AP - Stock futures slipped to start the holiday-shortened week Tuesday after some fresh concerns about the health of European banks rattled overseas markets.

AFP - Bangladesh's president has pardoned 20 death-row prisoners four years after they were sentenced for the murder of a then-ruling party activist, a prison official said Tuesday.

AFP - Rwandans and the international community need to work together to end President Paul Kagame's rule and pave the way for a democratic transition, exiled leaders said in a report obtained by AFP Tuesday.

AP - The top executive at Kia Motors has resigned after the company recalled more than 100,000 vehicles worldwide over defective wiring, the automaker said Tuesday.

AFP - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard retained power by a tiny, one-seat majority Tuesday after winning the backing of two key independent MPs in the first hung parliament in decades.

AP - The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned Tuesday an American church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book could endanger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide.

AFP - The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council have postponed the implementation on Tuesday of a customs union due to disagreement over sharing tariff revenues and problems meeting World Trade Organisation rules, officials said.

AP - Prime Minister Julia Gillard will lead Australia's first minority government in 67 years after two independent lawmakers threw their support behind her center-left Labor Party on Tuesday, ending two weeks of uncertainty left by national elections that ended on a knife-edge.

AP - The influx of foreign aid after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake significantly increased survivors' trust in the West, according to new research that also suggests hard-line Islamist charities did little to help despite the publicity they generated.

AP - The European Union on Tuesday condemned the stoning to death sentence passed against an Iranian woman convicted for adultery, saying it was "barbaric beyond words."

AP - Strikes hobbled public transit across France and in London on Tuesday, with tourists and commuters bearing the brunt of a wave of discontent over government austerity measures.

Reuters - Change swept through the top of Britain's banks on Tuesday as Barclays said its investment banking supremo Bob Diamond will take over as group chief executive next year and HSBC was expected to announce later that its chairman is going into government.

Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.2 to 0.7 percent, pointing to a weaker start on Wall Street on Tuesday.

AP - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has asked the U.S. to settle a dispute with Israel over settlement expansion that is threatening to derail Mideast peace talks.

Reuters - Silicon Valley technology giant Oracle Corp has hired Mark Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co who resigned amid a scandal, as president.

Reuters - President Barack Obama, scrambling to spur job creation, proposed a six-year plan on Monday to rebuild infrastructure with an initial $50 billion investment and prepared new business tax cuts.

AP - The Justice Department won't say if the blowout preventer that failed to stop oil from gushing from BP's undersea well into the Gulf of Mexico is on its way to shore.

AFP - President Barack Obama will call for a 100-billion-dollar business tax credit this week to boost the sagging US economic recovery, The Washington Post reported.

AFP - Brazil's Petrobras unveiled one of the world's biggest share offerings Friday, a sale of up to 64 billion dollars in new stock to finance oil exploration aimed at turning Brazil into a leading oil exporter of the 21st century.

AP - Summer is rarely a hot sales season for Campbell Soup Co., and this year's sweltering June and July made that even more true, but the company said Friday that cost-cutting and strong drink sales helped its net income climb.