Evening Edition

In an interview with two US newspapers published Friday, Panetta said the Iraqis appeared to have made up their mind to extend the presence of American troops beyond the year-end withdrawal deadline.

“My view is that they finally did say, ‘Yes,'” Panetta told Stars and Stripes and the Military Times.

Almost half of the workers in Verizon’s wireline business went on strike on August 7 after talks for a new labor pact failed when their contract expired.

Under the latest agreement, reached early on Saturday morning, Verizon promised to extend the terms of the old contract indefinitely while it continues bargaining for a new one with unions representing technicians and customer service workers.

Egypt’s decision on Saturday to recall its envoy from Israel will remove the last Arab ambassador from Tel Aviv, further undermining a relationship that had started to buckle following the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Tensions flared after a cross-border attack earlier this week, with Cairo accusing Israeli forces of shooting dead three Egyptian security guards during gunbattles with Palestinian militants who had earlier ambushed and killed eight Israelis.

Farmland prices are setting records and farmer incomes have been buoyed by exports and biofuels, easing the pain of some rough summer weather from drought, floods and fires.

Amid China’s voracious appetite for grains and worries about climate hurting crops and food supplies in many countries, U.S. agriculture’s attraction as the world’s breadbasket has become a beacon for Wall Street.

Free games, once the bane of the gaming industry, are now proving lucrative for game developers who entice people to pay for virtual costumes or tools which enhance game experience.

According to a survey published by German tech industry association Bitkom earlier this month, 45 percent of German gamers opt for free-to-play versions only.

Rebel fighters said Gadhafi’s troops put up little resistance before fleeing their posts in Zawiya’s hospital and multistory buildings around the main square – another sign suggesting that the Libyan dictator’s 42-year-old regime is crumbling.

Trucks and cars packed with rebels as well as civilians drove around Zawiya’s central square, honking horns, flashing V-for-victory signs and yelling “Allahu akbar” or “God is great!” An ambulance crew posed for photos on the sidewalk while a rebel called through a loudspeaker on his truck, “Zawiya is liberated!”

Stine Renate Haaheim, who survived the shooting spree on Utoya island, said her feelings ranged from emptiness and extreme grief to joy when she returned to the place she had visited each summer for more than 10 years before the horrific events on July 22.

“There was an extreme mix of feelings because it was very difficult and we are still in grief, but at the same time I was looking forward to seeing Utoya. I was hoping that in some kind of way it will still be the same island as it used to be,” Haaheim, 27, told The Associated Press after returning from the island.

Army Spc. Justin W. Hebert’s story is sad and sadly unremarkable, a tragedy bound up in the tale of a grinding war that took young lives with grievous regularity. Nearly one-third of U.S. troops killed in Iraq were age 18 to 21. Well over half were in the lowest enlisted ranks.

For Hebert, the Army was an adventure. But it didn’t last long.

The Sooners will start out top-ranked in The Associated Press college football poll for the 10th time, more than any program in the country.

The defending Big 12 champions received 36 of 60 first-place votes and 1,464 points in the Top 25 released Saturday.