AP - Taliban fighters destroyed bridges and planted mines after overrunning villages outside southern Afghanistan's largest city, Afghan officials and witnesses said. Hundreds of farm families fled while the Afghan army rushed in troops.

AP - A Chinese forestry official said Tuesday that giant panda habitat in China's Sichuan province, the endangered animal's main preserve, was devastated by last month's massive earthquake.

AP - The architect of Pakistan's nuclear program on Tuesday rejected a report alleging that his network may have shared blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon with countries such as Iran and North Korea.

AP - A car bomb tore through a market area in a mainly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and wounding dozens, officials said, the deadliest such attack in more than three months.

AP - Gaza's Hamas rulers on Tuesday said they have reached a long-awaited cease-fire with Israel meant to end months of Palestinian assaults on Israeli border towns and bruising Israeli retaliation.

AFP - The mother of twin toddlers found dead in their bedroom told police they may have starved to death, an Australian court heard Tuesday.

AFP - Japan on Tuesday executed three people including notorious serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki, a fetishist convicted of murdering four young girls and eating some of their bodies, officials said.

AFP - Egyptian authorities are threatening to strip Cairo's luxury Grand Hyatt hotel of its five-star status after the owner stopped serving alcohol in the name of Islam.

AP - Lebanese security officials say that clashes between pro- and anti-government supporters overnight left three people dead and four wounded in the east of the country.

AFP - British mercenary Simon Mann goes on trial Tuesday in Equatorial Guinea for allegedly plotting to oust the oil-rich country's iron-fisted ruler -- a charge that could carry the death penalty.

AP - Followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr signaled Monday that they won't resist a military crackdown in one of their last southern strongholds unless government troops make arrests without warrants or commit other violations.

AP - Soldiers scrambled to shore up soggy levies with sandbags Tuesday in southern China as forecasters warned that more heavy rain in the central region could trigger flooding on the country's second-longest river. The death toll rose to 171, state-run media said.

AP - A serial killer who mutilated the bodies of four young girls and reportedly drank the blood of one of his victims was among three convicted murderers executed in Japan on Tuesday for crimes an official called indescribably cruel.

AP - ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan — Taliban militants destroyed bridges and planted mines in several villages they control outside southern Afghanistan's largest city in apparent preparation for battle, residents and officials said Tuesday.