AP - A female suicide bomber blasted an Iraqi convoy north of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing two people but narrowly missing a provincial governor in the second suicide attack by a woman in Diyala province in as many days.

AP - The Dalai Lama sent China a message of good will for the Olympics and skirted the contentious issue of Tibet at the start of his 12-day visit to France on Tuesday.

AP - Thousands of sapphires, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, jade and other gems glitter in long glass display cases as merchants haggle with professional buyers — most of them foreigners — and tourists.

AP - One little girl had the looks. The other had the voice.

AP - The Pakistani Taliban declared "open war" Tuesday in response to military offensives in the northwest, saying it staged a bombing that destroyed an air force truck and killed up to 14 people, including a child.

AP - Abu Ali has had enough of war. Nothing, he insists, can change his mind.

AP - Russia ordered a halt to the war in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that sent Georgia's army into headlong retreat and left towns, military bases and homes in the U.S. ally smoldering. Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling.

Reuters - Zimbabwe's ruling party said power-sharing talks resuming on Tuesday risked collapse as it haggled with the opposition over roles in a new government.

AP - Bolivian President Evo Morales said Monday that he's ready to sit down and talk to his bitter rivals in the country's pro-capitalist east once all results are in from a recall vote that strongly reaffirmed his mandate.

AP - As of Monday, Aug. 11, 2008, at least 4,139 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

AP - Mauritania's ousted prime minister defiantly refused to recognize the African country's ruling military junta Monday, after he was freed from house arrest under international pressure.