UK-World Summary

Philippines massacre toll reaches 46

AMPATUAN, Philippines - The Philippines placed two southern provinces and a city under emergency rule on Tuesday after gunmen killed 46 people in a brutal election-related massacre that has shocked the country. Many of the victims in the killings in Maguindanao province were women from the powerful Mangudadatu clan. About a dozen journalists were also among the dead.

China executes two for tainted milk scandal

BEIJING - China on Tuesday executed two people for their role in a tainted milk scandal that killed at least six children and further sullied the made-in-China brand. Nearly 300,000 children fell ill last year after drinking milk intentionally laced with melamine, a toxic industrial compound that can give a fake positive on protein tests, sold mainly by the now bankrupt Sanlu Group.

Obama Afghan decision due within days

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will announce his decision on whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan "within days" after he held a final strategy session with top aides, the White House said on Tuesday. Obama's announcement, expected to come in a presidential television address next Tuesday evening, comes after weeks of study that some critics have denounced as "dithering."

WHO probing spread of drug-resistant swine flu

GENEVA is looking into reports in Britain of the likely spread of a drug-resistant strain of swine flu, the U.N. agency said on Tuesday. Britain's Health Protection Agency said five cases have been confirmed in Wales of patients infected with H1N1 resistant to oseltamivir -- the generic name of Roche and Gilead Sciences Inc's antiviral drug Tamiflu.

Soldiers kill 18 militants in Pakistan Khyber area

LANDIKOTAL, Pakistan - Pakistani soldiers killed 18 militants on Tuesday in a campaign to break a network orchestrating attacks on Western forces' supplies to Afghanistan and carrying out bombings, a security official said. Any heavy casualties inflicted on militants in the Khyber region could ease concerns in Washington, which wants Pakistan to root out fighters along the border, seen as a global hub for militants, to help it defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Hague prosecutor accuses Congo warlords

THE HAGUE as rival groups fought for control of the region's gold, diamonds and oil.

Netanyahu says Hamas prisoner deal might not happen

JERUSALEM - An Israeli prisoner exchange with Hamas has not yet been agreed and might not happen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, after a senior cabinet colleague predicted a breakthrough within weeks. "There is still no deal, and I do not know if there will be one," Netanyahu, whose reticence on the state of the Egyptian- and German-mediated negotiations has helped stoke speculation about imminent progress, told reporters.

Spain arrests 36 from youth group linked to ETA

MADRID - Spanish police have arrested 36 members of Segi, an outlawed youth group linked to the Basque guerrilla organisation ETA, in a sweep which is still underway, court officials said on Tuesday. The operation was carried out across the Basque Country and Navarra, northern Spain, on the orders of a High Court judge.

Eight charged in U.S. for Somali war recruiting

MINNEAPOLIS - Authorities unsealed terrorism-related charges Monday against eight defendants they said recruited young Somali-American men to return to their homeland to fight for an Islamist militant group. The charges said men were recruited in Minneapolis mosques to fight for al-Shabaab, which the United States accuses of being al Qaeda's proxy in the Horn of Africa nation.

Obama aims to reassure Singh on U.S.-India ties

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama hosts Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday for talks considered critical to showing Washington's commitment to New Delhi in a region where its rivals, China and Pakistan, are U.S. priorities. Obama's challenge will be to ease the emerging Asian power's concerns that it is slipping down his foreign policy agenda, dominated recently by efforts to craft a new war plan in Afghanistan and curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.