AFP - The security situation in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region is deteriorating, and the UN-African Union force (UNAMID) struggling to maintain peace there is overstretched, UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday.

AP - Tropical Storm Marco roared ashore on Mexico's Gulf coast with near-hurricane force winds on Tuesday, prompting a shutdown of some oil platforms.

AP - Turkish warplanes bombed suspected Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey early Tuesday in retaliation for an attack that killed 17 soldiers, the Turkish military said.

Reuters - Britain's government is poised to announce a "comprehensive" rescue package for the banking system, the BBC reported on Tuesday, including the possibility of injecting capital into banks.

AP - To supporters, President Mamoun Abdul Gayoom is a hero who turned a poor nation of fishermen into a tourist paradise and the economic success story of South Asia.

AP - The Iraqi foreign minister said Tuesday it will require "bold political decisions" to resolve the major issue standing in the way of a deal allowing American troops to remain here next year — who would try U.S. troops accused of crimes.

AP - Two Japanese scientists and an American won the 2008 Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for theoretical advances that help explain the behavior of the smallest particles of matter.

AP - Thai protesters demanding the government resign set fire to cars and threw bottles and metal barricades at police, who used tear gas to break through their blockade around Parliament Tuesday. At least one person was killed and more 350 were injured.

AP - Individual European governments issued a flurry of deposit guarantees to shore up their banks but fell short of any coordinated action Monday to deal with the crisis sweeping financial markets, even as stock markets crashed and the euro sank to its lowest level for over a year.

AFP - The Australian Navy has detained 17 suspected asylum seekers at sea just a week after a boatload of Afghans, Iranians and Indonesians was intercepted off the country's coast, officials said Tuesday.

AP - A Somali pirate on a hijacked cargo ship laden with tanks and heavy weaponry says the ransom demand has been reduced from $20 million to $8 million.

AP - Iraqi police say that two blasts in front of the Foreign Ministry have wounded at least five people. The attacks have occurred as a top U.S. official is visiting Baghdad.

AFP - Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that a key by-election in Scotland would be held on November 6.