KABUL, Afghanistan — Britain's military handed the U.S. responsibility today for a dangerous district in southern Afghanistan that has been the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting by British troops for the past four years.

British forces arrived in Helmand province's northern Sangin district in 2006 and have lost more than 100 troops there in fierce fighting with Taliban insurgents — nearly one-third of the 337 fatalities it has suffered in Afghanistan since 2001.

NATO said the 40 Commando Royal Marines were being reassigned throughout the center of Helmand, which remains a volatile battleground even though tens of thousands of NATO and Afghan troops moved into the area in February.

Under the new NATO deployment plan, which was announced in July, the U.S. will operate mainly in the north and south of Helmand, with British, Danish and Estonian troops working in the heavily populated central areas.

PARIS — An American World War II veteran returned an emblematic French flag to the city of Paris more than six decades after he took it as a souvenir.The flag was hanging from the Arc de Triomphe on Aug. 25, 1944, the day Paris was liberated from the Nazis.The city of Paris took possession of the flag in a ceremony Saturday. Officials say it appears to be authentic.The veteran gave the flag to a French acquaintance who lives in the New York area. The acquaintance brought it to southern France two years ago, and it has remained there as officials checked its authenticity.