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 the Quran could endanger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide.

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 - Prime Minister Julia Gillard's center-left Labor Party will form a minority government to rule Australia for a second three-year term, after two independent lawmakers joined her coalition Tuesday in the interest of stable government.

AP - ABC News President David Westin, the longest-reigning network news division chief, with more than 13 tumultuous years on the job, told his staff Monday that he is resigning and will leave by the end of the year.

AP - A wind-whipped wildfire sent flames roaring through a rugged canyon in the Colorado foothills, forcing hundreds of people to flee and destroying an unknown number of homes mdash; some that belonged to the firefighters themselves.

AP - An Indonesian volcano shot a towering cloud of black ash high into the air Tuesday, dusting villages 15 miles (25 kilometers) away in its most powerful eruption since awakening last week from four centuries of dormancy.

AP - The U.S. government's financial commitment to Afghanistan is likely to linger and reach into the billions long after it pulls combat troops from the country, newly disclosed spending estimates show.

AP - Turns out politics, for all its focus on the gloomy economy, is a recession-proof industry.

AP - Tropical Storm Hermine rolled into south Texas early Tuesday, bringing heavy rains and strong winds to an area battered by Hurricane Alex earlier this summer.

AP - Now, the names opposite Roger Federer's in the bracket will start looking more familiar.

Reuters - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard secured a second term in office Tuesday, winning the support of independent lawmakers to form a minority Labor government after losing her majority at elections last month.

AP - Oracle Corp. has hired former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd to help lead the database software maker in a pivotal moment in Oracle's 33-year history as it tries to muscle in on more of HP's turf.

AFP - Australia's kingmaker independent MPs Tuesday handed power to Prime Minister Julia Gillard with a one-seat majority, two weeks after elections produced the first hung parliament in 70 years.

Reuters - China wants to reduce tensions with the United States through quiet talk, not shouting matches, a top diplomat told White House advisers on Tuesday, aiming to pave the way for a visit by President Hu Jintao early next year.

AP - An imam who has become the public face of a proposed Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero has returned to the United States following a taxpayer-funded tour of the Middle East, his wife said Monday.

AFP - Major storms ravaging Guatemala and southern Mexico since the weekend have killed at least 48 people and caused damage worth hundreds of millions of dollars, officials said.

AP - Searchers on Monday pulled five more bodies from a mud-covered highway where back-to-back landslides buried bus passengers and then the people trying to save them. The deaths raised the confirmed toll from mudslides in Guatemala to 45 as torrential rains pounded the country.

AP - A combative President Barack Obama rolled out a long-term jobs program Monday that would exceed $50 billion to rebuild roads, railways and runways, and coupled it with a blunt campaign-season assault on Republicans for causing Americans' hard economic times.