President Bush has sent an emergency request to the U.S. Congress for an extra $46 billion in expedited funds for Iraq, Afghanistan and other national security needs. VOA White House correspondent Paula Wolfson reports the money is in addition to the $145 billion in war-related spending included in his original 2008 budget.

As Japan’s Parliament is expected not to secure an extension of its Afghan mission, the U.S. and Britain urged Thursday the Asian nation to keep on with their mission in the Indian Ocean .

Two private security companies were shut down by Afghan authorities and more than 10 others would soon be closed, with some of them suspected of murder and robbery, Afghan and Western officials said Thursday.

A German engineer and four Afghans kidnapped in southern Afghanistan in mid-July have been freed in exchange for five Taliban prisoners, an official and a Taliban commander say.

Afghan officials say 15 prisoners have been put to death by gunfire in the country's first execution in more than three years. The convicted criminals were shot in a Kabul prison late on Sunday. The French news agency quotes an official as saying most of the prisoners had been found guilty of murder.

Witnesses say a suicide bomber has attacked a convoy of foreign troops in the Afghan capital, but police had no immediate reports of any casualties.

A clash between the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops left several militants and civilians dead. A British soldier was killed in a blast in the country’s south.

The studio behind The Kite Runner, a film about Afghanistan's turmoil, has arranged to get its three young stars out of their homeland before the movie debuts to protect them from a possible violent backlash.

Officials say a suicide bomber killed at least 11 people and wounded seven others in Kabul today. The bomber blew himself up on a bus carrying police to work.

A teenager was hanged by Taliban militants for having the U.S. money. Five US$1 bills were staffed in his mouth as a warning to other villagers not to use dollars, police said Monday. Taliban militants elsewhere killed eight police.

Afghan officials say Taleban militants have released four International Red Cross employees who were abducted earlier this week in central Afghanistan.

The Taleban says it will never talk peace with the Afghan government as long as foreign troops remain in the country. Taleban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi said Sunday the militant group has no interest in taking government posts, and is only interested in the withdrawal of foreign forces.