AP - NATO's chief declared Tuesday that Russian tanks and troops cannot block Georgia from joining NATO, but he acknowledged internal disagreement over how long the pro-Western nation must wait for membership in the alliance.

AP - Pakistan's military has ordered its forces to open fire if U.S. troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border, an army spokesman said Tuesday.

AFP - The chances of Australia dumping the British monarch as head of state firmed Tuesday as a staunch republican was elected leader of the opposition, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd indicated.

AFP - A Nigerian rebel group said Tuesday it had blown up and destroyed a Royal Dutch Shell pipeline in the latest attack in its "oil war" on western firms.

AP - South American presidents agreed Monday to work urgently to prevent a political collapse in Bolivia, where the government said it would charge a rebellious governor with genocide for allegedly ordering the machine-gunning of peasants.

AFP - The Bank of England on Tuesday injected 20 billion pounds into money markets, four times the amount it had offered Monday after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

AP - David Petraeus, the American general who presided over Iraq's pullback from the brink of all-out civil war, relinquished his command Tuesday to Gen. Ray Odierno under a cascade of official thank-yous.

AP - The speaker of the Ukrainian parliament has announced the collapse of the pro-Western governing coalition.