2 Taliban bomber strikes near US base in Kabul
by Sharif Khoram, AFP
Fri Nov 13, 7:01 am ET
| KABUL (AFP) - A suicide bomber struck near a US military base in Kabul on Friday, wounding foreign soldiers and Afghan civilians less than a week before the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai, officials said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, one of a rising number of bombings in the Afghan capital. Their insurgency against Western troops and the Afghan government is at its worst since US-led troops overthrew their regime in 2001.
Friday's attack also underscored the perils facing the more than 100,000 NATO and US troops in Afghanistan as US President Barack Obama weighs whether to deploy up to 40,000 more soldiers in an effort to stabilise the country. |
3 BA-Iberia deal aims giant blow at rivals
by Roland Jackson, AFP
1 hr 44 mins ago
| LONDON (AFP) - British Airways is aiming to hold its ranking as a giant in the skies through a tie-up with Spanish carrier Iberia that will give it access to South American routes, the group's boss said on Friday.
The tie-up is being seen as a move to avoid being sidelined by rivals Air France-KLM and Lufthansa as the economic crisis and the rise of low-cost airlines drives airline alliances and steep cost cutting.
However, BA chief executive Willie Walsh also admitted that there would be more job cuts as a result of the proposed marriage, sparking concern among trade unions in Britain and Spain. |
4 Obama vows to deepen ties at start of Asia tour
by Stephen Collinson, AFP
Fri Nov 13, 9:34 am ET
| TOKYO (AFP) - Barack Obama insisted on Friday that the United States was a "Pacific" power and vowed to deepen its engagement in the region as he set foot in Asia for the first time as US president.
"The United States will strengthen our alliances, build new partnerships and we will be part of multilateral efforts and regional institutions that advance regional security and prosperity," he said in Tokyo as he launched his four-nation tour.
"The alliance between the United States and Japan is a foundation for security and prosperity, not just for our two countries, but for the Asian-Pacific region," said Obama at a press conference alongside Japan's centre-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. |
5 U.S., Japan vow to revitalize strained ties
By Yoko Nishikawa and Caren Bohan, Reuters
Fri Nov 13, 8:46 am ET
| TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Japan's new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, pledged on Friday to revitalize their strained security alliance as they adapt to a rising China, set to overtake Japan as the world's No.2 economy.
But they left unresolved a feud over a U.S. military base on Japan's southern Okinawa island that has frayed Washington's ties with Hatoyama's government, under pledge to steer a diplomatic course less dependent on its ally and forge closer relations with Asia.
"I told him that the U.S-Japan alliance is the cornerstone of everything," Hatoyama told a news conference after their summit. "But given the changing times and global environment, I would like to deepen the alliance and create a new U.S.-Japan alliance that is constructive and future-oriented." |
6 China's Hu prods West on trade, investment barriers
By Lucy Hornby and Kevin Yao, Reuters
Fri Nov 13, 7:07 am ET
| SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao called on Friday for an end to "unreasonable" trade restrictions on developing countries, just days ahead of a U.S. presidential visit to his country that has been clouded by economic tensions.
In a speech to business and political leaders in Singapore, Hu made no mention of the Chinese yuan, a hot topic in global financial markets given the growing pressure from Washington for Beijing to revalue the currency.
Arguing that protectionism stood in the way of a global economic recovery, he called for a push to conclude the Doha round of trade liberalization talks, which have been stalled for eight years. |
7 U.S. piles pressure on Afghan leader
By Sue Pleming and Adam Entous, Reuters
Thu Nov 12, 7:34 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House squeezed Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday to show more resolve in fighting corruption and said President Barack Obama's war plan deliberations included an exit strategy for U.S. troops.
Obama, en route to Asia for a weeklong trip, stopped at an air base in Alaska where he told U.S. troops he would give them the strategy and clear mission they deserved in the increasingly unpopular eight-year-old war.
The president is weighing several options for boosting U.S. force levels in Afghanistan, a decision all but certain to escalate America's involvement to confront a resurgent Taliban and their al Qaeda allies. |
8 9/11 suspects to face death penalty in NYC trial
By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer
57 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be brought to trial in a civilian federal courthouse in New York, near the site of the devastating 2001 terror attacks. Prosecutors expect to seek the death penalty.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced the long-awaited and politically fraught decision at a news conference Friday. He also said five other Guantanamo detainees, including a major suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, will be tried through the military commission process.
Holder said the Sept. 11 defendants should be tried where their crimes occurred. Nearly 3,000 people died when the World Trade Center towers were brought down by two hijacked jetliners, another hijacked jet hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in western Pennsylvania. |
I suspect this is being tried in civilian courts because the death penalty is much harder to get in military courts and also discovery rules are stronger.
9 Obama in Asia: Setting a newly cooperative tone
By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent
51 mins ago
| TOKYO - President Barack Obama is emphasizing cooperation on his first major trip to Asia, opening with a warning to North Korea that there will be tough, unified action by the U.S. and its Asian partners if the Koreans fail to abandon their nuclear weapons programs.
The hard line on North Korea was to be a prominent theme of a Friday night speech that also was intended to more broadly showcase a United States that, under Obama's leadership, seeks deeper and more equal engagement in Asia. It was to be the fifth major foreign address of Obama's 10-month presidency, this one geared toward setting a new tone for the sometimes-rocky U.S. relationship with the world's fastest-growing region.
In the speech, to 1,500 prominent Japanese in a soaring concert hall in bustling downtown Tokyo, Obama planned to give his most extended remarks in some time on North Korea, said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser. |
10 AP: Palin book goes after McCain camp but not Levi
By RICHARD T. PIENCIAK, Associated Press Writer
23 mins ago
| NEW YORK - Sarah Palin's new memoir describes heart-wrenching anguish about her teen daughter's pregnancy playing out before a national audience. But the 413-page tome doesn't contain a single reference to the father of her grandson, soon-to-be Playgirl model Levi Johnston.
In "Going Rogue," which will be released Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn't afford - preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it's as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., had never left Wasilla, Alaska.
The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that "will hurt her." |
11 Army says morale down among troops in Afghanistan
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 25 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Morale has fallen among soldiers in Afghanistan, where troops are seeing record violence in the 8-year-old war, while those in Iraq show much improved mental health amid much lower violence, the Army said Friday.
Soldier suicides in Iraq did not increase for the first time since 2004, according to a new study.
Though findings of two new battlefield surveys are similar in several ways to the last ones taken in 2007, they come at a time of intense scrutiny on Afghanistan as President Barack Obama struggles to come up with a new war strategy and planned troop buildup. There is also perhaps equal new attention focused on the mental health of the force since a shooting rampage at Fort Hood last week in which an Army psychiatrist is charged. |
12 Obama eyes domestic spending freeze
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 45 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has alerted domestic agencies to plan for a freeze or even a 5 percent cut in their budgets, part of an election-year push to rein in record deficits that threaten the economy and Democrats' political prospects next fall.
The deficit-cutting drive comes as President Barack Obama traveled to Asia where several nations, especially China, have expressed concerns about the size of U.S. deficits. China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities and policymakers worry that alarm over deficits could push foreigners into cutting back on their purchases of Treasury debt.
White House budget director Peter Orszag said Friday that it is imperative to start curbing the flow of red ink in coming years so as not to erode the fledgling economic recovery and raise interest rates. But he called it a balancing act and said acting too fast could undercut the recovery. |
Economics 101 flunking idiots.
13 Top White House lawyer Greg Craig quitting
By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent
Fri Nov 13, 10:01 am ET
| TOKYO - The White House's top lawyer is returning to private practice and being replaced by a longtime adviser to Barack Obama.
White House counsel Greg Craig, who's leaving in early January, has been the subject of repeated questions about his future since late summer. Centered on talk that Obama's promise to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison by January had gone awry under Craig's leadership, the questions were settled Friday when the White House announced Craig's departure.
It was the highest-ranking resignation so far in Obama's 10-month presidency, and became public just as the president was arriving in Asia for a weeklong tour. It also came just hours before Attorney General Eric Holder was set to announce that self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court, while five other suspects will be prosecuted in military commissions. This was revealed to The Associated Press by an Obama administration official earlier Friday. |
This is probably not good news.
14 Trade deficit widens by most since 1999 in Sept.
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
2 hrs 13 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - A lower dollar appears to be boosting the U.S. economy only gradually, with higher prices on imported oil helping outweigh the benefit of cheaper American exports.
The latest evidence was a government report Friday that the U.S. trade deficit jumped in September by the largest percentage amount in more than a decade. A big culprit was foreign oil, whose prices hit their highest point in nearly a year. That helped eclipse a fifth straight gain in U.S. exports.
Economists think a rebounding global economy will keep raising demand for U.S. exports. The dollar's value has dropped about 12 percent against a basket of major currencies since last spring. A lower dollar can help boost U.S. exports because it make them cheaper for foreigners to buy. |
15 CDC's swine flu toll: 4,000 dead, 22 million ill
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
Fri Nov 13, 9:15 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Estimates of deaths caused by the swine flu have grown to nearly 4,000 since April, roughly quadrupling previous estimates. But that doesn't mean swine flu suddenly has worsened.
Instead, the federal numbers made public Thursday reflect a long-awaited better attempt to quantify the new flu's true toll. Most cases still don't require a doctor's care.
Swine flu has sickened about 22 million Americans since April and killed about 540 children. |
16 Suicide bomber attacks military convoy near Kabul
By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 13, 8:10 am ET
| KABUL - A suicide car bomber attempting to strike an international military convoy on the outskirts of Kabul wounded at least 24 people Friday, including nine NATO service members, on a road that has become a frequent target.
With violence increasing, Britain's prime minister suggested 5,000 more NATO troops could be deployed to bolster the 71,000 NATO troops already here, while Germany said it would be sending more than 100 extra soldiers to northern Afghanistan in January.
NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has asked for an extra 40,000 U.S. troops to be sent to Afghanistan, but President Barack Obama has not made a decision yet. |
17 Militants turn on spy agency in Pakistan
By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 12 mins ago
| ISLAMABAD - A suicide attack on the northwestern headquarters of Pakistan's spy agency Friday showed how militants have turned against an institution that once nurtured them and marked an escalation in their war against the U.S.-backed government.
The truck bombing was the second this year against offices of the intelligence agency, which has helped the CIA track down and arrest many al-Qaida suspects since 2001 but is still suspected by some Western officials of sympathizing with extremists, especially those fighting across the border in Afghanistan.
The early morning attack killed 10 people and devastated much of the complex in Peshawar city, which has been hit by many of the near-daily attacks in recent weeks by insurgents avenging an army offensive against their stronghold along the nearby frontier with Afghanistan. Another 55 people were wounded. |
18 Family: Mo. child sex abuse claims are 'repulsive'
By DAVID TWIDDY and BILL DRAPER, Associated Press Writers
Fri Nov 13, 12:32 am ET
| LEXINGTON, Mo. - Family members of five men charged in a bizarre child sex abuse case reacted with disbelief and sadness Thursday to the "unspeakable" string of alleged atrocities spanning two decades.
"It's unspeakable. I can't think of words that would put this in perspective. I find it repulsive if it's true," said Darrel Mohler, a brother of one of the five men charged.
The men - a father and his four adult sons - were dressed in orange jumpsuits and shackled at their wrists, waists and ankles on Thursday when they made their first court appearance. Associate Circuit Judge John Frerking read the charges against them, including forcible sodomy, rape with a child younger than 12 and use of a child in a sexual performance. |
19 Gates to lead 6-month push against roadside bombs
By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer
Fri Nov 13, 12:39 am ET
| OSHKOSH, Wis. - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday he will lead an intensive push for new ways to defuse the threat from homemade bombs, the crude ambush weapons that account for eight in 10 casualties in Afghanistan.
"The best solution isn't always the most elaborate," Gates told workers assembling rush orders of a new armored combat truck that, like many of the bombs themselves, is an improvisation.
With numerous offices and agencies working on ways to find and protect against booby-trap bombs, Gates said he wants a brainstorming review across the Defense Department that would last about six months. He will get a monthly report on the progress, Gates said. |
20 Obama's hesitancy on war buildup sends messages
By ROBERT BURNS and BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writers
Fri Nov 13, 12:40 am ET
| WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's drawn-out decision-making on Afghanistan is sending messages. To the Afghan government: Clean up your act. To the Pentagon: I'm no rubber stamp. To the American public: More troops can't be the sole answer.
Obama has been accused by some Republicans of "dithering" about whether to send more troops and deepen U.S. involvement in an increasingly unpopular war.
The slow process also has left him open to critics who recall his pronouncement in March, after developing what he called a "stronger, smarter and comprehensive" Afghan war strategy, that the situation there was "increasingly perilous." He ordered more troops to battle then, with little discernible result so far. |
21 Winning margin in NY House 23 race tightens
By VALERIE BAUMAN, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 12, 9:22 pm ET
| ALBANY, N.Y. - The special election last week for the 23rd Congressional District seat in New York may not be over after all.
Though Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman conceded and Democrat Bill Owens was sworn into Congress last week, the routine recanvassing of votes shows Owens' lead has narrowed to 3,026 votes, with about 5,800 absentee ballots received so far that have yet to be counted. The final outcome rests on uncounted absentee ballots, and more than 10,000 were sent out.
The county Boards of Election are still recanvassing votes and it could be the end of November before a final count is certified. If the count overturns the election, Owens could be removed from office. |
Wrong. It's over. There simply aren't enough outstanding ballots to change the result.
22 Feds ignored Medicare scam warnings for years
By KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer
29 mins ago
| MIAMI - For three years, the federal agency in charge of preventing Medicare fraud repeatedly ignored internal watchdog warnings about swindlers stealing millions of dollars by scamming several programs, documents show.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services received roughly 30 warnings from inspectors over three years during the Bush and Obama administrations but didn't respond to half of them, even after repeated letters, according to records provided to The Associated Press by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley's office.
A July 2008 warning said organized crime had infiltrated the system and was costing more than $1 million dollars for each phony Medicare provider license the crooks obtained. The letter got no response, Grassley said. |
23 Clinton: No binding climate deal at Denmark talks
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 13, 5:03 am ET
| MANILA, Philippines - Next month's climate change summit in Copenhagen is not likely to produce a legally binding treaty to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that are widely blamed for global warming, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday.
Speaking to a town hall meeting of students at a university in the Philippine capital, Clinton said the Obama administration would push instead for a strong "framework agreement" that could become a template for an eventual enforceable pact.
"We are going to go to Copenhagen 100-percent committed to creating a framework agreement," she said. "We doubt that we can get to the legally binding agreement that everyone wants because too many countries have too many questions." |
24 Ex-pastor Ted Haggard holds home prayer meeting
By IVAN MORENO, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 13, 4:27 am ET
| COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Former evangelical pastor Ted Haggard says a well-attended prayer meeting at his home wasn't the start of a new church, but a sign of his resurrection three years after he was forced to resign amid a sex scandal.
"For the people who come tonight, that means they believe in the resurrection in me," he told reporters before the start of the meeting Thursday night. "Because I died. I was buried."
Many of those who attended carried cookies, pies, and brownies along with their Bibles. By the time prayers began, more than 50 cars were parked outside the home. Reporters weren't allowed inside. |
25 Conflict over NJ town name resolved - for now
By SAMANTHA HENRY, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 13, 3:56 am ET
| WOODLAND PARK, N.J. - A decades-long conflict among residents of a small New Jersey community over what their town should be called has been resolved - for now, at least.
The borough of Woodland Park - formerly known as West Paterson - sealed its new name in a referendum on Nov. 3. A final count of provisional ballots Thursday found voters chose to keep the name by a 32-vote margin.
Residents have long questioned what the place should be called and have voted on name changes five times in the past 20 years. Some see it as an endless argument over whether the association with Paterson - its gritty, inner-city neighbor - is good or bad. Others say it's just a quest for a unique identity. |
26 Famed Miss. judge faces prison for lying to FBI
By HOLBROOK MOHR, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 13, 6:25 am ET
| JACKSON, Miss. - Bobby DeLaughter made history as a young prosecutor who put away a notorious civil rights-era assassin. The case became the subject of books and a movie, and put DeLaughter on a path to becoming a Mississippi judge.
On Friday, DeLaughter will be the one standing before a judge, and the next chapter of his life most likely will be behind bars.
DeLaughter, a 55-year-old former Hinds County circuit judge, pleaded guilty in July to a federal obstruction of justice charge. He admitted that he lied to an FBI agent during a judicial corruption investigation that brought down some of the most powerful lawyers in Mississippi. |
More on the story including Trent Lott connection- Settlement reached in fraud suit against Scruggs
27 AP sources: Insurance probed in census taker death
By JEFFREY McMURRAY and DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writers
Thu Nov 12, 9:20 pm ET
| LEXINGTON, Ky. - A census taker found hanging from a tree had named his son as his life insurance beneficiary, and investigators are looking into whether the father manipulated the death scene to make a claim possible, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press Thursday.
In an interview with AP, Josh Sparkman said he found paperwork for the private life insurance policy among his father's personal files but wasn't sure of the amount or when it was taken out. He said authorities have told him nothing about the case or produced a death certificate, which is usually needed to make an insurance claim.
Two law enforcement sources, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case, said investigators are trying to determine if Bill Sparkman committed suicide but altered the scene to make it look like a homicide, allowing his son to collect. Life insurance policies typically do not cover suicides within a certain period of time after the policy starts. |
28 Genetic love matches go cheek swab to cheek swab
By MEGAN K. SCOTT, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 12, 4:02 pm ET
| NEW YORK - Looking for love? Try leaning in for a ... cheek swab.
A couple of genetic testing companies are promising to match couples based on the DNA testing, touting the benefits of biological compatibility.
The companies claim that a better biological match will mean better sex, less cheating, longer-lasting love and perhaps even healthier children. |
29 Veterans Day is a teachable moment for many US schools
By Amanda Paulson, The Christian Science Monitor
Wed Nov 11, 4:00 am ET
| Chicago - With the US in two ongoing conflicts and the recent shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, Veterans Day has taken on a new meaning for many Americans - and a renewed prominence in schools.
Around the country, many schools are using the day as an opportunity not only to honor veterans, but also to help students better understand current events and the military.
In West Virginia, thirteen schools are participating in "Take a Veteran to School Day," where veterans from conflicts ranging from World War II to Iraq come in for roundtable discussions. |
30 Obama in Asia: Setting a newly cooperative tone
By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent
7 mins ago
| TOKYO - President Barack Obama is emphasizing cooperation on his first major trip to Asia, opening with a warning to North Korea that there will be tough, unified action by the U.S. and its Asian partners if the Koreans fail to abandon their nuclear weapons programs.
The hard line on North Korea was to be a prominent theme of a Friday night speech that also was intended to more broadly showcase a United States that, under Obama's leadership, seeks deeper and more equal engagement in Asia. It was to be the fifth major foreign address of Obama's 10-month presidency, this one geared toward setting a new tone for the sometimes-rocky U.S. relationship with the world's fastest-growing region.
In the speech, to 1,500 prominent Japanese in a soaring concert hall in bustling downtown Tokyo, Obama planned to give his most extended remarks in some time on North Korea, said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser. |
31 Chinese greet 'Oba Mao' with flaming statue, fakes
By CARA ANNA, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 14 mins ago
| BEIJING - The Chinese have learned English from his speeches and celebrated the way he rolls up his sleeves. Now President Barack Obama is finally coming, and he's being greeted with "Oba Mao" T-shirts and a statue of him that bursts into flames.
Sunday's arrival of a U.S. president admired for his charisma is already a source of profit and brief fame for some Chinese.
Strangest is the burning Obama, tucked away in a Beijing warehouse. Artist Liu Bolin hopes Obama can take time from his visit to drop by. |
32 Russian policemen turn to YouTube
By MANSUR MIROVALEV, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 13, 2009 2:23PM EST
| MOSCOW - When a police officer posted a video on YouTube complaining of rampant abuse in Russian law enforcement, it seemed like a lonely voice in a sea of social media.
Since then, three more officers have come forward with their own YouTube videos making similar accusations - and others are lining up to do the same.
In a country where the rule of law is weak and most traditional media are under government control, social media sites are gaining a role as a place where fed-up citizens can broadcast their grievances. |
33 Swiss privacy watchdog to sue Google Street View
By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:23AM EST
| GENEVA - Google Inc.'s unstoppable drive to map and photograph the world has run into an immovable object - Switzerland's strict tradition of personal privacy.
The country's privacy watchdog announced Friday that he plans to haul the search engine company before a federal court to force it to make changes to its Street View application.
Google criticized the decision and said it would defend itself in the case. |
34 Diary that helped expose Stalin's famine displayed
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 13, 10:07 am ET
| LONDON - The diaries of a British reporter who risked his reputation to expose the horrors of Stalin's murderous famine in Ukraine were put on public display for the first time Friday.
Welsh journalist Gareth Jones sneaked into Ukraine in March of 1933, at the height of a famine engineered by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Millions of people starved to death between 1932 and 1933 as the Soviet secret police emptied the countryside of grain and livestock as part of a campaign to force peasants into collective farms.
Jones' reporting was one of the first attempts to bring the disaster to the world's attention. |
35 Prepaid phone ban stirs anger in Indian Kashmir
By AIJAZ HUSSAIN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 13, 2009 1:26PM EST
| SRINAGAR, India - A government ban on prepaid cell phones to prevent rebels from using them to clandestinely plan attacks has stirred resentment among Indian-controlled Kashmir's impoverished residents, who depend on prepaid connections for inexpensive communication.
The move has led to angry protests amid warnings it put thousands of jobs at risk and jeopardized peace efforts in the disputed territory between the Indian government and Muslim separatists.
Authorities believe rebels use fake documents to obtain the phone cards to evade detection and detonate bombs. The Indian government announced last month that no new cards would be issued beginning Nov. 1. |
36 Witness in Italy may hold key to Guantanamo trials
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON and COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press Writers
Fri Nov 13, 8:10 am ET
| MILAN - In a decade-long journey, the Tunisian went from drug pusher on the streets of Milan, to Islamic militant trained in Afghanistan to kill Americans, to potential key witness against Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Prosecutors say Lazhar Ben Mohamed Tlil may hold the key to prosecuting Guantanamo Bay prisoners in Italy and may be crucial to U.S. prosecutions, too.
But now he's threatening to clam up. |
37 Canada seeks not to repatriate Guantanamo inmate
By Randall Palmer, Reuters
41 mins ago
| OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian courts grossly overreached when they ordered Ottawa to ask Washington to send a Canadian held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison back to Canada, a federal lawyer argued on Friday.
The government wants the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn lower court decisions that it had to ask the Obama administration to repatriate Omar Khadr, accused of killing a U.S. soldier during a firefight in Afghanistan.
The court heard oral arguments on Friday, and Khadr's legal team asked it to give a speedy ruling. |
38 Sri Lanka general hits out before possible poll bid
By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez
Fri Nov 13, 10:33 am ET
| COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka on Friday accepted the resignation of its top general, who delivered a scathing departure letter accusing the president he may challenge at polls next year of unjustly sidelining him over unfounded coup fears.
General Sarath Fonseka, widely credited for the army's dominant role in winning a 25-year war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, stepped down on Thursday after weeks of rumors he and President Mahinda Rajapaksa had fallen out.
The main opposition United National Party and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna have united in fanning rampant speculation they will back Fonseka as a common candidate and antidote to Rajapaksa's dominating post-war popularity. |
39 Critics say justice reform made to save Berlusconi
By Philip Pullella, Reuters
Fri Nov 13, 10:27 am ET
| ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says his government's justice reform plan will benefit all Italians but critics say it is just the latest in a string of tailor-made laws to help him avoid corruption trials.
The draft law, which was presented by Berlusconi allies in the Senate on Thursday, calls for one of the most radical reforms of Italy's snail-paced justice system since the end of World War Two.
It would impose a total six-year limit on the three stages of court cases -- initial trial, first appeal and final appeal -- in a country where trials can last more than a decade. |
40 Azerbaijan condemned over jail terms for bloggers
by Emil Guliyev, AFP
Wed Nov 11, 5:26 pm ET
| BAKU (AFP) - An Azerbaijan court on Wednesday jailed two bloggers who posted a satirical Internet video of a donkey giving a press conference, in a ruling rights groups say is aimed at silencing independent media.
Adnan Hajizade, 26, and Emin Milli, 30, were found guilty of hooliganism over a scuffle at a restaurant in Baku, their lawyer, Isakhan Ashurov, told AFP. Hajizade was jailed for two years and Milli two-and-a-half years.
The bloggers, who had been in jail since their arrests in July, say they were targeted for political reasons because of their online criticism of authorities in the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic. |
41 Spy row, golf game stoke Thai-Cambodia row
by Suy Se, AFP
Fri Nov 13, 7:19 am ET
| SIEM REAP, Cambodia (AFP) - Cambodian police said Friday they had charged a Thai man with spying on fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, inflaming a major diplomatic crisis between the neighbouring countries.
The spy row blew up as Thaksin played a relaxed round of golf with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, underscoring Bangkok's powerlessness to make Phnom Penh extradite the billionaire and get him to serve a jail term for graft.
Siwarak Chothipong, 31, who works for the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, was arrested and charged Thursday with supplying the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh with details of Thaksin's flight schedule, said Cambodian police officials. |
42 Brown wants 5,000 extra foreign troops in Afghanistan
by Robin Millard, AFP
Fri Nov 13, 6:50 am ET
| LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday he was confident of persuading Afghanistan war allies to contribute to an extra 5,000 troops on top of a likely US surge.
Brown, under fire at home as the British death toll mounts, told BBC radio he was sending envoys to fellow European countries in a bid to convince them to share the burden.
The premier said he was confident that US President Barack Obama would largely accept the call from General Stanley McChrystal, who commands international forces in Afghanistan, for tens of thousands more US troops. |
43 How miracle Army evacuation came within inches of disaster
By Jay Price, McClatchy Newspapers
Thu Nov 12, 6:16 pm ET
| KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - As Chief Warrant Officer 3 James Woolley eased the giant Chinook down into the mud-walled compound, Special Forces troops on the ground dashed to form a perimeter to protect the helicopter, a prize target for Taliban insurgents.
The landing zone in the western Afghan province of Badghis wasn't under fire when U.S. Special Forces called for help to evacuate five wounded U.S. soldiers. But seconds after the Chinook, call sign Flipper 76, touched down, generating its trademark cloud of khaki-colored dust, the attack began.
Woolley, of Sanford, N.C. , and the other pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Slover, of Hope Mills, N.C. , noticed a puff of smoke maybe 175 yards away up a slope and the chopper, immediately lurched like a car hit in a fender-bender. |
44 The other Afghan war: Fight erupts over media leaks
By Jonathan S. Landay, Dion Nissenbaum and John Walcott, McClatchy Newspapers
Thu Nov 12, 8:39 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - The Obama administration's internal debate over Afghan policy has escalated into a battle of media leaks that's straining relations between officials who're seeking a major troop increase and those who want a more limited approach and a greater focus on domestic priorities.
The feud also has poisoned ties between the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan and the U.S. ambassador in Kabul , and left the administration struggling for leverage to press Afghan President Hamid Karzai to appoint untainted officials to his new government, attack corruption and share power with the parliament and provincial officials.
The battle in the media prompted normally mild-mannered Defense Secretary Robert Gates to lash out at leakers Thursday, telling reporters on a flight to Oshkosh, Wis. , that the disclosures do "not serve the country or . . . the military," and "everyone should just shut up." |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
45 U.S. arrests and charges two Madoff programmers
By Grant McCool, Reuters
1 hr 2 mins ago
| NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two computer programmers designed codes to falsify thousands of fake trade blotters and phantom records for swindler Bernard Madoff and took hush money to help keep the massive fraud going, U.S. authorities said.
The FBI arrested Jerome O'Hara, 46, and George Perez, 43, at their homes on Friday morning on criminal charges of conspiracy for falsifying books and records at both the broker-dealer and investment arms of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) in New York.
"The computer codes and random algorithms they allegedly designed served to deceive investors and regulators and concealed Madoff's crimes," said federal prosecutor Preet Bharara. "They have been charged for their roles in Madoff's epic fraud, and the investigation remains ongoing." |
46 Farmers scramble to finish harvest from hell
By Julie Ingwersen, Reuters
2 hrs 23 mins ago
| MARENGO, Illinois (Reuters) - Brothers Steve and Ron Pierce spent most of an hour in a chilly northern Illinois field last week clearing a clog of soybean chaff from the guts of their combine, using a mix of tools and their bare hands.
"The beans get tough when they pick up moisture," Steve Pierce said.
The clog had idled the $260,000 harvester, another delay in what has been the harvest from hell across the U.S. Midwest corn and soybean belt. |
47 Democrats Worry Joe Lieberman Could Sink Health Care
By JAY NEWTON-SMALL / WASHINGTON, Time Magazine
Fri Nov 13, 5:30 am ET
| Senate Democrats are used to the lashing their Republican colleagues dish out every week on the Sunday-morning political shows, but lately their biggest headache has been one of their own. And while they would dearly love to fire back at Joe Lieberman of Connecticut after his almost weekly bomb-throwings, there is little they can do but bite the insides of their cheeks and bear it. |
48 Health Care: Why Small Business Is Opposing Reform Bills
By KATE PICKERT, Time Magazine
Fri Nov 13, 8:45 am ET
| When it comes to finding quality, affordable health insurance, few have it worse than small-business owners and their workers shopping for coverage on the open market. They are charged the most per person, have the least amount of choice and, as a result, are some of the most likely to be uninsured. |
|
Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
