World News

Most Poles are opposed to Prime Minister Donald Tusk's proposals to strip the president of his power of veto and have him chosen by parliament instead of by voters, two opinion surveys showed on Tuesday.

Philippine police found 15 more bodies on Tuesday at the site of a massacre in the south of the country, taking the toll in the election-related killings to 39 dead, national police chief Jesus Verzosa said.

Israel is "very near" to agreeing a prisoner swap with Hamas, though it remains unclear which jailed Palestinians will be released, an Israeli cabinet minister said on Tuesday.

A former aide to Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama may be charged with falsifying political funding records, the Asahi newspaper said on Tuesday, a development that could dent support for the government ahead of elections next year.

Spanish police have arrested 36 members of Segi, an outlawed youth group linked to Basque guerrillas ETA, Spanish media reported on Tuesday.

A popular conservative newspaper critical of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been closed down for carrying a photograph of a temple of the banned Baha'i faith, media reported on Tuesday.

Thailand passed a tough security law on Tuesday, giving the military broad powers to control a street rally that begins this weekend by supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Philippines declared a state of emergency in two southern provinces and in a nearby city on Tuesday, a day after at least 24 people were killed in election-related violence.

REUTERS - The Australian government said on Tuesday it has reached a compromise deal on carbon trading with some members of the opposition, whose support is vital if emissions trading laws are to pass parliament this week.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh holds talks with U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday during the first state visit of the new administration -- a tribute, both sides say, to the close natural ties between the two giant democracies.

President Barack Obama hosts Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday for talks considered critical to showing Washington's commitment to New Delhi in a region where its rivals, China and Pakistan, are U.S. priorities.

REUTERS - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Washington for a state visit set to boost the burgeoning economic relationship between two countries, which had relatively marginal commercial dealings a decade ago.

Australia's government will boost compensation to big carbon emitters, coal companies and electricity generators under a revised carbon-trade scheme aimed at securing vital parliamentary support in a vote this week.

The Philippines sacked the provincial police chief and sent hundreds of extra troops to a southern region on Tuesday where gunmen killed at least 24 people in the worst-ever election related violence in the country.

The de facto leader who took power in Honduras after a June coup is confident the United States will recognize a Nov. 29 presidential election and help end the country's international isolation.

President Barack Obama began a meeting on Monday night with top advisers on Afghanistan as he closes in on a decision about whether to send thousands more U.S. troops to confront a growing insurgency.

U.S. President Barack Obama honored a group of women on Monday who have confronted Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and said they had defied a dictator.

At least four people survived a massacre in the southern Philippines in which at least 24 people were abducted and killed by political rivals, a local politician said on Tuesday.

Sudan's government has harassed and limited movements of international peacekeepers in its conflict-torn western Darfur region, violating an agreement on the peacekeepers' deployment, the United Nations said in a report released on Monday.

Israel has softened its terms for a prisoner swap with Hamas and the two are nearing a deal to exchange hundreds of jailed Palestinians for an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip, officials said on Monday.