AFP - A former US Marine ignored clear rules for handling prisoners and ordered the killing of four unarmed Iraqis during 2004 fighting in Fallujah, prosecutors told a court here Thursday.

AP - Iraq and the U.S. have reached preliminary agreement to withdraw American forces from Iraqi cities by next June, six years into the increasingly unpopular war, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Thursday after meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

AFP - A former US Marine ignored clear rules for handling prisoners and ordered the killing of four unarmed Iraqis during 2004 fighting in Fallujah, a landmark trial heard here Thursday.

AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew into Baghdad on Thursday for discussions with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials, hoping to iron out remaining differences in a U.S.-Iraq security deal that envisions the withdrawal of American troops.

AFP - Ten French NATO soldiers were killed in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday, the deadliest ground attack on foreign troops here since the US-led war was launched in 2001.

AP - Insurgents mounted two of the biggest attacks in years on Western forces in Afghanistan, killing 10 French soldiers in a mountain ambush and then sending a squad of suicide bombers in a failed assault early Tuesday on a U.S. base near the Pakistan border.

AP - As of Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008, at least 507 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 - The trial of a former US Marine accused of killing two Iraqi detainees during fighting in Fallujah four years ago began with jury selection in the landmark case, justice officials said.

AFP - Ten French NATO soldiers were killed in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday, the deadliest ground attack on foreign troops here since the US-led war was launched in 2001.

AP - Insurgents ambushed a group of elite French soldiers as they climbed a mountain pass, killing 10 troops in a militant stronghold outside the capital. In a separate coordinated attack, a team of suicide bombers tried unsuccessfully to storm a U.S. base near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

AP - The Pentagon is determined to overhaul both training and active duty tours for the Army National Guard, but finding a way to give these part-time soldiers more time at home will cost over $128 million, The Associated Press has learned.

Reuters - Instability in Pakistan always has the Pentagon worried about two things above all -- the country's nuclear arsenal and the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in areas bordering Afghanistan.

AP - As of Monday, Aug. 18, 2008, at least 500 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 Aug. 9 at 10 a.m. EDT.

AFP - Several Taliban suicide attackers tried to storm a US military base in eastern Afghanistan early Tuesday and at least six have been found dead, a provincial governor said.