AP - The deadliest three months for American forces in Afghanistan have pushed the U.S. death toll to at least 500, forcing a war long overshadowed by Iraq back into the headlines.

AP - Iraq and the U.S. are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last soldiers out three years after that, two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. U.S. officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed.

AP - A U.S. military jury sentenced Osama bin Laden's driver Thursday to just 5 1/2 years in prison, a surprise rebuke to Pentagon prosecutors who portrayed him as a member of the al-Qaida leader's inner circle worthy of a life sentence.

AP - Government troops launched a major military offensive Friday to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia and the president accused Russia, which has close ties to the separatists, of bombing Georgian territory.

AFP - Pakistan's ruling coalition said Thursday that it would seek the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, posing the biggest threat to the key US ally since he seized power in a 1999 coup.

AFP - Mauritanian police on Thursday broke up a protest by hundreds of people against an army coup in the West African nation which has been internationally condemned despite a junta promise to hold new elections.

AP - Tropical Storm Hernan gained strength on Thursday as it churned far off Mexico's Pacific coast.

AFP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday left for Beijing for the opening of the Olympics, after awarding China a "gold medal" for hosting the Games in a bid to mend ties frayed by his initial boycott threat.

AP - A rare bird's-eye look at Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta shows the devastation still left from Cyclone Nargis — broken levies, flooded farm roads, the shattered remains of bamboo huts and trees strewn like matchsticks along the coast.

AP - Pakistan's ruling coalition said Thursday it would seek the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf, alleging the U.S.-backed former general had "eroded the trust of the nation" and increasing pressure on him to resign.

AP - Salim Hamdan pleaded with a military jury to spare him from a life in prison, apologizing Thursday for the "innocent people" who died in the Sept. 11 attacks and saying he worked as Osama bin Laden's driver only because he needed a job.

AP - Two Iraqi officials say the U.S. and Iraq are close to a deal under which all American combat troops would leave by October 2010 with remaining U.S. forces gone about three years later.