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NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga - A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific island nation of Tonga, sending panicked residents into the streets at night, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

BARIYAPUR, Nepal - The ceremony began with prayers in a temple by tens of thousands of Hindus before dawn Tuesday. Then it shifted to a nearby corral, where in the cold morning mist, scores of butchers wielding curved swords began slaughtering buffalo calves by hacking off their heads.

LONDON - An inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war kicked off Tuesday with top government advisers testifying that some Bush administration officials were calling for Saddam Hussein's ouster as early as 2001 — long before sanctions were exhausted and two years before the U.S.-led invasion.

VIENNA - Six world powers have readied a resolution critical of Iran's nuclear program, diplomats said Tuesday, as Tehran suggested it was still ready to discuss a U.N.-backed plan meant to delay the Islamic Republic's ability to make a nuclear weapon.

BEIJING (AFP) - China executed two men on Tuesday for their roles in a contaminated milk powder scandal last year that led to the deaths of at least six infants and sickened up to 300,000, state media said.

AMPATUAN, Philippines - Authorities have recovered six more bodies, bringing the death toll to 52 in one of the Philippines' worst election massacres.

SHINKAY, Afghanistan - A battered taxi sped up a dusty road toward a squad of Afghan soldiers searching for bombs planted in the dirt. Army gunmen who had fanned out for protection readied for a suicide attacker. The car screeched to a halt.

NUKU'ALOFA (AFP) - A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 hit off the Pacific island nation of Tonga on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said.

KABUL, Afghanistan — The television set crackles with breaking news: Terrorists have smuggled a nuclear bomb into Kabul and are preparing to take out the Afghan capital.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck northeast of the South Pacific island nation of Tonga on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey said, but a destructive tsunami was not expected.

LONDON (AFP) - A long-awaited public inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war held its first hearing Tuesday, six and a half years after Tony Blair controversially led the country in backing the US-led conflict.

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Iran's president inaugurated an Iranian-funded hospital and two milk-processing plants Tuesday in a goodwill visit in which his leftist host defended Iran's "peaceful" nuclear aspirations.

KABUL - A remote-controlled bomb planted in a water station exploded in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing six members of a family, including four children, authorities and a relative said.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran could consider sending its low-enriched uranium abroad, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, apparently softening its opposition to a U.N. plan aimed at keeping a check on its nuclear ambitions.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - At the top of the list of Palestinian prisoners likely to be freed in a possible swap for an Israeli soldier is a firebrand politician many Palestinians believe is a likely future president who can pull them out of their current political deadlock.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - For years just an obscure fight raging in remote desert mountains, Yemen's war with Shiite rebels has been dragged up to a new level, inflaming the rivalry between the Middle East's two powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Iran.

BAGHDAD - A senior official said Tuesday that Iraq must delay a national vote scheduled for January because of a political dispute, and the vice president who triggered the crisis indicated he would veto a key election law for a second time.

China may figure more prominently in Washington's strategic calculations, but Indians believe their country will be closer to Washington in the long term

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey and Israel Tuesday pledged commitment to improve ties as an Israeli minister held talks in Ankara, the first since the Jewish state's war in Gaza poisoned ties between the two regional allies.

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - US President Barack Obama is "doing nothing right now" to restart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said in an interview published Tuesday.

LONDON - Britain's defense ministry says it will formally order a public inquiry this week into the alleged abuse and killing of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers.

JERUSALEM - Israel's military says it has carried out three airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, targeting a weapons-manufacturing facility and weapons smuggling tunnels.

ROME - The prostitute at the center of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex scandal claims in a new book that she slept with him on the understanding he would help her set up a countryside inn but she got "nothing" in return.

TEHRAN, Iran - An Iranian news agency reports that the judiciary has after just a day lifted its ban on a popular newspaper which ran a photo of a Baha'i temple.

MUSCAT (AFP) - Oman confirmed on Tuesday that Israeli diplomats visited the Gulf sultanate but said they did not meet with the country's foreign policy chief.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani troops killed 18 militants in a fresh offensive Tuesday against insurgents blamed for a wave of recent bombings in the main northwestern city of Peshawar.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Visitors to South Africa's premier holiday destination who are worried about becoming victims of the country's high crime rate could find themselves instead robbed by a more furry kind of felon: baboons.

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — There was no rock star, just an actor who likes to play the bass guitar.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Police say a jaguar prowling the lush jungles of Guyana killed a gold and diamond miner as he fetched water from a creek.

ROME - A convicted Mafia boss who got out of jail by faking paralysis and anorexia has been arrested at a restaurant after more than two months on the run, police in Sicily said Tuesday.