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 military jury gave Osama bin Laden's driver a stunningly lenient sentence on Thursday, making him eligible for release in just five months despite the prosecutors' request for a sentence tough enough to frighten terrorists around the globe.

AP - A man who authorities said was keeping weapons and military-style gear in his hotel room and car appeared in court Thursday on charges he threatened to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

AP - The wife of renowned evangelical pastor Joel Osteen got physical when her demands that a small spill on her seat be cleaned up were not immediately met, a flight attendant testified Thursday at a civil trial over the incident.

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 - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, charged with perjury and other felonies for his testimony in a civil trial, was ordered to jail Thursday because he violated his bond by taking a quick trip to Canada without notifying authorities.

AP - Archaeologists have unearthed a 1,900-year-old well-preserved chariot at an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, the head of the excavation said Thursday.

AP - Morgan Freeman was discharged Thursday from a Tennessee hospital after the Oscar-winning actor was treated for broken bones and other injuries sustained in a weekend car crash in Mississippi.

AP - Off the couch and out of the cold, Brett Favre is slipping on a new jersey. Favre's summertime soap opera ended Wednesday night when the Green Bay Packers traded their iconic quarterback to the New York Jets, who haven't had a star of No. 4's stature since the days Joe Namath was slinging passes and strolling down Broadway.

Reuters - A jury of U.S. military officers sentenced Osama bin Laden's driver to just 5 1/2 years in prison on Thursday for supporting terrorism, concluding the first U.S. war crimes tribunal since World War Two.

Reuters - China stages the most expensive opening ceremony in Olympic history on Friday, keen to put the world spotlight on its modern face and the sports action after a build-up that fired up the Communist government's critics.

Reuters - A judge on Thursday jailed indicted Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick for violating the conditions of his bond by crossing the Canadian border without permission.

Reuters - Republican presidential candidate John McCain poured scorn on his Democratic rival Barack Obama on Thursday for failing to match his commitment to drilling off U.S. coasts for oil and natural gas.

Reuters - Retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp, posted disappointing July sales results on Thursday as shoppers ran out of extra tax rebate cash, diminishing the outlook for the current back-to-school shopping season.

Reuters - Pakistan's ruling coalition will move to impeach President Pervez Musharraf on charges of plunging the country into a political and economic crisis, party leaders said on Thursday.

Reuters - A top U.N. nuclear watchdog official began talks in Iran on Thursday aimed at improving cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency over Tehran's nuclear program.

AFP - Police banned demonstrations outside the Chinese embassy in Paris on Thursday but critics of China's human rights record stepped up protests elsewhere in the world to mark the start of the Beijing Olympics.

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.