Asia The confirmed number killed in the massive earthquake and tidal waves that hit Indian Ocean shorelines a week ago passed 127,000, as more bodies were recovered in Sri Lanka. SriLanka At least 29,729 people were confirmed killed and 5,240 reported missing from the tsunamis that struck Sri Lanka last week, the president's office said. UN UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was to visit Indonesia this week as the international relief effort for Asia's tsunami victims neared two billion dollars in aid. Japan Japan promised 500 million dollars to countries devastated by tsunamis, by far outpledging all other countries which are racing to help victims of one of the world's worst disasters. Iraq Iraqi insurgents made a bloody start to 2005 killing 13 people, including a US soldier and a Lebanese contractor, with promised nationwide elections less than a month away. Mideast PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas, the favourite to win Palestinian presidential elections, received a hero's welcome during a campaign trip to the Gaza Strip where a deadly Israeli incursion has already claimed 11 lives. Turkmenistan 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. Uganda Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ordered the army to resume attacks against the Lord's Resistance Army rebels, after last-minute hitches scuppered a truce agreement on New Year's Eve, the army said. Peru Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo faced an armed rebellion by 150 army reservists, who took 10 officers at a provincial police station hostage and demanded that he resign. Croatia Croatians were to go to the polls with incumbent President Stipe Mesic expected to win his second five-year term with the prospect of leading the former Yugoslav republic into the European Union.