AP - Disagreements between Somali pirates holding a ship laden with tanks and heavy weapons escalated into a shootout and three pirates are believed dead, a U.S. defense official said Tuesday. The pirates denied the report.

AP - Pakistan named a new head of its main intelligence service, a change sure to be scrutinized by American officials who have questioned the powerful spy agency’s loyalties in the war on terror.

AP - A European tour group kidnapped in the Sahara Desert was abruptly freed after a phone call to one of the captors, and all 19 hostages piled into a single car, some clinging to the roof as they drove 200 miles to safety.

AP - Afghanistan’s president said Tuesday he has repeatedly asked Saudi Arabia’s king to facilitate peace talks with the Taliban.

AP - Thousands of pilgrims panicked by false rumors of a bomb stampeded at a Hindu temple in western India on Tuesday, killing at least 168 people in the crush to escape.

AFP - Shares in London closed higher on Tuesday, getting a boost from a rebound on Wall Street as investors hoped another vote on the US financial bailout package will see the plan passed.

AP - A parked car bomb targeted a restaurant in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing three people and injuring at least six others.

AP - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is calling the U.S. financial crisis a failure of free-market capitalism.

AFP - Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai met Tuesday but failed to agree on a share-out of ministries in a power-sharing government, the opposition said.

Reuters - Chinese President Hu Jintao lectured a dairy executive on food safety on Tuesday in a show of government resolve in the toxic milk scandal, even as another Western food brand, Lipton, was affected.

AP - A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck near New Zealand’s remote and largely uninhabited Kermadec Islands early Tuesday, New Zealand’s GNS Science geological agency said.

AP - National Public Radio, already strong online with free downloads from many of its shows, is boosting its digital ambitions with Monday’s introduction of social-networking features akin to Facebook.

AP - Congress is close to passing legislation that would buy extra time to finalize an agreement intended to save the emerging Internet radio market from a crippling hike in copyright royalty rates.

AP - TiVo Inc. and Nero AG of Germany were set to announce Monday that they will be launching a package that turns a Windows PC into a TV recorder, just like a TiVo set-top box.

AP - Sprint Nextel Corp. opened its new wireless network to customers in Baltimore on Monday, offering Internet service for laptops for $45 per month. It’s the first commercial network in the U.S. to use so-called WiMax technology for mobile customers.

CNET - A crucial undersea fiber-optic cable that will provide more Internet capacity between the U.S. and China was completed Monday, according to news reports.

Reuters - Amazon.com has fixed a glitch in its video streaming service by adopting Adobe Systems Inc’s encryption on all television shows and movies found on its site, software maker Adobe said on Monday.

Reuters - Nintendo plans to release a new model of its portable DS gaming console with a camera, music player and high-speed WiFi capabilities by the end of 2008.

Reuters - A group of 16 leading telecoms and IT companies is uniting to promote mobile broadband in a marketing initiative worth more than $1 billion over the next year under the auspices of the GSM Association.

AP - In a vote that shook the government, Wall Street and markets around the world, the House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue for the nation’s financial system, leaving both parties and the Bush administration struggling to pick up the pieces. The Dow Jones industrials plunged nearly 800 points, the most ever for a single day.

AP - Wall Street’s worst fears came to pass Monday, when the government’s financial rescue plan failed in Congress and stocks plunged precipitously hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 7 percent. The almost 780-point decline was the largest one-day point drop ever for the index.

AP - Lagging in the polls, Republican presidential candidate John McCain unleashed a blistering attack Monday on his Democratic rival, saying the race comes down to a simple question: “Country first or Obama first?”

AP - A remote control car bomb packed with ball bearings ripped through a military bus on Monday, killing four soldiers and a civilian in a city rocked by sectarian fighting, Lebanese officials said.

AP - Egyptian and Sudanese troops rescued an abducted 19-member European tour group in an assault on the kidnappers in the remote Sahara borderland, officials said. The tourists and their Egyptian guides returned safely to Cairo on Monday.

AP - U.S. warships and helicopters on Monday surrounded a hijacked cargo ship loaded with Sudan-bound tanks and other arms to keep the weapons from falling “into the wrong hands,” an American Navy spokesman said.

AP - A spike in violence along Pakistan’s border has driven tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in eastern Afghanistan, the U.N. reported Monday and new military data showed suicide attacks throughout the country killed nearly 1,200 people in the last 15 months.

AP - British candy maker Cadbury said Monday it is recalling 11 types of Chinese-made chocolates found to contain melamine, as police in northern China raided a network accused of adding the banned chemical to milk.

Reuters - The European Union and India pledged on Monday to accelerate talks on a free trade deal, and EU president France said it would discuss doing business with New Delhi in the field of nuclear energy.

AP - A six-year probe has not ruled out the possibility that Iran may be running clandestine nuclear programs, the chief U.N nuclear inspector said Monday, urging Iran to reassure the world by ending its secretive ways.

AP - Rafael Correa’s avowed quest for an “equitable, just” Ecuador won a major boost as voters approved a new constitution that will help the leftist president consolidate power and enable him to run for two more consecutive terms.

AP - Italian news reports are quoting the foreign minister as saying 11 Europeans and eight Egyptians kidnapped in a distant corner of Egypt’s desert have been freed.

AP - A car bomb exploded Monday near a military bus carrying troops going to work in northern Lebanon, killing at least five people and injuring 25 others, Lebanese security officials said.

AP - Somali pirates released a Malaysian ship they had held for about a month, reportedly after being paid a ransom, while another group of pirates said they wanted a $20 million ransom to release a cargo ship loaded with Russian tanks.

AP - Gunmen targeting an Afghan provincial council chief killed four of his bodyguards, while a Taliban leader died in an airstrike in central Afghanistan, officials said Monday.

AP - VIENNA, Austria Islamic anger over Israel’s nuclear program and bids by Iran and Syria to gain more influence threaten to turn this week’s 145-nation International Atomic Energy Agency meeting into an unprecedented showdown between the West and the developing world.

Reuters - Children will be protected from suicide websites, bullying and pornography by a new Internet watchdog, the British government said on Monday.

AP - The attack that killed 17 people in Damascus this weekend was carried out by a suicide bomber who belonged to a Muslim extremist group, Syria’s state-run media said Monday.

AP - Rafael Correa’s avowed quest for an “equitable, just” Ecuador won a major boost as voters approved a new constitution that will help the leftist president consolidate power and enable him to run for two more consecutive terms.

Reuters - The 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians taken hostage in a remote border area of Egypt more than a week ago have been freed and are in good health, state-run Egyptian television said on Monday.

AP - British chocolate maker Cadbury said Monday that tests have “cast doubt” on the safety of its Chinese-made products and ordered a recall, the latest foreign company affected by China’s tainted milk scandal.

Reuters - Up to A$12 billion ($10 billion) in illicit drug money could be flowing out of Australia every year, according to an estimate by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC).

Promotional Items at work - This is a unique item that would be employed by nearly everybody and has the ability to get your advertizing subject matter right below your new customer’s nose. We really mean below your new customer’s nose. How about fifteen inches away with a brilliant hitek print that your new customer might be looking at 3 - 5 hrs a day. What more proficient way to state you advertizing message that is on a very nice item on his desk that not only has your company name, phone number, and slogan but also functions as a valuable instrument. Mouse pads could be simply the ticket that can achieve this goal. We have custom mouse pads with brilliant 4 color process imprint different from any other company. Our color is a uninterrupted tone color image where as everyone else utilises a dot pattern. The divergence is the same as equating a paper photograph to a nation Geographic magazine photo. Therefore if you want state of the art colour custom mousepads call us. 63 sq in* of billboard advertizement space can be situated right under the new client’s nose. Just think how nice it would be to have the business concern name and the wareses as well as your telephone number 15 inches from the customer 8 hours a day. We can help make this happen with our hi-tek promotional mousepads.

AP - Like a lot of 20-year-olds, Kae Takahashi has a page on U.S.-based MySpace, and there is no mistaking it for anyone else’s.

AP - Apple Inc. is putting on sale unlocked iPhone 3G in Hong Kong, allowing people to use it with any mobile phone carrier.

AP - MySpace’s new music service managed to bring major record labels together, but a group that licenses song rights for thousands of independent labels feels left out and angry, partly because indie musicians were a big reason the social networking site rose to prominence in the first place.

AP - The stock of Research in Motion Ltd. plunged in extended trading Thursday after the BlackBerry maker said the cost of launching new smart phones would eat into near-term profits.

CNET - Technology companies are supposed to be wide-eyed novices on Capitol Hill. I’ve read that they don’t spread enough money around or aren’t hip to the ways of Washington.

Reuters - A security hole in Adobe Systems Inc software, used to distribute movies and TV shows over the Internet, is giving users free access to record and copy from Amazon.com Inc’s video streaming service.

CNET - Apple has made an unlocked version of the iPhone 3G available in Hong Kong, letting consumers pick whichever carrier they so choose.

AFP - Apple has started selling unlocked models of its popular iPhone 3G in Hong Kong which allow users the freedom to select the telecoms provider of their choice.

CNET - The open-source PBX platform Asterisk is to gain Skype functionality, Asterisk’s primary developer, Digium, announced on Thursday.

NewsFactor - The first Android-powered phone isn’t the only big news on the mobile front this week. Applications for the Android operating system are already making their way to market.

AP - Congressional leaders and the Bush administration reached a tentative deal early Sunday on a landmark bailout of imperiled financial markets whose collapse could plunge the nation into a deep recession.

AP - Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday.

AP - Hurricane Kyle raced toward Maine early Sunday, triggering the state’s first hurricane watch in 17 years as it roared over the Atlantic off New Jersey on a northward trek that threatened to bring flooding and damaging winds inland.

AP - Chinese astronauts have returned to Earth after successfully completing the country’s first-ever spacewalk mission.

AP - Paul Newman couldn’t have existed today at least, not the way we came to know him.

AP - Islamic militants struck back at security forces in Pakistan’s northwest while gunmen Sunday abducted a Polish engineer and extended a wave of attacks on foreigners.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sought to score a quick post-debate advantage Saturday by traveling to two Republican-leaning states and accusing GOP rival John McCain of being out of touch with middle-class Americans.

AP - Tina Fey reprised her role as Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live,” again appearing as the Republican vice presidential candidate in an opening sketch.

AP - The Fightin’ Phils are going back to the playoffs. Just getting there won’t be good enough this time. Jimmy Rollins made a sliding stop with the bases loaded to start a game-ending double play, and the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their second consecutive NL East title by holding off the Washington Nationals 4-3 on Saturday.

AP - Forget the blackout. This was an early knockout. Backed by a dominant defense and John Parker Wilson’s accurate passing, No. 8 Alabama raced to a stunning 31-point lead by halftime against self-destructing Georgia and held on to beat the third-ranked Bulldogs 41-30 Saturday night, establishing Nick Saban’s team as a national championship contender in his second season.

Reuters - The biggest bank failure in U.S. history and nose diving banking stocks added pressure on the U.S. Congress to agree to a $700 billion financial rescue plan to breathe life back into credit markets.

AP - Nervously eyeing the markets’ next trading session, key lawmakers in both parties and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson worked late into the night Saturday trying to close an agreement on a multibillion-dollar government bailout of distressed financial companies.

AP - Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday.

AP - Paul Newman never much cared for what he once called the “rubbish” of Hollywood, choosing to live in a quiet community on the opposite corner of the U.S. map, staying with his wife of many years and long after he became bored with acting pursuing his dual passions of philanthropy and race cars.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sought to score a quick post-debate advantage Saturday by traveling to two Republican-leaning states and accusing GOP rival John McCain of being out of touch with middle-class Americans.

AP - Republican John McCain placed phone calls to President Bush and Republican congressional leaders Saturday to help steer a bailout of failed financial institutions. His campaign and that of rival Barack Obama also sought to steer perception of the first presidential debate.

AP - Forecasters issued a rare tropical storm warning and hurricane watch Saturday for parts of coastal Maine as Hurricane Kyle roared toward the region, threatening conditions similar to a New England nor’easter.

AP - Congress made significant progress on a financial bailout of Wall Street and the Senate’s Democratic leader said Saturday he hoped to announce a deal by the end of the weekend.

AP - Paul Newman, the Oscar-winning superstar who personified cool as the anti-hero of such films as “Hud,” “Cool Hand Luke” and “The Color of Money” followed by a second act as an activist, race car driver and popcorn impresario has died. He was 83.

AP - In a faceoff that returned again and again to judgment, John McCain portrayed himself as a battle-tested elder running against a naive rookie, while Barack Obama suggested the Republican is a hothead who made the wrong choices on the Iraq war, corporate taxes and more.

AP - Premier Wen Jiabao promised Saturday to improve Chinese food safety, seeking to tamp down public anxiety in the widening scandal over tainted milk that has sickened more than 50,000 children.

AP - A Chinese astronaut on Saturday performed the nation’s first-ever spacewalk, the latest milestone in an ambitious program that is increasingly rivaling the United States and Russia in its rapid expansion.

AP - Senators removed a key obstacle Saturday to passage of a spending bill that combines help for Gulf Coast disaster victims and loans for automakers with record spending for the Pentagon.