U.S. GENERAL SAYS AFGHAN BATTLEFIELD LOSSES RISING

Afghan military and police forces had higher numbers of battlefield casualties in a “difficult and bloody summer” of fighting the Taliban insurgency, the American general overseeing the war said Thursday.

Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters at the Pentagon that the Afghan losses are “an area of important focus” for the newly installed U.S. commander in Kabul, Army Gen. Scott Miller. Votel did not say how many Afghan troops have been killed this year but noted that Afghan officials have said the casualties will not deter them.

Asked directly whether the number of Afghan casualties had increased this year over 2017, Votel said, “It’s my understanding that it is increasing.”

No porn charge for Kentucky man who ordered child sex dolls.

FORT MITCHELL , K Y.

» A Kentucky judge has dropped a child pornography charge against a man who ordered sex dolls resembling an infant and a 6 to 8yearold girl.

WCPOTV reported Wednesday that Judge Douglas Grothaus dismissed the charge of having an item portraying a sexual performance by a minor, saying there was no actual child involved. Kenton Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders says he may appeal the case, which he says is a first for his office.

Citing court records, WXIXTV said police tracked a package from China to 41yearold Scott L. Phillips’ home, where they served a search warrant and found the anatomically correct female dolls. He was charged with marijuana possession too.

Merkel, Netanyahu play down differences during Israel visit.

JERUS A

LEM» The leaders of Israel and Germany, countries that have built a strong alliance since the horrors of the Holocaust, put on a display of unity in Jerusalem on Thursday, even as the two states continue to grapple with gaping disagreements over Iran and the Palestinians.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Israel for two days of joint government consultations, the seventh such trip since Israel and Germany established the tradition a decade ago.

She and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared together at a news conference where they played down their differences. Netanyahu welcomed European efforts to address Iranian “aggression” in Europe, and Merkel agreed to prod the Palestinian leader over Israeli claims that he is to blame for the standstill in peace talks and a worsening situation in the Gaza Strip.

HIVpositive mother donates liver to critically ill child.

Doctors in South Africa say they transplanted part of a liver from a mother with HIV to her critically ill but HIVnegative child, concluding that the chance to save a life outweighed the risk of virus transmission.

The mother and the child recovered after the 2017 transplant, though it is not yet known whether the child has the virus that causes AIDS, according to the team from the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Johannesburg.

The University of the Witwatersrand experts explained the procedure in an article published Thursday in the journal AIDS.

The university said it was “believed to be the world’s first intentional liver transplant” from a donor with HIV to a recipient without the virus, and that its success opens the way to “a potential new pool of living donors that could save additional lives.”

Medication provided to the child before the transplant may have prevented HIV transmission, though that will only become clear over time, the experts said. A liver from a donor without HIV was not available in a country where there is a chronic shortage of organs available for transplant.