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Ahmadinejad Denies Nuclear Trigger Report


IRAN NUCLEAR: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed a British newspaper report that says Iran is working on a trigger for a nuclear bomb. In a television interview broadcast Monday in the United States (by the ABC network,) reporter Diane Sawyer offered Mr. Ahmadinejad a copy of a document obtained by The Times of London which purportedly contained details of Iran's work on a nuclear initiator. The Iranian president waved the document away and said it had been fabricated by the U.S. government. An advisor to President Obama said Mr. Ahmadinejad's charge is nonsense.

PAKISTAN BLAST: Pakistani officials say a suicide bomber has blown himself up outside a press club in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing three people. Officials say a policeman stopped the bomber at the gate of the press club Tuesday and tried to search him, at which point the bomber detonated his explosives. The blast killed the officer, a press club accountant and a woman. It also blew out the windows of the building. The attack wounded 17 people, including passengers on a bus that was passing by the press club at the time. The attack was the first against a media target in Peshawar, which has experienced frequent bombings in recent months.

KOREAS DEFECTORS: South Korean media say seven North Koreans have sailed to South Korea on a small boat over the disputed Yellow Sea border. The Yonhap news agency said Coast Guard officers found the group Monday afternoon after they crossed the border off of South Korea's western coast. Authorities were questioning the North Koreans about whether they were defecting or simply drifted to the south by accident. The incident comes as North Korea on Monday designated the border waters a "firing zone" and warned South Korea's military to stay out.

CAMBODIA - CHINA - UIGHURS: Beijing denied Tuesday that it had linked aid to Cambodia with Phnom Penh's decision to repatriate a group of Muslim Uighurs who had sought asylum after ethnic violence in China. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman called the deportations an internal affair and said some of the Uighurs were suspected of criminal activity. China signed 14 aid deals with Cambodia Monday that are worth nearly a $1 billion, two days after Phnom Penh fulfilled Beijing's request to deport 20 Uighurs back to China. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping oversaw the deals on his three-day trip to Cambodia.

TAIWAN - CHINA: Top envoys from Taiwan and mainland China met for trade talks on Tuesday amid protests from citizens concerned the negotiations could eventually lead to Taiwan's unification with the mainland. A strong police presence stood guard outside the hotel in Taichung where China envoy Chen Yunlin held his fourth meeting with Taiwan negotiator Chiang Pin-kung on a free trade agreement. The two sides are also expected to sign three commercial accords. Chinese media reported a fourth deal on taxation was dropped from the agenda.

COLOMBIA UNREST: Authorities in Colombia say a state governor has been kidnapped from his home by members of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Luis Francisco Cuellar, the governor of the southern state of Caqueta, was abducted Monday in the state capital, Florence, during a raid on his home by the suspected guerrillas. A police officer guarding Cuellar's home was killed in an explosion during the incident. FARC has been waging an insurgency against the government for four decades, but its ranks have been decimated in recent years by an ongoing offensive by the Colombian military.

EGYPT - PALESTINIANS: Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza have protested Egypt's construction of a metal barrier along the Egypt-Gaza border. Hamas militants who organized Monday's protest in southern Gaza warned Egypt that building the underground barrier will lead to the "strangulation" of Gaza's people and cause a disaster. Palestinians have built a network of smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to bypass an Egyptian and Israeli blockade of the territory. The tunnels are used to bring in food, fuel and weapons.

EUROPE WEATHER: Fierce winter weather has killed at least 80 people across Europe and disrupted the Christmas plans of thousands of travelers left stranded in airports. Polish officials say 42 people, most of them homeless, have frozen to death over the last three days, with temperatures plunging as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius. Another 27 people died in Ukraine. Ice and snow also caused numerous car accidents and forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights. Travelers looking to train service for relief were out of luck, with icy conditions causing problems along rail lines.

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