NATO defense ministers meet Tuesday to review the alliance's costly commitments, most notably in Afghanistan, as slowing Western economies seriously undercut defense spending.

Afghanistan is the major talking point, to be taken up on Wednesday, officials said, with the alliance soon to start planning for its new training, advice and assistance mission after the 2014 withdrawal of combat troops.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan pledged $110 million to mitigate the damage caused by "unprecedented" floods, in a special message to the country broadcast early Tuesday.

The flooding caused by heavy seasonal rainfall has impacted states across the country, with the Red Cross saying last week that at least 148 people have been killed and 64,000 displaced.

Suspected Muslim militants have shot dead 11 people including three paramilitary rangers in a single day of bloodshed in Thailand's insurgency-plagued deep south, police said Tuesday.

The rangers were ambushed while traveling in a pick-up truck on Monday in Pattani province in the Muslim-majority border region, where an eight-year conflict has claimed thousands of lives.

Hugo Chavez pledged to become a "better president" and work with the opposition after winning a tough re-election battle that betrayed simmering discontent at his socialist revolution.

The leftist president's victory was a relief to like-minded allies in the region, with Cuban leader Raul Castro hailing his friend's "historic triumph," while the United States urged him to listen to the opposition.

Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to make an atomic bomb within two to four months and then would need an additional eight to 10 months to build the device, experts said Monday.

The authors of a new report on Iran's nuclear program say Tehran has made progress in its uranium enrichment effort but that the United States and U.N. weapons inspectors would be able to detect any attempt at a "breakout" -- at least for the moment.

North Korea said Tuesday it possessed "strategic rocket forces" capable of striking the U.S. mainland, as it responded to a new U.S.-South Korean deal to extend the range of the South's missile systems.

In a series of bulletins released on the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the spokesman of the National Defense Commission also said Pyongyang was ready to match any enemy, "nuclear for nuclear, missile for missile".

The White House congratulated the Venezuelan people on a peaceful election on Monday, while admitting that the United States has "differences" with re-elected President Hugo Chavez.

"We have our differences with President Chavez," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "But we congratulate the Venezuelan people," he added, on an election process that was "peaceful."

President Barack Obama lost a five-point lead after last week's debate with Republican rival Mitt Romney, with the two candidates polling even in the three days afterwards, a Gallup poll out Monday has found.

The poll was an early measure of the damage done by Obama's lackluster performance against a more aggressive and energetic Romney, who had been slipping in the days before the nationally televised encounter in Denver.

A plane was forced to make an emergency landing when it received an "anonymous terrorist threat" after taking off from China's restive northwestern Xinjiang region on Monday, state media said.

The plane landed at an airport in Lanzhou, capital of China's northwest province of Gansu following the alert at around 1730 (0930 GMT), state-run news agency Xinhua said, quoting the airline and local security sources.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 struck off the eastern Indonesian coast Monday evening, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but no tsunami alert was issued and no damage was reported.

The epicenter of the quake, which occurred at 6:43 pm Monday (1143 GMT), was located in the Banda Sea 139 km (86 miles) southeast of the town of Ambon, the USGS reported. It took place at a depth of 34 km.