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BERLIN - Ulrich Sauff and his wife stared at the mammoth domino pieces marking the path where the Berlin Wall once stood and reminisced about life in the barrier's shadow.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran accused three detained Americans of spying Monday, signaling Tehran intends to put them on trial. It drew a sharp U.S. response that the charges are baseless because the hikers strayed across the border from Iraq.

BEIJING - China has executed nine men, including eight from the Muslim Uighur minority, for crimes committed during July riots that killed 200 people in far western Xinjiang region. The men are the first to be put to death for the country's worst ethnic violence in decades.

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NAIROBI, Kenya - Somali pirates attacked an oil tanker and fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades Monday farther out at sea than any previous assault, suggesting that pirate capabilities are growing as they increase activity off East Africa.

SEOUL, South Korea - The two Koreas briefly exchanged naval fire Tuesday along their disputed western sea border, with a North Korean ship suffering heavy damage before retreating, South Korean military officials said.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran still wants talks with world powers over fuel supplies to a Tehran nuclear reactor — despite the country's apparent rejection of a U.N. plan to curb Iran's enriched uranium stockpile.

MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Ida weakened further and was losing speed on Tuesday as it drenched the U.S. Gulf Coast and oil installations, shutting down almost 30 percent of Gulf energy production.

BERLIN - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton congratulated Germans on the 20-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at a meeting Monday with Angela Merkel, Germany's first chancellor from the former communist East.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Monday he was "very close" to reaching a peace agreement with Israel before a new right-wing government assumed power at the end of March.

LONDON - British candy maker Cadbury PLC rejected a renewed 9.8 billion pound ($16.4 billion) hostile bid from Kraft Foods Inc. on Monday after the U.S. company refused to sweeten a previous offer.

BERLIN (AFP) - Tens of thousands thronged the route of the Berlin Wall on Monday for emotional celebrations to mark 20 years since its fall, but Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany still bears the scars of division.

The Berlin Wall stood for nearly three decades, the most potent symbol of Cold War divisions. Its collapse helped herald the wider collapse of communism across eastern Europe.

BEIJING (AFP) - China on Tuesday defended its handling of the executions of nine people over deadly ethnic unrest in its far-western Xinjiang region in July, saying the cases were dealt with "according to law".

MONTERREY, Mexico - When soldiers tried to halt a suspicious-looking SUV that was being escorted through Monterrey by a state policeman, the officer radioed for backup. In minutes, police from 40 patrol cars surrounded the troops, drawing their guns and sending the soldiers diving for cover in an hour-long standoff.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri formed a new unity government on Monday that includes two ministers from Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

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UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly declared on Monday that Afghanistan's presidential election was both credible and sound, despite allegations of widespread fraud that led critics to question the vote's legitimacy.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Dueling visits to Brazil by the presidents of Israel and Iran are showing the South American powerhouse's growing role in Mideast diplomacy.

COMBAT OUTPOST ROCCO, Afghanistan - Shortly before nightfall, an Afghan farmer slipped into this NATO outpost with a bag of ammunition and gear he'd collected from nearby Taliban positions. It turned out not to be much: pieces of 82-millimeter mortar guns and some combat food rations.

ABU DHABI (AFP) - New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and opted to bat in the third and final one-day international against Pakistan at the Abu Dhabi Stadium here on Monday.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Torrential rains triggered a series of landslides on Indonesia's Sulawesi island, killing at least 14 residents and burying many more, a local official said Monday.

SINGAPORE - Oil prices fell below $79 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as a storm threatening oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico weakened and investors eyed a volatile dollar.

JEBALYA, Gaza Strip - Thousands of Gaza Palestinians left homeless by an Israeli invasion face a cold and rainy winter unless Israel allows building supplies in, a senior U.N. official said Monday.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela and Russia say they are working on a series of agreements for Moscow to provide the South American country with technology for the development of industries ranging from robotics to biochemistry.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Honduran authorities said Monday that they have discovered a secret landing strip on property once owned by a slain congressman suspected of trafficking in precursor chemicals for methamphetamine.

JERUSALEM - The chief Palestinian negotiator on Monday warned Israel that if it does not take peacemaking seriously, it will find itself dealing with the militant Hamas instead of moderates like him.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A New York lawyer was robbed inside his room at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Puerto Rico by assailants who tied him up before dawn Monday and stole $800 in cash, police said.

CARACAS, Venezuela — A U.S.-brokered accord that was supposed to return ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to power has collapsed and his supporters pinned much of the blame Monday on the Obama administration.

BEIRUT - Lebanon's prime minister formed a Cabinet Monday that includes the militant group Hezbollah and its allies, ending a political deadlock that left the deeply divided nation without a government for months and threatened to ignite violence.