AP - The top US military commander in Afghanistan says the sometimes strained relationship between the US and Afghan President Hamid Karzai is solid.

AP - India has widened its security crackdown, asking all companies that provide encrypted communications — not just BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion — to install servers in the country to make it easier for the government to obtain users' data. That would likely affect digital giants like Google and Skype.

AP - Two American troops died in fighting in Afghanistan on Thursday, while NATO and local officials said coalition and Afghan forces killed dozens of insurgents in a series of ground and air engagements.

AP - Four months before Southern Sudan is scheduled to hold an independence referendum, tensions are already rising in this oil-rich region that sits on the expected future border, with allegations the central government is using violence and ethnic cleansing to sway the vote.

AP - South Africa's government is withdrawing the special status granted to illegal Zimbabwean immigrants who fled their country's economic meltdown and political violence, a spokesman said Thursday.

Time.com - In an essay exclusively adapted for TIME from his new memoir, A Journey, Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair reflects on the U.S. Presidents he has known and worked with -- and on their country

AFP - The three Pakistan cricketers accused of involvement in an illegal betting scam protested their innocence Thursday as they formally withdrew from the scandal-tainted tour of England.

AP - Activists on Thursday hung posters across Cairo supporting Egypt's intelligence chief as a candidate in next year's presidential elections, the latest campaign to try to undermine a possible father-son succession in the Arab world's most populous nation.

AFP - Mozambique's government Thursday called price rises in the impoverished southern African country "irreversible" despite violent protests that it said left seven dead and 288 wounded.

AFP - Afghan financial authorities and the owners of Afghanistan's biggest bank said Thursday that Kabul Bank was in no danger of collapsing, as people across the country rushed to withdraw their money.