu woman's plea to stop her Muslim-convert husband from divorcing her in an Islamic court, and upheld the man's right to change their son's religion to Islam.

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ALTERNATIVE STUDY: Terri Irwin is supporting a whale watching program to dispute Japan's claims that killing whales is necessary for research
The widow of TV "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin said yesterday she would launch non-lethal research of whales in Antarctic waters next year in hopes of demonstrating that Japan's scientific whale kill is a sham.

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Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda yesterday voiced hope for progress in a nagging dispute with China over lucrative gas fields as he set off on a visit marking a return to normal dialogue between the Asian powers.

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Deposed Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be arrested if he returns home from a self-imposed exile as planned, even if his victorious allies form a government following last weekend's general election, officials said yesterday.

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OUTSPOKEN CRITIC: Activist-turned-lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung said he intended to visit mainland China to petition for direct elections in Hong Kong by 2012
An outspoken Hong Kong lawmaker said he tried to travel yesterday to Beijing to press the country's communist leaders to allow greater political freedoms in the former British colony but was turned back at the border.

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Sri Lankan jets bombed and destroyed a northern Tamil Tiger naval base yesterday, the military said, a day after a fierce sea battle that left up to 52 rebels and navy sailors dead.

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Staff at Sri Lanka's state television broadcaster yesterday released a minister they had taken hostage after his aide manhandled their director, company officials said.

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The second most senior EU official in Afghanistan and a top UN political adviser left the country yesterday after being expelled by the government for posing a threat to national security.

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SEX OFFENSE?: Moti's extradition to face rape charges in Australia is seen as a move by the government of Derek Sikua to repair ties with neighboring countries
The Solomon Islands government deported its former attorney general yesterday to Australia where he is wanted on child sex charges, part of the days-old administration's attempts to mend fences with Canberra.

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A four-year-old boy in Vietnam has died of bird flu, becoming the nation's fifth victim of the H5N1 viral strain reported this year, a health ministry official said yesterday.

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IMPATIENCE: Three policemen died and 10 were wounded when riot police broke up a demonstration with tear gas, and key political leaders later called for restraint
Kenyans flocked to the polls yesterday in the nation's closest-ever presidential race, with the aging incumbent and a fiery opposition leader neck-and-neck and tensions simmering over alleged fraud.

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Turkey praised the US on Wednesday for providing intelligence in support of attacks against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, as it confirmed its third such air strike in 10 days.

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HORRID: Last week, the chancellor approved a series of measures to protect children that allows police to take swifter action when child abuse or neglect is suspected
Two parents killed their children in separate cases over Christmas, German police said on Wednesday, the latest of a series of infanticides that have shocked the country and forced the government to act to improve child-welfare and social services.

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TUG-OF-WAR: Badri Patarkatsishvili, the country's richest man, is challenging Mikhail Saakashvili in the upcoming election after accusing authorities of plotting to kill him
Journalists at Georgia's top television station said they were suspending broadcasts because of authorities' pressure over its links to a billionaire presidential contender who is involved in a tug-of-war with the government.

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Militiamen in Somalia's northern Puntland region on Wednesday kidnapped two foreign female aid workers, sparking a heavy exchange of fire with pursuing local police.

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MERCY MISSION: The hostages set to be released are Consuelo Gonzalez, Clara Rojas and Rojas' son Emmanuel, who was born while his mother was held captive
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez summoned support from leaders across Latin America as he prepared to send planes and helicopters into neighboring Colombia to pick up three hostages who have been held for years by leftist rebels.

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Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee bagged a pheasant, offering Iowa voters the image of an experienced outdoorsman on the hunt, shotgun blasting and dogs braying.

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Every new police officer in New York City will be sent onto the streets of some of the city's toughest neighborhoods as part of a broad anti-crime operation that the authorities say has helped produce historic drops in crime, the city announced on Wednesday.

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It was a stinky holiday for Robert Schoff.

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Six people, likely three generations of a family, were found dead at a rural property east of Seattle and a law enforcement official said police arrested the property owner's daughter and her boyfriend.

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SAFE AT LAST: Rescue workers struggled for five hours against heavy rains and high-altitude winds to carry Francesca Lewis from the crash site by stretcher
A 12-year-old US girl who was the sole survivor of a weekend plane crash was reunited with her family on Wednesday after rescuers trekking for five hours carried her down from the wreckage in a remote mountain area and airlifted her to a hospital.

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■ AUSTRALIA

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