AP - Insurgents mounted two of the biggest attacks in years on Western forces in Afghanistan, killing 10 French soldiers in a mountain ambush and then sending a squad of suicide bombers in a failed assault early Tuesday on a U.S. base near the Pakistan border.

AP - NATO pulled its punches against Russia on Tuesday, suspending formal contacts as punishment for the Georgia invasion but bucking U.S. pressure for more severe penalties.

AP - Russia took the first steps toward a troop pullback from Georgia on Tuesday but at the same time paraded blindfolded and bound Georgian prisoners on armored vehicles and seized four U.S. Humvees.

AP - Martial arts student Cheng Jianghua only saw the army barracks he stayed in and the stadium where he performed at the spectacular Olympics opening ceremony. But his sacrifices were minor — other performers were injured, fainted from heatstroke or forced to wear adult diapers so the show could go on.

AP - Just a day after Pervez Musharraf's resignation, Pakistan's governing coalition fell into wrangling Tuesday over restoring the judges he fired, exposing troublesome divisions that could disrupt picking his successor as president.

AFP - Washington and Warsaw were set Wednesday to sign a deal on basing an US missile shield in Poland, in the face of strident opposition from Russia which has warned the Poles they risk attack.

AP - As of Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008, at least 4,144 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

AP - Paraguay's new president is replacing the nation's police commander four days into the new administration.

AFP - Helicopters and fire trucks had to be called to the Egyptian senate on Tuesday when a blaze threatened to engulf the building and left 13 people requiring emergency medical help after they inhaled smoke.

AFP - The Olympic dress code applies to places never seen, it seems, with the New Zealand hockey manager banished from the field at a crucial men's match because officials objected to his players' underwear.

AFP - Australian Aboriginal children can count even without having words for numbers, according to a study by British and Australian experts released Tuesday.