AP - The Shiite-led government is cracking down on U.S.-backed Sunni Arab fighters in one of Iraq's most turbulent regions, arresting some leaders, disarming dozens of men and banning them from manning checkpoints except alongside official security forces.

AP - The "librarian" of a child porn archive accused of amassing nearly 250,000 images pleaded guilty Monday to sending indecent images of children to subscribers in more than 30 countries.

AP - Russia's lightning war against Georgia looks like a military triumph: An armada of Russian tanks easily crushed Georgia's modest army in a show of muscle intended to punish its U.S.-allied neighbor, scare others and reaffirm Moscow's influence on its former Soviet turf.

AP - Masked gunmen ambushed a bus carrying election workers in southern Iraq on Monday, killing two of them including an official known for resisting interference by Shiite religious extremists, authorities said.

AP - Two bricklayers, a security guard and a cement buyer walked across the vast Olympic Green they helped build, holding some of the games' hottest tickets in their deeply tanned hands.

AP - Russian tanks and troops roamed freely around Gori on Monday and made forays toward the Georgian capital, keeping control of the highway that slices through Georgia's midsection despite Russia's announcement that a withdrawal had begun.

AP - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced Monday that he will resign, just days ahead of impeachment in parliament over attempts by the U.S.-backed leader to impose authoritarian rule on his turbulent nation.

AFP - The world's biggest mining company BHP Billiton Ltd. posted a record 15.39-billion-US-dollar annual net profit Monday and said it expected Asian demand to remain strong despite a global slowdown.

AFP - Zimbabwe's political rivals left a summit Sunday deadlocked over how to share power, as their divisions defied attempts by regional heads of state to find a resolution to the country's crisis.

AP - Iran has test launched a rocket it plans to use to carry a research satellite into orbit, state television reported Sunday.

AFP - Bank Bradford & Bingley said Monday that its shareholders had agreed to buy just under 28 percent of a rights issue aimed at raising 400 million pounds.

AP - Mourners fired guns in the air to show their grief Monday at the funeral of a U.S.-allied Sunni leader killed by a suicide bomber in Baghdad.