Indonesia Aid pledges for Asia's tsunami victims topped 1.6 billion dollars on a tide of New Year sympathy, but the United Nations warned it would take weeks for help to reach many survivors and that the death toll would likely rise to 150,000. Vatican Pope John Paul II remembered the tens of thousands killed by tsunamis in Asia in his New Year greetings after revellers around the world lit candles and observed moments of silence before seeing in 2005. Iraq The group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi aired a video on the Internet purporting to show the execution of five members of the Iraqi National Guard in the militant stronghold of Ramadi west of Baghdad. Turkmenistan-Ukraine-Russia The Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan said it had carried out a threat to cut gas supplies to Russia and Ukraine but was ready to turn the pumps back on in exchange for higher prices. Turkey Turkey ushered in the new year with a new currency, scrapping the multi-million-lira banknotes that had bewildered tourists and embarrassed government officials and ordinary citizens during decades of hyperinflation. Argentina Argentine police have arrested the owner of a Buenos Aires nightclub where authorities said locked exits had sealed the fate of at least 175 people, mostly teenagers, who were killed in a blaze set off by fans tossing flares.