OBAMA SAYS HE INTENDS TO 'FINISH THE JOB' IN AFGHANISTAN President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he was determined to 'finish the job' in Afghanistan, and his aides signaled to allies that he would send as many as 25,000 to 30,000 additional troops there even as they cautioned that the final number remained in flux. The White House said Obama had completed his consultations with his war council on Monday and would formally announce his decision in the next week, probably on Tuesday. DEATH TOLL RISES TO 46 IN PHILIPPINE ELECTION VIOLENCE The death toll in Monday's election violence more than doubled to 46 on Tuesday, the Philippine authorities said, as the government declared a state of emergency in two southern provinces in an effort to head off further bloodshed. A group of about 50 lawyers, journalists and relatives of local politicians were abducted by what witnesses said were more than 100 gunmen. Authorities said the violence was rooted in rivalries among local clans. NETANYAHU PLAYS DOWN TALK OF A PRISONER EXCHANGE Seeking to lower expectations of an imminent deal with Hamas to exchange a captured Israeli soldier for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Tuesday that no agreement had yet been reached. Under the deal that is reported to be taking shape, the soldier, Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, would be returned in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners convicted of masterminding terrorist acts. PANEL ASKS HOW BRITAIN GOT INVOLVED IN IRAQ WAR A long-awaited inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war began Tuesday and immediately homed in on the question of whether the former prime minister, Tony Blair, and his government were drawn into the conflict -- over the objections of Britain's defense and foreign policy establishment -- by an eagerness to please the United States. On the first day of hearings in London, top public servants were questioned about how they supported or resisted pro-war policies favored by the Bush administration. RUSSIA ORDERS INQUIRY INTO LAWYER'S DEATH IN DETENTION President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia ordered an inquiry on Tuesday into the death of a lawyer for an international investment fund who died in pretrial detention. The lawyer, Sergei L. Magnitsky, 37, died of toxic shock and heart failure in a prison hospital on Nov. 16. Interior Ministry officials said they had had no warning that his health was deteriorating. Magnitsky's employers have released notes he took that documented his numerous requests for medical care, which were refused or ignored. CHINA EXECUTES 2 FOR SELLING CHEMICAL-TAINTED MILK China executed two milk producers on Tuesday for selling more than 3 million pounds of contaminated milk products in connection with a food-safety scandal that killed six infants last year. The authorities described the men who were executed, Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping, as among the biggest culprits of the scandal, in which more than 300,000 children were sickened after consuming milk products contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. CONGO'S ARMY HELPS REBELS GET ARMS, U.N. REPORT SAYS A new U.N. report says the Congolese army continues to funnel weapons to rebel groups that are smuggling millions of dollars in gold and other minerals out of Congo, helping sustain one of Africa's bloodiest and most complicated wars. The lengthy report details a vast, rebel-driven criminal network in eastern Congo with tentacles touching Spanish charities, Ukrainian arms dealers, corrupt African officials and secretive North Korean weapons shipments. GOOGLE CHIEF ANNOUNCES PLAN TO PUT IRAQI ARTIFACTS ONLINE Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, announced in Baghdad on Tuesday that his company would pay to create a virtual copy of the collection of Iraq's National Museum, and make images of four millenniums of archaeological treasures available online, free, by early next year. 