AP - The Bush administration plans to announce next week that U.S. soldiers' combat tours will be reduced from 15 months to 12 months in Iraq and Afghanistan beginning later this summer, The Associated Press has learned.

AFP - Zimbabwe has declared a cholera outbreak which has claimed 565 lives a national emergency and appealed for international aid to tackle the epidemic, the state-run Herald daily said Thursday.

AFP - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Pakistan on Thursday on a hastily arranged visit aimed at defusing tensions with India after the Mumbai militant attacks.

Reuters - General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC are considering accepting a pre-arranged bankruptcy as the last-resort price of getting a multi billion dollar government bailout, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with internal discussions.

AP - Fidelity Investments is joining the rush to satisfy investors' growing appetite for news about financial market turmoil.

AP - India suspects that two senior leaders of a banned Pakistani militant group masterminded last week's three-day terrorist attacks that killed 171 people in Mumbai, an Indian intelligence official said Thursday.