U.N. officials estimated more than 500 rapes and other sexual attacks in eastern Congo in July and August, more than double the previous estimate.

North Korea's political leaders are expected to meet this month in a rare gathering, possibly to set the stage for the handover of power from Kim Jong Il to his youngest son.

Eighteen people died in a shooting Tuesday afternoon at a shoe factory in San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras, police said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Jewish New Year greeting he promised to strive for a peace agreement by this time next year but said there is no guarantee of success.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed in northern Iraq on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

An explosion apparently targeting a police barracks in Pakistan's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday left at least seven people dead, including two children, a Kohat district police official said.

In a jailhouse interview with a Dutch television station, Joran van der Sloot said he is remorseful for telling so many stories regarding the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, but once again denied culpability in the case.

Two independent lawmakers from rural Australia broke a parliamentary deadlock on Tuesday, siding with Prime Minister Julia Gillard to return the Labor Party to power.

Thousands of workers across France were staging a one-day strike Tuesday to protest government plans to raise the retirement age.

In the aftermath of riots that killed 13 people and left over 400 injured, the Mozambican government announced Tuesday that it would implement a price subsidy program to offset price hikes on virtually all basic necessities including bread, water and energy.