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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands introduced a tobacco smoking ban in bars and restaurants on Tuesday but weed lovers carried on lighting up pure cannabis joints, pipes and vaporizers in the country's coffee shops.

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - More than 35 migrants drowned when their boat was wrecked off Gabon's capital Libreville, police and morgue officials said on Tuesday after the bodies washed up on the city's seafront.

LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese police have sent their final report on the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann to public prosecutors, who will decide whether to take any further steps, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S., Iranian and Western diplomats played down worries about a looming Israeli military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities on Tuesday after reports of heightened tensions rattled nerves and helped drive oil prices near record highs.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A Brazilian student lost in the Amazon rain forest for more than 40 days was found by his father, only to die in his arms shortly after, rescue officials said on Tuesday.

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel shut its border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in what it called a response to a rocket attack a day earlier that further strained a ceasefire.

LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese police have sent their final report on the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann to public prosecutors, who will decide whether to take any further steps, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish authorities detained at least 24 ultra-nationalists, including two prominent retired generals, on Tuesday in a widening police investigation into a suspected coup plot against the government.

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - India placed several top Kashmiri separatist leaders under house arrest on Tuesday as they prepared to protest against a decision to transfer forest land to a Hindu shrine trust, a move that has sparked violence.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Thousands in Hong Kong urged Beijing to grant it greater democracy on Tuesday, with a recent furor over newly appointed political aides stoking perceptions of the unelected government's lack of accountability.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Trade, drugs and immigration will top the agenda of U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain during a visit to Colombia and Mexico this week designed to showcase his foreign policy experience over that of Democratic rival Barack Obama.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Three bombs exploded at an office of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in east Nepal that helps Bhutanese refugees to settle in third countries, police and government officials said on Tuesday.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's prime minister said on Tuesday violent street rallies against a U.S. beef import deal are harming the country's international credibility and driving investors away.

PARIS (Reuters) - Polish President Lech Kaczynski compounded the problems facing the European Union on the first day of France's presidency of the bloc on Tuesday, saying he will not sign the Union's reform treaty for now.

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Group of Eight rich nations on Tuesday to stick with a three-year old pledge to raise African aid levels to $25 billion a year, after a report the leaders may be about to backtrack.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday he was shelving plans to contest a parliamentary by-election due to a "political conspiracy" behind a young aide's accusation of homosexual assault.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali gunmen have kidnapped two local workers with an Italian charity in the latest attack on humanitarian staff in the Horn of Africa nation, locals and foreign aid sources said on Tuesday.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - The African Union called on Tuesday for a national unity government in Zimbabwe after the widely condemned re-election of President Robert Mugabe in a violent poll ruled unfair by monitors.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - World Youth Day in Sydney this month is the Catholic church's Woodstock, five days of love, peace and Christianity overseen by the Pope, but civil liberties leaders say police will be using "repugnant" anti-protest powers.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Two U.S. Congressmen on Tuesday urged President George W. Bush to rethink attending the Beijing Olympic Games after they were prevented from meeting Chinese human rights activists.