The Iraqi Cabinet unanimously approved a $400 million settlement for Americans who say they were abused by Saddam Hussein's regime. Saddam's government held hundreds of Americans hostage to prior to the Gulf War, using them as human shields in hopes of staving off a U.S.-led offensive. The deal, which now goes to the currently nonfunctional Iraqi parliament, will likely anger Iraqis who consider themselves victims of both Saddam and the 2003 U.S. invasion.

CONTROLLED BLAST KILLS U.S. AIRMAN

An American airman was killed and a soldier was wounded in a controlled detonation at the Joint Base Balad in Iraq, north of Baghdad. The death raises to at least 4,419 the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

GATES: PROGRESS IN AFGHANISTAN

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said evidence is building that the Obama administration's surge strategy is working in Afghanistan. Gates said that with the addition of 30,000 forces this year, war commander Gen. David Petraeus sees the beginning of a turnaround in the nine-year war. Gates said he is "encouraged" but warned of much more difficult fighting to come.

NEWS SERVICES