AFP - Two major Australian banks agreed Tuesday to a proposed merger which would create the nation's biggest financial services group worth around 66 billion dollars (62 billion US).

AFP - Levels of post-election violence in Zimbabwe are escalating in urban and rural areas and could reach crisis proportions, the United Nations' senior representative in the country said on Tuesday.

AP - Bishop Flavio Giovenale was crushed by the acquittal last week of a rancher accused of ordering the killing of a crusading American nun — and not just because he admired Dorothy Stang.

AP - The Palestinian prime minister ventured on foot into this famously unruly militant stronghold to demonstrate that his law-and-order campaign is working and to persuade skeptical residents that better security will bring jobs and even help end Israeli occupation.

AP - U.S.-led coalition forces called in airstrikes against the Taliban, killing a dozen militants during fighting in southern Afghanistan that has displaced many families, officials said Tuesday.

AP - A fragile cease-fire failed to stop fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City where the latest clashes between Shiite extremists and U.S.-backed Iraqi forces killed 11 men and wounded 19, Iraqi hospital officials said Tuesday.

AP - The United Nations said Tuesday that only a tiny portion of international aid needed for Myanmar's cyclone victims is making it into the country, amid reports that the military regime is hoarding good-quality foreign aid for itself and doling out rotten food.

AP - Bodies covered with sheets lined streets as rescue workers dug through schools and homes turned into rubble by China's worst earthquake in three decades in a desperate attempt to rescue victims trapped beneath concrete slabs. The official death toll rose Tuesday to nearly 12,000, and thousands remained missing.

AFP - The Australian military on Monday cleared its soldiers over the deaths of two women and a baby during a battle in Afghanistan but said all civilian casualties were "highly regrettable".

AFP - Activists for victims of India's 1984 Bhopal gas leak said Monday that as the owner of the former Union Carbide, Dow Chemicals should pay for a clean-up before any new business in the country.

AP - A Sudanese opposition party says its leader has been arrested apparently because of he is allegedly linked to Darfur rebels who attacked close to the capital this week.

AP - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez lashed out at Germany's chancellor on Sunday, suggesting that her party shares the political ideals of Adolf Hitler.