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BEIJING (Reuters) - The death toll from a series of explosions which ripped through a chemical plant in southern China has risen to 16 after rescuers found five more bodies, state media said on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Madonna has always reveled in controversy and with the recent launch of her concert tour, "Sticky & Sweet," the 50-year-old pop star has kicked up a new fuss by comparing John McCain to Adolf Hitler in a video.

DENVER (Reuters) - Who says the Democratic National Convention is just for Democrats?

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Israel on Tuesday not to undermine peace talks with the Palestinians after a report found it had nearly doubled Jewish settlement construction.

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgians on the streets of Tbilisi reacted defiantly but without surprise on Tuesday to Russia's recognition of two rebel provinces, some refusing to accept they may have lost Abkhazia and South Ossetia for good.

HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian man imprisoned his two mentally ill children for more than 20 years in a dungeon he dug under his house because he was ashamed of them, Palestinian police said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said it may wait until next week before issuing a final request for proposals in its rerun of a $35 billion aerial tanker competition between Boeing Co and Northrop Grumman Corp.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The World Bank said on Tuesday more people are living in extreme poverty in developing countries than previously thought as it adjusted the recognized yardstick for measuring global poverty to $1.25 a day from $1.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge ruled against the Bush administration in its fight with Congress over a probe into the firings of U.S. attorneys by refusing on Tuesday to delay an order that current and former White House aides comply with congressional subpoenas.

DENVER (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's big speech on Thursday night will be delivered from an elaborate columned stage resembling a miniature Greek temple.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Tuesday Russia should be further isolated because of its decision to recognize two rebel regions of Georgia as independent states.

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday condemned Russia for recognizing Georgian rebel regions as independent, calling it an "irresponsible decision," and said Moscow was escalating tensions.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A Sudanese passenger plane was hijacked on Tuesday after leaving war-torn Darfur and has been forced to land in Libya, Sudanese and Libyan authorities said.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A four-year-old cat in Germany called Bonny has survived after being walled in beneath a bathtub for seven weeks, its owner said Tuesday.

QARAH TAPPAH, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of police recruits in northern Iraq on Tuesday killing 28 people, in an attack that showed that parts of Iraq have yet to see the security gains felt elsewhere.

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Indian police beat Kashmiri protesters who defied a curfew on Tuesday and troops searched for separatist leaders as the biggest anti-India protests in two decades showed no sign of abating.

SUKHUMI/TSKHINVALI, Georgia (Reuters) - Residents in Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia fired into the air, drank champagne and wept on Tuesday after Russia recognized them as independent states.

KABUL (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday it had found convincing evidence that 90 Afghan civilians, most of them children, were killed in air strikes by U.S.-led coalition forces in western Afghanistan last week.

MOSABRUNI, Georgia (Reuters) - Heavily-armed Georgian and South Ossetian forces faced each other across a tense no-man's land on Tuesday in a confrontation that underlines the fragility of their ceasefire.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up in a crowd of Iraqi police recruits on Tuesday, killing 28 people and wounding 45, police said.