AP - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard barely retained power on Tuesday when the last two independent legislators made kingmakers by deadlocked elections ended a tense 17-day standoff and agreed to join her government. Her next challenge? Keeping the unlikely bedfellows of her coalition together.

AP - The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned Tuesday an American church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book could endanger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide.

AFP - Violent aftershocks rattled Christchurch Tuesday as parts of the city re-opened for the first time since New Zealand's biggest quake in nearly 80 years.

AFP - A tense maritime incident Tuesday in which two Japanese patrol vessels and a Chinese fishing boat collided near a disputed island chain triggered a diplomatic spat between the Asian giants.

Reuters - A suicide bomber rammed his car into a police residential complex in Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 20 people, officials said, in another blow for a country grappling with devastating floods.

AP - U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan should be able to start handing off responsibility for security to the Kabul government sometime next year, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday.

Reuters - A U.S. government team will travel to Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing next week to discuss North Korea but has no plans to visit the poor, isolated state or meet its officials, the State Department said Tuesday.

AFP - At least 20 people including women and children were killed and more than 50 wounded Tuesday in a car bomb attack targeting a police headquarters in Pakistan's northwestern city of Kohat.

AP - Police opened fire with live rounds at rock-throwing Kashmiris on Monday, killing an 11-year-old boy and sparking violent street protests by thousands in India's portion of the troubled Himalayan region, a police officer said. At least 22 people were wounded in firing.

AP - After Kim Jong Il's safe return Monday, North Korea confirmed what for days had been clear: the Dear Leader was on a not-so-secret trip to northeastern China.

AP - Needing cash not food, refugees in Pakistan's flood-ravaged northwest do not have to look far for buyers for their rations. Outside an aid warehouse, middlemen buy U.S.-branded oil, flour and biscuits and supply shops across the city.

AFP - A leading Afghan prosecutor denied Monday that he was fired by the president for refusing to block corruption investigations at the highest levels of government, as reported by a US newspaper.

AFP - India said Monday it had given makers of the BlackBerry smartphone a 60-day reprieve on a threat to ban its messaging services after the firm agreed to give security forces "lawful access" to data.

AFP - India's Sania Mirza continued her run of good form in New York by defeating Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal 6-3, 6-2 in a US Open first-round tie on Monday.

AFP - Indian troops killed nine suspected militants as they tried to cross the de facto border with Pakistan that divides the volatile region of Kashmir, the army said Monday.

AFP - A bill aimed at throwing open India's 150-billion-dollar civilian nuclear market cleared its final parliamentary hurdle Monday after a stormy debate.