US, Iraq have draft to pull US troops out (AP)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:47:48 GMT
AP - Iraq and the U.S. have reached preliminary agreement to withdraw American forces from Iraqi cities by next June, six years into the increasingly unpopular war, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Thursday after meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Suicide bombers kill 59 at Pakistani arms factory (AP)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:37:43 GMT
AP - Two Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gates to a huge weapons factory near Pakistan's capital Thursday, killing at least 59 people and wounding 70 in one of the country's worst terrorist attacks.

Tropical Storm Fay forces more evacuations in Fla. (AP)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:36:51 GMT
AP - Torrential rains from a slow-moving Tropical Storm Fay triggered a new round of flooding Thursday, submerging roads and forcing dozens of people to flee the rising water in their homes.

U.S. softball team denied 4th-straight gold, loses to Japan (AP)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:59:21 GMT
AP - Losing for the first time since 2000, the U.S. softball team was denied a chance for a fourth straight gold medal Thursday, beaten 3-1 by Japan in the sport's last appearance in the Olympics for at least eight years — and maybe for good.

Butterfingers drop US men, women out of 400 relays (AP)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:22:45 GMT
AP - Tyson Gay reached back to grab the baton "and there was nothing." He's not the only American track favorite who will leave Beijing empty-handed. The American men's and women's 400-meter relay teams both misconnected on the final handoffs in their preliminaries Thursday, a pair of stunning setbacks that made it that much easier for the Jamaicans to say the Bird's Nest is really their house.

16-year-old dies in Tennessee school shooting (AP)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:32:57 GMT
AP - A student fatally shot a 16-year-old classmate during a dispute Thursday at a Knoxville high school, as other teenagers watched in horror as the victim clutched his chest and fell to the floor.

Leading economic indicators fell sharply in July (AP)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:49:18 GMT
AP - A private business group's measure of the economy's health showed the largest drop in one year as stocks fell, new building permits declined and unemployment rose.

Rejected by Hong Kong, Glitter arrives in Thailand (AP)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:06:48 GMT
AP - Thai police said disgraced rocker Gary Glitter agreed Thursday to leave Thailand for London, possibly ending a two-day odyssey that began when he was released from a Vietnamese prison after serving time for molesting children.

Now on the Hallmark aisle: Gay marriage cards (AP)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:17:01 GMT
AP - Most states don't recognize gay marriage — but now Hallmark does.

NFLPA head Gene Upshaw dies of cancer at age 63 (AP)
Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:42:13 GMT
AP - Gene Upshaw, the Hall of Fame guard who during a quarter century as union head helped get NFL players free agency and the riches that came with it, has died. He was 63.