The Egyptian government announced plans on Thursday to ban all female circumcision, the widely-practised removal of the clitoris which just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A fifth of the members of the US Senate on Friday warned the situation in Afghanistan was quickly getting worse and called on Washington’s NATO allies to share more of the security burden.

As of Friday, June 29, 2007, at least 342 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.