HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Two civilians were among eight people killed in a U.S.-led coalition operation in western Afghanistan on Friday, the U.S. military said, the latest in a mounting toll of civilian deaths that has outraged Afghans.

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s top anti-drug judge had received phone calls and text messages before he was murdered warning him to acquit a suspected drug dealer or face death, a spokesman for the anti-drugs tribunal said on Friday.

The leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon has acknowledged that his group was responsible for the shooting down last week of a Lebanese army helicopter.