Matt Damon, listen up: After five years of covering Africa, our departing correspondent tells how his perceptions have changed about a complex continent, including why some Africans resent celebrity visits.

A NATO helicopter was shot down while on a nighttime raid in Afghanistan, killing 31 US special-operations troops. Nighttime helicopter raids are an essential tool of counterterrorism.

Helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan killed 31 US special forces troops and seven Afghan commandos. Officials are working to determine if insurgents brought down the craft, and if so, what technology allowed them to do so.

AP - After the first-ever downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating, the White House said on Saturday that President Barack Obama believes it's clear Washington "must do better" in tackling the deficit.

AP - A military helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan, killing 31 U.S. special operation troops, most of them from the elite Navy SEALs unit that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, along with seven Afghan commandos. It was the deadliest single incident for American forces in the decade-long war.