AP - As of Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008, at least 4,148 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

AFP - A 27-year-old slice of wedding cake made for Prince Charles and Diana has sold for 1200 pounds at an auction, it was reported Thursday.

AP - Dissidents in Malaysia's ruling party clamored for the prime minister to resign Wednesday after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim returned to Parliament with a sweeping election victory.

AP - Western leaders warned the Kremlin on Wednesday to "change course," hoping to keep the conflict from growing into a new Cold War after tensions broadened to imperil a key nuclear pact and threaten U.S. meat and poultry trade with Russia.

AP - Gustav was heading toward Jamaica early Thursday while many miles away, residents in the New Orleans area watched it with a nervous eye.

AP - Thousands of demonstrators, some armed with golf clubs, batons and bamboo sticks, defied a court order to end their occupation of the prime minister's office compound on Thursday, vowing to remain until the country's leaders resign.

AP - Suspected militants bombed a bus carrying prisoners in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least nine people as fighting between security forces and extremists flared across the country's tribal belt.

AFP - India survived Sanath Jayasuriya's explosive half-century to clinch the series against Sri Lanka with a 46-run victory in the fourth one-day international here on Wednesday.

AFP - Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir warned on Wednesday that possible legal proceedings against him by the International Criminal Court would damage foreign investment in the oil-rich country.

AP - The Supreme Court indicated Wednesday it will uphold a Mexico City law allowing abortion that has divided the country.

AFP - EU Commissioner Guenter Verheugen urged Bulgaria on Wednesday to step up its fight against crime and corruption, a problem that has already led Brussels to impose sanctions on Sofia.

AP - An upcoming concert by Paul McCartney has revived memories of the 1960s, when an Israeli official supposedly called off a Beatles concert for fear it would corrupt the nation's youth.

AP - The murder case was supposed to be simple: A jobless man accused of killing six police officers in a rare stabbing rampage in China's largest city.

AP - Pakistani troops drove off a Taliban attack on a fort and pounded another band of militants holed up in a health center, officials said Wednesday as fighting spread to a third area of the tribal belt along the Afghan border.