AFP - The United States and Iraq are close to an agreement on the presence of US troops in the country beyond 2008, the foreign ministers from the two countries said Saturday.

AP - As of Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, at least 535 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 Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.

AFP - Fifteen senior air force officers, including six generals, have been disciplined in response to a mistaken shipment of nuclear weapons components to Taiwan, the US Air Force announced Thursday.

AFP - When US Marine Chief Warrant Officer Mike Fay was on patrol with his unit in Iraq, he was armed with an M-16 rifle, a nine-millimeter pistol -- and a sketchbook, watercolors and cameras.

AFP - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has promised to improve Iraqi armed forces to the level that they no longer need support from US-led troops, his office said on Thursday.

AFP - The US Air Force said it will announce disciplinary actions Thursday against senior air force officials stemming from the misshipment of nuclear weapons components to Taiwan.

AFP - When US Marine Chief Warrant Officer Mike Fay was on patrol with his unit in Iraq, he was armed with an M-16 rifle, a nine-millimeter pistol -- and a sketchbook, watercolors and cameras.

AFP - US officials negotiating a controversial security pact with Iraq have returned to Baghdad to resume discussions which have been deadlocked since early September, a US official said on Wednesday.

Reuters - The Pakistani military said on Wednesday a pilotless aircraft that crashed in the northwestern region of South Waziristan had been recovered, but the Pentagon denied any U.S. drone had been lost in the area.

AP - As of Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008, at least 534 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 Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.

AP - An Afghan journalist detained for 11 months at the U.S. military base at Bagram alleged on Monday that his captors kicked him, forced him to stand barefoot in the snow and didn't allow him to sleep for days.

AFP - Iraq's Shiite-led government will assume responsibility for paying 54,000 mainly Sunni militiamen in Baghdad starting next week, in an important test of its commitment to reconciliation, a top general said Monday.