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GAZA CITY, Dec 27 : Israeli air raids struck buildings and roads in the Gaza Strip Tuesday with the army poised to implement a security zone in the Palestinian territory intended to thwart militant rocket attacks. Army helicopters fired missiles, heavily damaging offices connected to the ruling Fatah movement and roads in the northern part of the territory. — AFP
Only Britain, Sweden to meet Kyoto targets in Europe
LONDON, Dec 27: Britain and Sweden are the only countries in Europe that look set to meet their commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, a British study predicted Tuesday. Of the 15 European countries signed up to the international pact, 10 would miss their targets unless they took urgent action, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Britain's leading progressive think-tank. —AFP
Two US pilots killed in copter crash in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Dec 27: Two US pilots were killed when their military helicopter crashed in west Baghdad Monday evening, the military said Tuesday. "There was no hostile fire involved," the military said in a statement. This incident brings the US military death toll since the start of the war in Iraq to at least 2,167. — AFP
Philippines to charge four US soldiers for rape
OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines, Dec 27 : Philippine prosecutors were set to file rape charges Tuesday against four US Marines, while clearing two other soldiers accused of assaulting a 22-year-old Filipino woman in early November. In affidavits, five of the Marines had disputed allegations that the woman was gang-raped in a van at a former US Navy base at Subic Bay, suggesting there was consensual sex. — Reuters
Japan diplomat killed self under threat from China
TOKYO, Dec 27 (AFP): A Japanese diplomat who committed suicide while based in Shanghai left suicide notes stating that Chinese intelligence was trying to blackmail him into leaking secret information, news reports said Tuesday. The suicide notes of the diplomat, whose name was withheld, spelt out how he was threatened by a Chinese agent over his relationship with a hostess at a karaoke club. — AFP
Three killed in Nepal fighting as truce nears end
KATHMANDU, Dec 27 : Two Maoist guerrillas and a soldier were killed in fierce fighting in western Nepal Tuesday, days before a unilateral ceasefire declared by the rebels was due to expire, the army and insurgents said. The gunbattle started Monday after the rebels, who are campaigning to topple the monarchy, attacked an army patrol in the Maoist stronghold of Rolpa. — Reuters
Four dead as sub-zero
temperatures hit Turkey
ANKARA, Dec 27 : Four people have died and thousands of villages have been cut off in Turkey as cold weather, accompanied by snow, wreaked havoc in several regions, press reports said Tuesday. A 25-year-old man died of hypothermia, while the bodies of two foreigners were found who apparently froze to death while trying to sneak across the border into Greece. — AFP
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