World News Roundup: Kabul attack leaves 43 dead; Indonesia tsunami death toll rises; Pope Francis urges people to see differences as asset, not danger

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

U.S. border wall no match for Mexican girl's Santa wish list

A balloon launched by a Mexican girl and carrying her Santa present list floated over the U.S. border wall and was found by an Arizona man who granted the 8-year-old's Christmas wishes. Randy Heiss, 60, was out walking his dog in Patagonia, Arizona, about 20 miles northeast of the border, on Dec. 16 when he found the deflated red balloon and the present list attached with a red ribbon.

Britain's Prince Philip misses Christmas Day church service

Britain's Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband, missed a traditional Christmas Day church service on Tuesday, though a royal source said that the 97-year old was in good health and just wanted to spend the day in private. Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, married Elizabeth in 1947 and has been by his wife's side throughout her reign, the longest in British history.

Syria state media says Israeli planes attack targets near Damascus

Israeli war planes attacked with missiles unspecified targets near Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Tuesday and injured three Syrian soldiers, Syrian state media quoted a military source as saying. "Our air defenses confronted hostile missiles launched by Israeli war planes from above the Lebanese territories and downed most of them before reaching their targets," the military source said.

Indonesian rescuers use drones, sniffer dogs as tsunami death toll rises

Indonesian rescuers on Tuesday used drones and sniffer dogs to search for survivors along the devastated west coast of Java hit by a series of tsunamis that killed at least 373 people, warning more victims are expected to be uncovered as the search expands. Thick ash clouds continued to spew from Anak Krakatau, a volcanic island where a crater collapse at high tide on Saturday sending tsunamis smashing into coastal areas on both sides of the Sunda Strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java.

See differences as asset, not danger, pope says in Christmas message

Pope Francis, in his Christmas message to the world, urged people on Tuesday to see differences as a source of richness instead of danger and called for reconciliation in places torn apart by conflict. Francis delivered the traditional papal "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message to tens of thousands of people in a sunny St. Peter's Square from the same basilica balcony where he first appeared as pontiff shortly after his election on March 13, 2013.

Security forces disperse Sudanese demonstrators after week of protests

At least three Sudanese protesters were wounded by gunshots on Tuesday when security forces dispersed rallies in the capital, witnesses said, after a week of demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir's three-decade rule. A Reuters witness said security forces barred protesters at one location in Khartoum from marching on the presidential palace by firing teargas and shots in the air.

Attack on government building in Afghan capital leaves 43 dead: official

Afghan authorities on Tuesday collected 43 bodies from a government compound in the capital Kabul that was targeted by a suicide bomber and extremists armed with assault rifles on Monday, officials said. The attack began when the suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car in front of a government building that houses a public welfare department in an eastern neighborhood of Kabul.

U.S.-led coalition reports recent air strikes on ISIS in Syria

The U.S.-led coalition in Syria conducted air strikes last week that destroyed facilities used by Islamic State, the coalition said on Tuesday, less than a week after President Donald Trump declared victory over the militant group and said he would withdraw U.S. troops from the war-torn country. The coalition said its attacks during the week of Dec. 16-22, including air strikes and "coordinated fires," had destroyed logistics facilities and staging areas used by Islamic State, damaged the group's ability to finance its activities and "removed several hundred ISIS fighters from the battlefield."

Congo opposition cry foul over web-enabled voting machines

Opposition candidates in this weekend's presidential election in Democratic Republic of Congo demanded on Tuesday that the electoral board deactivate SIM cards in voting machines to prevent the electronic transmission of results. The opposition are up in arms because active SIM cards could allow the electoral board (CENI) to tabulate the vote electronically, despite repeated assurances the results would be based on hand counts of paper print-outs from the machines.

Venezuela calls U.S. comments on Guyana, Exxon dispute 'interventionist'

Venezuela's foreign ministry on Tuesday described as "interventionist and disrespectful" U.S. comments on a weekend incident in which the South American country's navy stopped two ships exploring for oil for Exxon Mobil off Guyana's coast Each country says the Saturday incident occurred within its territorial waters. In response to the event, the U.S. State Department said Venezuela had behaved "aggressively" and said Guyana had the right to exploit natural resources in its territory.

(With inputs from Reuters)