World datelines

Afghanistan: Deaths spike

KABUL — The number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan has roughly doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period last year as Washington has added tens of thousands of additional soldiers to reverse the Taliban's momentum.

Those deaths have been accompanied by a dramatic spike in the number of wounded, with injuries more than tripling in the first two months of the year and trending in the same direction based on the latest available data for March. U.S. officials have warned that casualties are likely to rise even further as the Pentagon completes its deployment of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and sets its sights on the Taliban's home base of Kandahar province, where a major operation is expected in the coming months.

Egypt: President home

CAIRO — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak returned home Saturday three weeks after undergoing gall bladder surgery in Germany — an operation that prompted him to temporarily hand over power to his prime minister and fueled speculation about the country's leadership.

State television broadcast live footage of Mubarak's arrival at the airport in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik. With his wife at his side, the president descended from the plane on an escalator before walking slowly with a slight limp to greet Cabinet ministers and other dignitaries waiting for him on the tarmac.

Honduras: Reporters shot

TEGUCIGALPA — Two journalists have been shot to death in eastern Honduras, bringing to five the number of media workers killed in the Central American country this month.

Radio journalists Jose Bayardo, 52, and Manuel de Jesus Juarez, 55, were riddled with bullets late Friday as they drove on a highway in the rural province of Olancho, prosecutor Wendy Caballero said Saturday. Investigators have not yet identified a possible motive, Caballero said.

Mexico: Officers killed

MORELIA — Two police officers and two other men have been found shot to death at a gas station in western Mexico.

Prosecutors in the state of Michoacan say the two officers reportedly had gone to the gas station to buy beer early Saturday. Neither officer was working. One had been suspended from his job and the other was not on duty. The bodies of the other two victims were found in another car at the station.