LOST IN THE DARK RIDE

President Bush will announce plans to withdraw 8,000 US troops from Iraq and send reinforcements to Afghanistan.

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Georgia’s president cautiously welcomes Russia’s planned troop withdrawal from areas around South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

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Hurricane Ike batters eastern Cuba with torrential rain and giant waves as it heads for Havana, leaving four people dead.

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A US mother who burned her one-month-old daughter to death in a microwave oven is sentenced to life in prison without parole.

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Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, will be sworn in as Pakistan’s new president.

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Angola’s main opposition party, Unita, congratulates the ruling MPLA on a landslide victory in last week’s election.

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The UAE and Kuwait find themselves in opposition to Iran on oil production levels, as Opec ministers gather.

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A US-UK team of scientists find more spectacular fossil forests deep in the coal mines of Illinois.

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Mexican police detain five people suspected of involvement in the killing of a teenager whose murder sparked national protests.

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The Sri Lankan air force says it has shot down an aircraft belonging to the rebel Tamil Tigers.

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