AP - In a summer of suffering, America's military death toll in Afghanistan is rising, with back-to-back record months for U.S. losses in the grinding conflict. All signs point to more bloodshed in the months ahead, straining the already shaky international support for the war.

AP - One of the world's most powerful drug cartels took a major hit when soldiers killed a top kingpin in a gunbattle, and his death will likely will mean more violence as factions fight for the cocaine and methamphetamine empire that he left behind.

AP - President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday that he wants to revoke the French citizenship of immigrants who put the lives of police officers in danger as part of a "national war" on delinquency.

AP - The U.S. State Department said Friday it is evaluating threats surrounding the consulate in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez as hundreds with appointments for visa applications and other services stood outside the shuttered office wondering what to do.

AP - Feel like living dangerously?

AFP - Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders will have to be consulted on every decision the next government makes if a provisional agreement on forming a new cabinet reached Friday is finalised, an expert said.

Reuters - The U.N. Security Council extended the stay of peacekeepers in Sudan's western Darfur region by another year on Friday, telling the force to focus primarily on protecting civilians and aid deliveries.

AFP - Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd was Friday admitted to hospital for surgery to treat severe stomach pain -- one month after he was dramatically removed from office by his own party.