The last US combat brigade exits Iraq early Thursday. And, world aid efforts increase in Pakistan.

Goodbye, Iraq: Last US Combat Brigade Exits

KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait — A line of heavily armored American military vehicles, their headlights twinkling in the pre-dawn desert, lumbered past the barbed wire and metal gates marking the border between Iraq and Kuwait early Thursday and rolled into history.

Muslims Worship Near Pentagon Crash Site

WASHINGTON — Americans are debating bitterly the proposed building of a mosque near New York’s ground zero, but for years Muslims have prayed quietly at the Pentagon only 80 feet from where another hijacked jetliner struck.

World ramps up flood aid to stricken Pakistan

GHAZI AIR BASE, Pakistan (AP) — The world ramped up assistance to flood-ravaged Pakistan on Thursday three weeks after the crisis began, and U.S. Sen. John Kerry said Washington did not want Islamist extremists to come out of the disaster stronger.

CIA forms new center to combat nukes, WMDs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA is opening a counter-proliferation center to combat the spread of dangerous weapons and technology, a move that comes as Iran is on the verge of fueling up a new nuclear power plant.

Militant Chief Slain En Route to Iraq

The leader of a Lebanon-based al-Qaida affiliate has been killed while attempting to travel to Iraq to join the insurgency.

Doctor: Pregnant Marine died of skull fracture

GOLDSBORO, N.C. — A skull fracture killed a pregnant Marine whose colleague is on trial for her slaying, the doctor who performed the autopsy told a jury Wednesday.

US Opposes Use of Force in S. China Sea

MANILA, Philippines — The U.S. military opposes the use of force by countries locked in a dispute over territory in the South China Sea and will maintain its presence in the strategic region for years to come, an American commander said Wednesday.

Officials question readiness of Iraqi forces

A suicide bombing that killed 61 Iraqi army recruits in Baghdad on Tuesday is raising fears about whether the Iraqis can handle their own security as the U.S. military prepares to end combat operations in two weeks.

Study Says Brain Trauma Can Mimic A.L.S

In the 71 years since the Yankees slugger Lou Gehrig declared himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth,” despite dying from a disease that would soon bear his name, he has stood as America’s leading icon of athletic valor struck down by random, inexplicable fate.

Officials: Karzai Blindsided U.S. Embassy With Contractor-Ban Announcement

Afghan President Hamid Karzai failed to give the American Embassy in Kabul advance notice that he was about to issue an edict ordering private security companies operating in Afghanistan to fold up shop within four months. Two senior U.S. officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, tell Declassified that embassy officials had been talking for months with Karzai about what his government could do to clean up corruption problems involving such contractors, particularly contractors operating in the south of the country, whose important duties include providing security for official and private supply convoys. But the officials say that Karzai gave no advance notice to the embassy or other U.S. officials that he would attempt to address the problem with the radical step of trying to outlaw such contractors with the stroke of a pen.