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

YOUSSIFIYAH, Iraq - A top U.S. commander warned Tuesday that Sunnis who fight al-Qaida in Iraq must be rewarded and recognized as legitimate members of Iraqi society — or else the hard-fought security gains of the past six months could be lost.

CAIRO (AFP) - In a potential blow to themed resorts from Vegas to Tokyo, Egypt is to pass a law requiring payment of royalties whenever its ancient monuments, from the pyramids to the sphinx, are reproduced.

ROME - As the faithful marked Christmas Day, political and religious leaders called for peace and reconciliation amid flickers of hope in places long plagued by conflict.

HAVANA - Fidel Castro remains on the mend, gaining weight, exercising twice a day and continuing to help make the Cuban government's top decisions, his brother Raul Castro says.

LOS ANGELES - A California hedge fund manager, his daughter and her friend were among four people on a small plane that went missing in Panama, the man's ex-wife said Tuesday.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI issued a Christmas Day appeal Tuesday to political leaders around the globe to find the "wisdom and courage" to end bloody conflicts in Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan and Congo.

KATMANDU, Nepal - A steel footbridge collapsed Tuesday in western Nepal under the weight of hundreds of people on their way to a fair, plunging scores about 100 feet into icy Himalayan waters. At least 15 were killed and more than 100 were missing and feared dead, officials said.

BAIJI, Iraq (Reuters) - Two suicide bombings targeting U.S.-backed neighborhood patrols on Tuesday killed 33 people, highlighting the volatile situation north of Baghdad, where the U.S. military says al Qaeda gunmen are regrouping.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Prosecutors in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt are investigating 12,000 people on suspicion of possessing illegal images of children, state prosecutor Peter Vogt told German radio on Monday.

LUXOR (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Egypt on Tuesday for a private holiday accompanied by his new girlfriend, former supermodel Carla Bruni.

KANO (AFP) - A Nigerian state court Monday issued an arrest warrant for three Pfizer Inc. group staffers who allegedly defied a summons and failed to appear in court for hearings of a case against the US drugs company for an alleged illegal clinical trial.

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritanian police detained several suspects and scoured the south of the Saharan country on Tuesday in a hunt for three gunmen who killed four picnicking French tourists in a Christmas Eve attack, officials said.

BANGKOK, Thailand - Deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Tuesday he was planning to return home from exile following his supporters' victory in parliamentary elections, sparking fears more political conflict in Thailand.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Two Turkish airstrikes this month destroyed more than 200 Kurdish rebel targets in the mountains of northern Iraq, killing hundreds of insurgents, the military said Tuesday.

BEIJING (AFP) - Two tiger cubs have been found dead in a fridge at the same zoo in central China where a rare Siberian tiger was illegally slaughtered, state press reported Tuesday.

LONDON (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II, in her annual Christmas Day message to Britain and the Commonwealth, on Tuesday urged people to take responsibility for vulnerable individuals excluded by modern society.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - At least 13 people, mostly women and children, were killed and scores are missing in Nepal on Tuesday after a suspension bridge collapsed into a river in the west of the Himalayan country, police said.

ARAHUAY, Peru - Doubts about whether poor, rural children really can benefit from quirky little computers evaporate as quickly as the morning dew in this hilltop Andean village, where 50 primary school children got machines from the One Laptop Per Child project six months ago.

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - A controversial hardline Hindu politician formally took power as chief minister of India's Gujarat state on Tuesday, after a strong election victory that came as a shot in the arm for his Hindu-nationalist party.

BALI, Indonesia - While great nations fretted over coal, oil and global warming, one of the smallest at the U.N. climate conference was looking toward the heavens for its energy.

CAIRO, Egypt - Months after Egypt boldly announced that archaeologists had identified a mummy as the most powerful queen of her time, scientists in a museum basement are still analyzing DNA from the bald, 3,500-year-old corpse to try to back up the claim aired on TV.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Tuesday he was confident the party he backed in weekend elections could form a coalition government, unless prevented unfairly, allowing him to return from exile.

MADRID, Spain - 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 Tuesday. No injuries were reported.

LUXOR, Egypt (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew in 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.