Memo From Rome: A Premier With a Hand in TV News Sues His Journalist Critics. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s lawyer said Italian newspapers rarely punished erring journalists so public figures had to defend their names in court.

Germany Aims to Guide the West’s Ties to Russia. Germany hopes to counter Russia’s renewed militarism by promoting economic development and stability.

World Briefing | Europe: France: Adopting an Aids Mission. Carla Sarkozy, the wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy, announced that she would serve as a good-will ambassador to fight AIDS with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “I’ll do it as ambassador of the global fund, by using the exceptional people that my new position makes possible to meet,” she said Monday at a news conference. Mrs. Sarkozy’s brother, Virginio Bruni, died of AIDS in 2006.

World Briefing | Africa: Zimbabwe: Court’s Land Ruling Defied. The government has rejected a ruling by an African regional court that ordered the return of land confiscated from 78 white farmers, the state-run newspaper The Herald said. Didymus Mutasa, the minister in charge of land reform, was quoted as saying that a tribunal empowered by the 15-nation Southern African Development Community was “daydreaming” if it thought the government would comply. That was a cold splash of reality for farmers who had been rejoicing since Friday’s judgment. President Robert Mugabe’s government seized the land of 4,600 farmers in the past decade, creating upheaval that most analysts say sent Zimbabwe’s economy into the free fall it suffers today.

World Briefing | Europe: Russia: Countering U.S. Missile Plans. Russia plans to upgrade its missiles to allow them to evade American weapons in space and penetrate any prospective missile shield, a Russian officer said Monday. The officer, Col. Gen. Nikolai Y. Solovtsov, chief of strategic missile forces, said Russia’s intercontinental ballistic missiles would be modernized to protect them from space-based components of the United States missile defense system, the news agency Interfax reported. He also said the military would commission new RS-24 missiles with systems to help penetrate a missile shield. The Kremlin has fiercely opposed the United States plan to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a related radar system in the Czech Republic.

World Briefing | The Americas: Brazil: Pledge on Rain Forest. Brazil pledged Monday that, to fight global warming, in the next decade it would halve the rate of destruction of its Amazon rain forest. Brazil said it would aim to reduce clearing of the rain forest to 2,260 square miles a year by 2018. Brazil, which had refused to adopt targets until wealthier countries offered more help, hopes the plan will help allay criticism that it has done too little to fight burning and clearing by loggers, farmers and ranchers. Rain forest destruction has made Brazil one of the top greenhouse gas producers because trees release carbon dioxide when they are cut down or burned. Environment Minister Carlos Mins announced the plan, which is to be presented this week at a United Nations climate conference in Poland.

World Briefing | Middle East: Iraq: Turks Bomb Kurdish Separatists. Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq on Monday. The head of Iraq’s border guards in Dahuk Province, Col. Hussein Tamor, said no civilians were hurt. The Turkish military confirmed the strike.

World Briefing | The Americas: Guatemala: The Sport of Kingpins. Mexican and Guatemalan drug traffickers arguing about a horse race in a rural border town began a series of gun battles in which 17 people died, the Guatemalan National Police said Monday. A police spokesman said the traffickers were drinking in the town, Santa Ana Huista, on Sunday when an argument broke out over bets on a horse race, leading to a pursuit in which the gunmen shot at one another from trucks racing down roads.

World Briefing | Middle East: Gaza: Israelis Turn Back Libyan Ship. A Libyan ship headed to the Gaza Strip with 3,000 tons of aid, flouting an Israeli blockade, was turned back Monday by the Israeli Navy, ending the first high-profile attempt by an Arab country to break the blockade. Analysts said the incident showed that Arab and Islamic nations, while eager to end Gaza’s isolation, would not risk military confrontation with Israel. The freighter Al Marwa was approaching the Gaza coast when it was stopped by an Israeli Navy vessel and ordered to turn back. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the ship had complied and that no force had been used. Israel imposed the blockade after Hamas, a violently anti-Israel militant group, seized power in Gaza last year.

11 Girls Die of Poisoning at School in Northern China. Eleven girls died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a school in northern China’s Shaanxi province, an education official said.

Bomber Kills 7 in Violent Afghan Province. A man wrapped in explosives approached a police car passing through a crowded marketplace in the southern province of Helmand on Monday and detonated himself.

Global Update: Thousands Die Needlessly Because Junta Spends Too Little on AIDS, Group Says. Doctors Without Borders is allowed to work in only some parts of the Myanmar said it is overwhelmed and is having to turn new patients away.

Brazil Leader Offers Plans for Recovery From Rains. The country’s president plans to help tens of thousands of people rebuild homes and businesses ruined by storms that killed at least 116 people.

Treasury’s Lead Role in China in Flux. Secretary Henry M. Paulson has spearheaded American policy toward Beijing since 2006, which raises the question of who will pick up the baton upon his departure.

Two Bombings Kill at Least 30 Iraqis. Suicide bombings in Mosul and at a police academy in Baghdad recalled levels of violence before the troop surge.

Death Toll From Cholera in Zimbabwe Hits Nearly 500, W.H.O. Says. A cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe has killed nearly 500 people in the biggest outbreak recorded recently in the crisis-hit country, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.

Counting the Bodies in the Aftermath of Clashes in Nigeria. At least 400 people were killed on Friday after angry Christian and Muslim mobs protested what they said were rigged local election results.

Arrest of Parliament Member Brews British Tempest. Damian Green’s offense seems to center on his relationship with a civil servant who offered himself as a whistle-blower on politically sensitive issues.

Kurds Defend Policies in Sharp Rebuke to Iraqi Government. Iraq’s prime minister had said the Kurds were pursuing several unconstitutional policies, including the development of an oil business independent of Baghdad.

Canadian Parties Form Alliance That Could Replace Government. If the pact is successful at dislodging the Conservatives, it will be the first time since 1926 that the federal government has changed hands without a vote.

U.S. Cruise Ship Escapes Fire From Pirates in Gulf of Aden. Pirates chased and shot at a U.S. cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel as it sailed along a corridor patrolled by international warships.

Chinese Release Increased Numbers in Tainted Milk Scandal. New figures for the number of children affected by tainted dairy products showed that as many as six babies may have died and more than 300,000 were sickened.

Bombs Kill 21 Iraqis, Including Children. A primary school in Mosul was attacked with an explosive on a horse-drawn cart.

Islamic Cleric Jailed Again in Britain. A panel of immigration judges ordered the immediate return to prison on Tuesday of a radical Islamic preacher known as Abu Qatada.

Floodwaters Begin to Recede in Venice. On Tuesday morning, waters had dropped to 39 inches, down from a high of 61 inches on Monday, the fourth highest flood level in contemporary history, Venice’s Tide Center said.

Military Inquires Into Possible Detainee Abuse in Afghanistan. A military investigative hearing continued for a second day into allegations that two American soldiers abused a detainee in Afghanistan, military officials said.

Military Analysis: Afghan Strategy Poses Stiff Challenge for Obama. Experts caution that a troop increase in Afghanistan is unlikely to lead to the sort of turnaround seen in Iraq.

For Heroes of Mumbai, Terror Was a Call to Action. Ordinary citizens displayed extraordinary grace during one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in India’s history.

U.S. Softens Stance on Russia at NATO Summit. The U.S. agreed to support a modest reopening of NATO’s dialogue with Russia, despite Moscow’s continuing occupation of Georgia’s South Ossetia and Abkhazia territories.

A Solemn Israel Buries Dead From Mumbai Attack. Israelburied six victims of last week’s terrorist attack, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah.

India Says All Mumbai Attackers Came by Ship. The Indian police offered the most specific evidence to date of a Pakistani link to the attacks.

Thai Protesters to End Airport Blockades. Antigovernment protesters declared an end to their blockade of Bangkok’s airports after a court disbanded the ruling party.