The United States military investigates allegations that its marines killed 15 Iraqi civilians last November.

AP - Shortly after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine in a western Iraqi town, American troops went into nearby houses and shot dead 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old-girl, residents say.

AFP - The United States military is investigating whether US Marines killed 15 civilians near the western Iraqi town of Haditha last November after their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb, Time magazine reported.

Reuters - The Philippine government said on Monday it was considering dropping rape charges against three U.S. marines in favor of a lesser charge but would pursue the case against a fourth marine.

AP - The military has opened a criminal investigation into a firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents last year that left 15 Iraqi civilians dead, defense officials said Thursday.

AP - The military has opened a criminal investigation into a November 2005 firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents near Baghdad that left 15 Iraqi civilians dead, defense officials said Thursday.

Reuters - The U.S. military has launched a criminal investigation into possible wrongdoing by Marines in the deaths of 15 Iraqi civilians in an incident in November in the town of Haditha, defense officials said on Thursday.

Reuters - A Philippine judge ordered four U.S. marines, accused of raping a 22 year-old Filipino woman, to appear in court next week to submit their pleas, marking the start of their trial.

AFP - The US military will move around 8,000 marines from Okinawa to Guam by 2012 as part of an agreement on the realignment of US forces there, a Pentagon spokesman said.

AP - As of Monday, March 13, 2006, at least 2,308 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 1,808 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

Four US marines are killed by a bomb in Afghanistan's Kunar Province, the US military says.

AFP - Japan and the United States will test-fire an interceptor of their jointly developed next-generation shipborne missile system later this week, a Japanese defence official has announced.

AP - U.S. Marines used to patrol the streets of this city near the volatile Syrian border. Now they've penned it in with a wall of sand, leaving only three ways in or out.

AP - Antonio Castaneda is embedded in Western Iraq with Marines from Regimental Combat Team 7.

AP - Antonio Castaneda is embedded in Western Iraq with Marines from Regimental Combat Team 7

AP - So, if need be, would Bernie Williams take out Derek Jeter at second base in the World Baseball Classic?

AP - So, if need be, would Bernie Williams take out Derek Jeter at second base in the World Baseball Classic?

AP - News travels slowly to American troops deployed in the desert plains of western Iraq. Days after the bombing of a Shiite shrine convulsed the country in religious violence, word hadn't reached U.S. Marines some 160 miles away.

AP - President Bush will make his first visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday and meet with President Hamid Karzai, a top Afghan official said.

AP - Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships struck a militant hideout Wednesday in a tribal region near the Afghan border, killing or wounding at least 25 militants, an official said.