KABUL, Afghanistan — A helicopter carrying international troops crashed today, killing nine service members in southern Afghanistan where troops are ramping up pressure on Taliban insurgents.

It was the worst chopper crash for coalition forces in four years in the rugged country where helicopters are heavily used to transport military troops spread over mountainous terrain with few roads. This year was already the deadliest for international forces since the war began in 2001.

One other coalition service member, an Afghan National Army soldier and a U.S. civilian were injured.

The nationalities of the service members who died have not been released. So far this year, 525 U.S. and NATO forces have been killed in Afghanistan, surpassing the 504 killed last year.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea's ruling communist party has finally set a date for its biggest convention in decades, an apparent indication the regime might be ready to give the aging leader's son a key position that will pave the way for his succession.Delegates to the ruling Workers' Party will meet in Pyongyang Sept. 28 to select their "supreme leadership body," the official Korean Central News Agency said today.The conference will be the party's first major gathering since the landmark 1980 congress where then 38-year-old Kim Jong Il made his own political debut with an appearance that confirmed he was in line to succeed his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Il took control of North Korea when his father died of heart failure in 1994 in what was communism's first hereditary transfer of power. Now 68 and reportedly in poor health two years after suffering a stroke, Kim is believed to be prepping his third and youngest son, Kim Jong Un.