AFP - Two US Marines facing murder charges in connection with the deaths of Iraqi prisoners in Fallujah in 2004 were declared in contempt of court Friday after refusing to testify against a former comrade on trial.

AP - As of Friday, Aug. 22, 2008, at least 508 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 Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT.

AFP - Negotiators have finalised a deal which will see the complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by 2011, ending an eight-year occupation, the top official in the Iraqi team told AFP.

AFP - Negotiators have finalised a deal which will see the complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by 2011, the top Iraqi heading the team told AFP Friday.

AFP - Negotiators have finalised a deal which will see the complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by 2011, ending an eight-year occupation, the top official in the Iraqi team told AFP on Friday.

AFP - Two Marines facing murder charges in connection with the deaths of Iraqi prisoners in Fallujah in 2004 on Friday refused to testify against a former comrade on trial in California.

AP - Iraq and the U.S. pushed close to a deal Thursday setting a course for American combat troops to pull out of major Iraqi cities by next June, with a broader withdrawal from the long and costly war by 2011.

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.