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.
Listen to our World News for details.
