Petraeus: NATO Pressure Forcing Taliban to Seek Peace

The leader of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan says alliance progress in recent months has congested Taliban advances in most of the country, and is put force on even senior leaders of the group to seek a peace deal with the Afghan administration.

Universal Petraeus has spoken of progress in specific parts of Afghanistan previous to, but now he says that in the last three-to-six months Afghan troops and his international forces have changed the situation in most of the country.

"I think the Taliban momentum has, as I noted earlier, been overturned in many areas and definitely under arrest in the bulk of the country," said Petraeus. "I wouldn't say all parts.

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US 'horrified' by Somali girls' execution

The United States on Friday uttered dismay at the executions of two girls by Somalia's Shebab, saying it show the Al-Qaeda-inspired group's ignore for the nation's people.

Witness said that a Shebab firing squad on Wednesday shot dead two teen girls accused of spying in front of hundreds of residents in the central town of Beledweyne.

"We are appalled by news of the execution," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said, reproachful the killings "in the strongest potential terms."

"This makes clear that al-Qaeda Shebab continues to deprive the Somali people of defense, peace and stability," Crowley told reporters.


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Iran agrees to new nuclear talks

For the first time in additional than a year, Iran has agreed to talks with earth powers over its nuclear power agenda.

European Union foreign rule chief Catherine Ashton told reporters in Brussels on Friday that she received an affirmative reply from Iranian nuclear negotiator Said Jalili to a standing invite to talks sometime after Nov. 10 "in a place and on a date suitable to both sides," according to news agencies.

Ashton describe the letter as "a significant move" and said diplomats were now attempt to pinpoint a place and time for negotiations on ways to decide the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at producing arsenal and Iran says is solely for civilian purpose.

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Africa too on India-US radar

India and the US are coming jointly to help Africa and a declaration of this intent is predictable during President Barak Obama's visit. Although the African initiative comes under the India-US agricultural cooperation, the teamwork is being firmed up at a time when the Chinese are miles ahead in Making their impression felt in Africa.

The India-US initiative comes soon after India and Japan formally setting in place a "dialogue" for Africa to synchronise their strategies in the continent.

Ben Rhodes, US second-in-command national security advisor for strategic communication, had said, "This is a chance to talk about that partnership, and also it’s possible to service our broader food security plan in places like Africa, as well as continuing to go forward our bilateral cooperation with India."

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Obama campaigning quietly from the White House

Girding for the campaign's homestretch, President Barack Obama is silently using the powers of his workplace to fire up a reeling Democratic Party.

Although Obama is off the campaign trail for three full days this week, he's for myself targeting key Democratic constituencies from the White House, holding meeting calls with union activist and campaign volunteers, and doing interviews with radio stations that sketch largely black audience. Many of these campaign events for the midterm election are not exposed by the White House.

on top of Wednesday, Obama will tape an manifestation on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," an irreverent comedy be evidence for with a host who aims for younger audiences and has turn into a prominent voice in today's politics.

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Republicans, heading for big gains, ready agenda

Republican leaders, ever more sure of their odds of winning control of the House and maybe even the Senate, have begun plotting a 2011 program top by a push for more than $100 billion in expenditure cuts, tax reductions and attempt to undo key parts of President Barack Obama's health care and financial rule laws.

The inquiry is how much of the GOP's government-shrinking, tax-cutting program to advance, and how fast.

It's definite that Republicans want to capitalize quickly on tea party-fueled antagonism and the subversive fervor that they suppose will provide momentum to accomplish an campaigner to-do list. It's equally clear, however, that the great prospect of a fed-up electorate and a crop of unruly newcomers could cause difficulties the plans. So could Obama and associate Democrats who will still be around after Tuesday's elections.

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Spiritualist guardian of Indonesian volcano among those killed

INDONESIAN establishment are scrambling to deal with two lethal events after a tsunami and volcanic eruptions struck two region of the archipelago.

Rescue workers and fishermen searched for survivors in waters west of Sumatra after a influential earthquake and resulting tsunami killed at least 154 populace and left 400 missing on Monday. Thousands additional were left homeless.

Concerning 1200 kilometres to the east, on the island of Java, thousands of villagers fled eruption of Indonesia's most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, after it begin spewing hot ash on Tuesday. Twenty-nine people have died, and at least 15 were injured, a number of with severe burns.

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Israeli Arabs’ anger erupts in clashes

The mounting annoyance of Israel’s Arab minority erupted into aggression when a group of far-right Jewish activists march into the country’s second-largest Arab town, infuriating clashes between local protester and security forces.

Hundreds of police were deploy in Umm al-Fahm on Wednesday to accompany the few dozen rightwing demonstrators, who were granted consent to stage their rally by the High Court this year. Cream of the crop of the Israeli Arab group of people denounced the march both as a aggravation and as a symptom of a broader rise in anti-Arab feeling under the rightwing government.

The clash began after local youths threw shingle at the police, who respond by firing round of tear gas and stun missiles

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Black mourning of octopus Paul

Gabi Barke, employee of Sea Life aquarium, attaches a black mourning sash in front of a picture of octopus oracle Paul at the front of the building in the northern German city of Oberhausen on October 26, 2010. Paul the octopus, who shot to fame during this year's football World Cup in South Africa for his flawless record in predicting game outcomes, has died, his aquarium in Germany said on October 26, 2010. AFP PHOTO

Pakistan Arrest Shows New Terror Ties

The staffing of a teenage supposed terrorist in this teeming port city reveal the growing collaboration and spread of the web of radical groups in the region.

On Monday, 14-year-old Mohammad Salaam and two supposed members of the Pakistan Taliban, an radical group locked in a two-year-old war with the Pakistani state, were under arrest by police as they supposedly ready a suicide attack.

Mr. Salaam remains in confinement, but hasn't been exciting. Police said he will be on the loose because he is a minor.

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The trail of torture that leads to Iraq

What's the disparity between acts of oversight and of commission in the case of US establishment in Iraq We now recognize that hundreds of reports of torture, rape and kill were unnoticed by US officers.

US troops stood by as abuses were behavior in full view: they were obeying orders, in this case order Frago 242 – what the Guardian calls "a licence to afflict". This will not shock those who have examined the pattern of assassinations, abductions and "disappearance" in Iraq following the attack of 2003.

Thousands of people were victims of attacks brought to the concentration of US authorities, which refused to investigate. During 2004 the US state department describes the reports as "obscure" and took no achievement.

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Indonesia tsunami kills 113; scores more missing

Savior battled rough seas Tuesday to reach distant Indonesian islands crushed by a 10-foot (three-meter) tsunami that sweep away homes, killing at least 113 people. Achieves more were missing and in order was only beginning to trickle in from the thinly populated surfing purpose, so casualties were predictable to rise.

By means of few able to get to the islands to help with searches, fisherman was left to find the dead and look for the living. Corpses were strewn concerning since there were not sufficient people to dig graves, according to the Mentawai region chief, Edison Salelo Baja. More than 4,000 people predictable to spend the night without shelter since tents and other supplies had also not arrived.

The responsibility that ruptured Monday on Indonesia Sumatra Island’s coast also reasoned the 2004 quake and monster Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

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'Chiclone' snaps trees, power lines across Midwest

A storm drawing distinctions to a storm muscled across the Midwest on Tuesday, breaking trees and power lines, waiting flights at one of nation's busiest airports and drenched commuters who slogged to work under wrinkled umbrellas.

The storm — rapidly nicknamed a "chiclone" and "windpocalypse" — swept an area that prolonged from the Dakotas to the eastern Great Lakes. Severe thunderstorm warnings blanket much of the Midwest and tornado watches were issue from Arkansas to Ohio. Flights were belated at O'Hare International Airport, a major hub for American and United airlines.

continuous winds of 35 to 40 mph and gusts up to 60 mph were anticipated during the afternoon, the National Weather Service said.

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The Afghan Insurgent Group That Will Not Negotiate

The fresh clamoring over Afghan insurgents' choice to engage in "talks" with the Afghan government has obscured some rather imperative distinctions between who is talking and what the forecast are for those talks.

Two of Afghanistan's most famous insurgent groups, the Quetta Shura Taliban and the Haqqani network are both said to be participate in these "talks."

Other than the two groups are quite distinct, with diverse objectives, ideological sentiments and partnerships with radical Islamic terrorists. These distinctions make any likely deal with the Haqqanis a particularly dubious proposal.

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Karzai says his office gets cash from Iran, US

Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged on Monday that he receive millions of dollars in cash from Iran, adding up that Washington gives him "bags of money" too since his office lacks funds.

U.S. officials said the money graceful from Tehran was further evidence that Iran is playing a double game in Afghanistan — wooing the government while serving Taliban insurgents who are fighting U.S. and NATO armed forces.

The United States has itself used money as a weapon in the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq — from local development projects to win public hold up, to salaries for Iraqi insurgent who switched sides, to cash payoffs to influential society leaders willing to back the U.S. and its allies.

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Fed boss: Regulators looking into foreclosure mess

Federal banking regulator are examining whether advance companies cut corners on their own procedures when they moved to exclude on people's homes, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday.

Beginning results of the in-depth appraisal into the practices of the nation's largest mortgage companies are expected to be at large next month, Bernanke said in remarks to a housing-finance discussion in Arlington, Va.

"We are looking intensively at the firms' policies, events and internal controls related to foreclosures and seeking to determine whether systematic weaknesses are leading to shocking foreclosures," Washington: Bernanke said. "We take contravention of proper procedures very critically," he added.

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Dark clouds for Dems as Obama embarks on last push

President Barack Obama plunge into a final week of midterm ballot vote campaigning Monday, his party's prognosis darkened by a delicate economy and his itinerary stitched mutually to minimize losses to resurgent Republicans.

Nor was his salutation likely to lift his spirits in Rhode Island anywhere Obama has pointedly turn down to endorse his party's contender for governor.

Obama can "take his backing and shove it," declared Democrat Frank Caprio, battling Republican-turned-independent Lincoln Chafee in a gubernatorial race rated tight in the polls. Chafee certified the president during the 2008 crusade for the White House.

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Rooney broke his silence by claiming his move was not motivated by money

(FILES) A file photo taken on August 28, 2010, shows Manchester United's English striker Wayne Rooney in action during their English Premier League football match between against West Ham United at Old Trafford, Manchester, north-west England. Rooney confirmed he wants to leave Manchester United Wednesday, October 21, 2010, saying he had decided to quit Old Trafford because the club could no longer attract top players. One day after Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson revealed Rooney had vowed not to sign a new contract, the 24-year-old superstar broke his silence by claiming his move was not motivated by money. AFP PHOTO

Slam dunk snapshot

Toronto Raptors' Amir Johnson (top) celebrates his slam dunk over New York Knicks' Anthony Randolph during the first half of NBA pre-season action in Montreal, October 22, 2010. REUTERS/Shaun Best

Rey Pele

Brazilian forward Pele shows the Jules Rimet Cup to fans, as he parades down the Champs-Elysees 30 March 1971 in Paris. Brazil's top football star "Rey Pele", always remembered by football fans and the media for his outstanding career, will be 70 years next October 22. AFP PHOTO

Mystery giver leaves $10,000 in WTC donation box

A nameless sponsor in New York City stuffed $10,000 in cash into a 9/11 contribution box at the World Trade Center.

Joe Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, tells the New York position that officials establish 99 $100 bills and five 20s in the box on Tuesday night.

The box hang on a wall at the 9/11 memorial appetizer site.

Memorial officials consider the money was slipped into the box a short time between 5 p.m. — when the box was last checked — and 7 p.m., when the appetizer site closed.

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Strong quake hits off Mexico's Baja California

A powerful magnitude 6.9 quake in Mexico's Baja California on Thursday, rattle towns on both sides of the thin sea but there were no reports of major injure or injuries.

The earth quake shake buildings in the tourist option of La Paz on the Baja California peninsula, well-known for its whale watching, as well as along the shoreline of the state of Sinaloa.

"It was terrible, very strong. We were in the town hall and the top started creaking so we all ran out," said Mayola Gutierrez, an supporter to the mayor of Ahome in Sinaloa, who said minor harm was done to the front wall of the building.

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France in turmoil as nationwide strike over pension reform stretches on

World News: Unions swear that their striking workers would keep troublesome rail and road transportation. Teenagers demonstration through the streets and vowed to go on boycotting their schools.

The government, trying to come into view unfazed, urged Parliament to ignore the chaos and pace up the vote on a bitterly contested retirement fund reform.

France lingered stuck Thursday in what has become a main test of President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative presidency - the turmoil reason by a nationwide strike and protest movement that has maintained its drive well into a second month.

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Dutch left Australian soldiers for dead in Afghanistan

AUSTRALIAN Special Forces crowds were left for deceased by two Dutch attack helicopters through a deadly ambush in Afghanistan.

When the smoke empty, one American was dead and seven SAS soldiers and two sappers lay badly injured.

A shared Australian, American and Afghan perambulation was under waylaid from up to 150 enemy fighters when the two assault choppers arrived at a nearby American base.

As the troops were pulverized by enemy mortar, small arms and rocket-propelled shells near the village of Khaz Oruzgan, they thought salvation had at home in the form of the Apache helicopters.

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Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival

Shaolin martial arts students attend a rehearsal for the Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival at Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, Henan province October 20, 2010. The festival kicks off on Friday. Picture taken October 20, 2010. REUTERS/Donald Chan (CHINA - Tags: SOCIETY IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Civilians killed in Afghan terrorist attacks

Ten people were killed on Wednesday in a terrorist assault in southwestern Afghanistan.

According to a police source, a man-made likely to explode device planted near the road in the Nimruz prefecture, exploded when a car carrying more than a few civilians was passing by.

Two people - a man and his eight-year-old daughter - became wounded of a similar assault in the neighboring Ghazni region, while another three people were killed in a car blast in one of the northwestern province.

According to UN estimates, the Afghan civilian death toll reaches 1,200 in the first half of this year only.

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U.S. Plans Increased Military Aid for Pakistan

The Obama administration is planning to ramp up military hold up to the Pakistani army as part of an effort to influence Islamabad to do far additional to war Islamic militants.

Top U.S. policy makers, who will meet with their Pakistani counterpart in Washington this week, say they hesitation Islamabad will agree in the close to term to mount a major army campaign against al Qaeda-linked militants in their biggest sanctuary bordering Afghanistan, officials say.

In its place, American officials are approaching Pakistan to agree to interim steps to increase force on the militant groups, such as by carrying out more under attack operations using U.S.-trained special operations units, according to officials close to the discussions.

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Astronomers say they've found oldest galaxy so far

Astronomers think they've found the oldest thing they've ever seen in the cosmos: It's a galaxy far, far absent from a time long, long ago.

Buried in a Hubble Space Telescope photo released former this year is a small smudge of light that European astronomers now calculate is a galaxy from 13.1 billion years ago. That's a time when the world was very young, just shy of 600 million years old. That would make it the initial and most distant galaxy see so far.

Through now the galaxy is so ancient it probably doesn't exist in its previous form and has already complex into bigger neighbors, said WASHINGTON Matthew Lehnert of the Paris Observatory, lead author of the study in print online Wednesday in the journal Nature.

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Gov't seeks stay of 'Don't ask, don't tell' ruling

The Obama management on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court to right away suspend a judge's ruling that upturned the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays.

The management says it wants the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco to take action on Wednesday. The federal administration is preparing influence for the appeal court on why the ruling on "don't ask, don't tell" should be balanced while the case is appealed.

The Obama administration says it is in favor of repealing the law. Though, the government says that letting the ruling of U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips to go onward immediately would be a major problem for the military.

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Military recruiters told to accept gay applicants

The Defense Department said Tuesday that it is tolerant openly gay workers, but is warning applicants they might not be allowable to stick around for long.

Subsequent last week's court ruling that struck down a 1993 law banning gays from portion openly, the military has suspended enforcement of the rule known as "don't ask, don't tell." The Justice Department is appealing the choice and has asked the courts for a temporary stay on the ruling.

The Defense Department said it would fulfill with the law and had frozen any set free cases. But at least one case was reported of a man being twisted away from an Army recruiting office in Austin, Texas.

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Pentagon sends 2nd carrier to help Afghan surge

The Pentagon has sent a next aircraft carrier to support the troop increase in Afghanistan.

The Navy says the USS Abraham Lincoln and the guided missile cruiser USS Cape St. George arrived in the area over the weekend. The Lincoln brings an airwing that can send an extra 60 aircraft into the war — adding to aircraft by now there and flying from the transporter the USS Harry S. Truman.

A report from the 5th Fleet in Bahrain says Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved the sending of the second carrier to help partnership forces in Afghanistan and hold maritime security operations.

The fleet's area of accountability includes the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and areas off of the Horn of Africa where a number of nations help on anti-piracy operations.

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Compromise on Capitol Hill: Is it really what Americans want?

The majority Americans say they want members of Congress to forge compromises to resolve the nation's problems, yet many are turning to candidate in this tumultuous election season who is sneering of compromise.

Through a large margin, 57 percent to 37 percent, Americans survey in the latest ABC News/Yahoo! News poll say they would quite that political leaders work across party lines, even if it means "compromising on important issues." It's a feeling heard often across the country — and one that played a dangerous role in helping Barack Obama win the presidential election.

Yet electorate has given the president little credit for the efforts he's made to cut deals with Republicans. At the same time, conformist candidates who are campaigning on the need for more ideological transparency are enjoying the hold up of angry voters who are expected to turn out Nov. 2 in large numbers.

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We won't abandon Afghans: Julia Gillard

JULIA Gillard has affirmed Australians could linger in Afghanistan for at least a decade, vow not to dump the war-torn country to terrorists and chaos.

In a significant parliamentary debate yesterday, the Prime Minister predict more Australian wounded and "hard days ahead" and warned it could take Afghans a age group to entrench their nation as a fully useful state.

Ms Gillard championed Australia's pledge with the full hold of Tony Abbott, who insist withdrawal was impossible and would make Australia look like a "fair-weather friend" to its allies.

As the Greens question Australia's continuing participation, both major party leaders made clear there was no possibility that Australia would withdraw from the war effort.

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Bank of America starts thaw in foreclosure freeze

The speed of U.S. home foreclosures may not slow a large amount after all. Bank of America said Monday that it plans to begin again seizing more than 100,000 homes in 23 states next week.

It said it has a legal right to foreclose notwithstanding accusation that documents used in the method were flawed. It's not yet clear if other chief leaders will follow suit and resume foreclosures in the states that require a judge's support.

But the move by the nation's major bank could give way to an industry-wide effort to push ahead with a wave of foreclosures that have miserable the housing market.

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NATO official: Bin Laden living comfortably in Pakistan

Osama bin Laden is living comfortably in northwest Pakistan, secluded by local tribes people and some members of the country's cleverness service, a NATO official has told CNN. The news undercuts the U.S. government's description of the al-Qaida leader as on the run, one terror professional tells The Upshot.

U.S. brainpower officials have long alleged that bin Laden is living in the remote tribal region of northwest Pakistan. But at times, the government has also claim that the al-Qaida leader has had to move often from one safehouse to another, impair his ability to plot attacks.

The NATO official's commentary undermine that claim, Michael Scheuer, a former particular adviser to the chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit, told The consequence.

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Trial begins in death of DC intern Chandra Levy

Jury selection began Monday in the murder trial of a man accuse of killing federal intern Chandra Levy nearly a decade ago, a case that derail a California congressman's career and generated headlines approximately the world.

Ingmar Guandique, 29, is charged with murder, kidnapping, attempt sexual stabbing and other counts. Establishment says he attacked Levy while she was jogging alone in Rock Creek Park in May 2001.

Levy's vanishing — her body was not exposed until more than a year after she went missing — caused a national sensation when she was romantically linked to then-Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif. Authorities once careful Condit a prime believe but no longer believe he had no matter which to do with her death.

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4 men are convicted in NY synagogue-bombing plot

Four men snared last year in an FBI sting were convict Monday of intrigues to blow up New York City synagogues and shoot down military planes with the help of a paid informant who persuaded them he was a terror operative.

The smart never put New Yorkers at risk. But the defendants "thought this was real — real bombs, real missiles — every step of the way," supporter U.S. Attorney David Raskin said during closing influence.

A jury in central court in Manhattan deliberated eight days before finding alleged mastermind James Cromitie and three co-defendants guilty of charges including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles to kill U.S. officers and employees.

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Pak terrorist infiltrates into US to 'target' Times Square

New cleverness has indicate that the Pakistani Taliban, which orchestrate the failed Times Square bombing, may have productively placed another operative inside the United States to launch a second assault in the ''Target Number One'' country for terrorists, sources revealed.

While senior US officials are troubled over recent intelligence, authorities, though, know very little about the likely operative or any possible plot, 'Fox News' reported.

"(We) don't be acquainted with who it is and don't know where it is," one foundation said. "We know the guy's here, but don't know no matter which about him."

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Feds oppose Calif. Prop 19 to legalize marijuana

Attorney General Eric Holder says the centralized government will enforce its marijuana laws in California even if electorate next month makes the state the first in the nation to make lawful the drug.

The fairness Department strongly opposes California's proposal 19 and remains firmly loyal to enforcing the federal Controlled substance Act in all states, Holder wrote in a letter to former chiefs of the U.S. Drug Enforcement government. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter, dated Wednesday.

"We will energetically enforce the CSA against those individuals and organization that possess, produce or distribute marijuana for leisure use, even if such activities are permitted under state law," Holder wrote.

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Soldier charged in killings won't face death

The Army says it will not follow the death penalty against the first of five U.S. soldiers electric with murder civilians in Afghanistan.

Spc. Jeremy Morlock, of Wasilla, Alaska, is the only one of the defendants therefore far to have a preliminary inquiry in the deaths of the three Afghans this year.

An investigate officer found that enough verification existed for the case to proceed to a court martial, and the Army announce Friday that a court military will be held and that Morlock will face a maximum of life in prison if convict.

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Israel provokes Palestinians and US by going ahead with new settlements

Israel aggravated both the US and the Palestinians today by announce plans to build 238 new accommodation units in East Jerusalem, a move that throw into doubt previously fragile peace negotiations.

Magazine of the housing plans comes at a time when deliberations between the Israelis and Palestinians being brokered by the US are stalled.

The Palestinians today accused the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, of putting settlements before peace. A senior US management official, respond to media information of the new house plan, said: "We saw that story as well and we are working to verify that it occurred."

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Will Obama Seek Appeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Ruling?

Gay-rights advocate are cheering Tuesday's decision by a centralized judge in traditional Riverside, Calif., to order an instant end to the military's favoritism against gay service men and women.

The Justice Department has not yet said whether it will petition the order, which applies to the U.S.

Military worldwide, but already many factions are calling on President Obama to let the ruling stand. Once again, the President finds himself outflanked by activists, this time the Republican gay-rights activists who sued to stop the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and who keep winning in federal court even as Obama struggles to keep his promise to end favoritism against gays.

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