AFP - The future of the Europe Union's troubled reform treaty was put on hold until October at Friday's Brussels summit, after Czech doubts and a last-minute legal hurdle in Britain added to last week's referendum rejection in Ireland.

Reuters - Defense Secretary Robert Gates is set to leave office in seven months, but he is trying to ensure his vision for the U.S. military will outlast him with a series of appointments to key posts.

Reuters - Surging fuel prices are forcing cities across the United States to cut back on services and dip into cash reserves to keep their fleets on the road, according to a survey released on Friday.

AP - As of Thursday, June 19, 2008, at least 451 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Saturday at 10 a.m. EDT.

AFP - EU leaders have agreed to postpone till October a decision on the bloc's Lisbon Treaty, rejected by Irish voters and further threatened by a eurosceptic Czech president, according to a draft deal Friday.

AFP - The US military has lost hundreds of sensitive nuclear missile components, in the latest embarrassment for The Pentagon, the Financial Times reported in its online version Thursday.

AFP - The US Air Force said Wednesday it would review congressional investigators' claims there were "significant errors" in how it awarded a huge aerial refueling tanker contract to Northrop Grumman.

AP - Four years after his release from Abu Ghraib, Ali al-Qaisi has nightmares and insomnia he blames on injuries — physical and psychological — suffered at the hands of his American captors.

AFP - Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said here Wednesday he is optimistic Iraqi and US negotiators will meet a July 31 deadline for a deal governing the future deployment of US troops.

AFP - The US Congress watchdog agency Wednesday backed Boeing's protest over a huge aerial refueling tanker contract awarded to Northrop Grumman, and recommended the Air Force review the deal.

AP - As of Tuesday, June 17, 2008, at least 447 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures June 7 at 10 a.m. EDT.