UK-World Summary

Obama says will announce Afghan plan soon

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he will announce a new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan soon and that his intention will be to have a plan to "finish the job" there after eight years of war. Obama, at a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, spoke a day after his final meeting with his war council about his new strategy.

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.

Big powers draft resolution to press Iran at IAEA

VIENNA - Six world powers have drafted a resolution at the UN nuclear watchdog urging Iran to clarify the purpose of its previously secret uranium enrichment site and confirm it has no more hidden atomic work, diplomats said. The draft text, backed by the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China, is to be presented at the year-end meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation governing board that starts on Thursday.

EU's Barroso hopes for new Commission by end-January

STRASBOURG, France - The next European Commission, the powerful regulatory arm of the European Union, should be in place by the end of January, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday. The last of 27 nominees for Commission posts, one from each EU member state, was proposed on Tuesday, meaning consultations now begin on how to distribute the portfolios in the body that initiates laws and implements decisions across the EU.

Sarkozy promises crackdown on crime in the suburbs

LE PERREUX-SUR-MARNE, France - French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a rare foray into the suburbs of Paris on Tuesday to promise that a surge in the number of security cameras would make life better there. With regional elections coming up in March and opinion polls showing widespread dissatisfaction with him, Sarkozy used the visit to refocus on the themes of crime and security which served him well during the 2007 presidential election campaign.

Hague prosecutor accuses Congo warlords

THE HAGUE .

Netanyahu says Hamas prisoner deal may not happen

JERUSALEM - An Israeli prisoner exchange with Hamas has not yet been agreed and may 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.

U.S. airlines fined for stranding travellers on plane

WASHINGTON for a six-hour ordeal in Minnesota. Continental Airlines and its ExpressJet Airlines affiliate were fined $100,000, while Mesaba Airlines, a unit of Delta Air Lines, was fined $75,000, the Transportation Department said.

Escort's book describes night with Berlusconi

ROME - The escort at the heart of a sex scandal involving Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gave graphic details of their alleged lovemaking in a book published on Tuesday and said she had been attacked and threatened since. Patrizia D'Addario, in her memoir entitled "Enjoy, Prime Minister," describes a party held at Berlusconi's Rome residence, Palazzo Grazioli, and gives intimate details of a night spent with the 73-year-old premier in a bed given him by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

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.