Wallace

"Here he was, being sworn in again as mayor of one of northern Mexico's most exclusive communities, and he had wonderful news to share: ''Black Saldana, who apparently is the one who was asking for my head, was found dead today in Mexico City,'' he told his cheering supporters Saturday in San Pedro Garza Garcia, near Monterrey. The problem was that the barefoot, blindfolded corpse of ''Black Saldana'' -- whose real first name is Hector -- wasn't found for another 3 1/2 hours, according to Mexico City prosecutors. And he wouldn't be identified for two days." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

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"UN inspectors have arrived in Iran where they are due to visit a previously secret nuclear facility. The plant is near the city of Qom and the UN officials are expected to remain in the country for three days. The visit comes as further difficulties are experienced by the major powers trying to agree a deal with Iran over its nuclear programme. Under a new proposed plan, Iran would send its enriched uranium away to be turned into fuel. The inspection will be the first time monitors from the United Nation's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), have been allowed access to the enrichment plant. BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne says Iran announced the existence of the new facility last month, apparently because Western intelligence had already discovered it. Our correspondent says that Iran would have had plenty of time to remove anything that might be incriminating ahead of the inspectors' visit." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

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"October 23, 2009 In the ongoing health care overhaul drama, the Obama administration and the health insurance industry have gone from uneasy allies to bitter adversaries. One result is that health insurers stand to lose a privilege their industry has enjoyed for the past 64 years: They, like Major League Baseball, have been exempt from federal antitrust laws. Congressional Democrats are now pushing to strip the health insurance industry of that exemption. Things turned ugly earlier this month after the health insurance industry rejected the health care makeover it once supported. President Obama dedicated his most recent weekly address almost entirely to blasting those insurers; he accused them of skimming big profits off ever-escalating premiums. "They're earning these profits and bonuses while enjoying a privileged exception from our antitrust laws, a matter that Congress is rightfully reviewing," the president said." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

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"Taliban militants are engaged in street fighting with Pakistani soldiers as the army tries to break the militants' grip on South Waziristan. Both sides claim to have suffered few casualties but residents in the remote area say dozens have died. The army, on the second day of its offensive, is reported to be facing battle-hardened militants, supported by Uzbek fighters linked to al-Qaeda. At least 20,000 people have fled the area over the last week. Reports from the region are sketchy as it is difficult and dangerous for foreign or Pakistani journalists to operate inside South Waziristan" - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"TEHRAN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least two senior commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the country's southeast Sunday during an attack in which 60 people died or were wounded, Iranian media reported. State television suggested that a Sunni rebel group called Jundollah (God's soldiers) -- linked by some analysts to the Taliban -- was the likely suspect for the most severe attack on the Revolutionary Guards in recent years" - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than 3,000 U.S. troops scheduled to deploy to Iraq won't go after all, as the military tries to draw down troop levels in the war-torn country, a Pentagon spokesman said Saturday. U.S. troops speak to an Iraqi child in Baghdad on Monday. 1 of 2 The 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division will not replace a North Carolina National Guard unit already in Iraq, Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh told CNN. The 3,500-troop combat team, based in Fort Drum, New York, was to leave in January, he said. "[The cancellation] reflects a thorough assessment of the security environment in Iraq and continued improvement in the ability of the Iraqi security forces to safeguard Iraqi citizens and institutions," Butterbaugh said." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"For Pakistan's much-maligned security forces, this offensive in South Waziristan is a chance to prove to the world how committed they are in the battle against militancy. "There are bombs going off everywhere - you must tell the world what is happening," Sher Gul, a terrified resident of Tiarza in South Waziristan told the BBC after arriving in Dera Ismail Khan." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"Two million people fled the Swat Valley during this summer's offensive against the Taliban. Now a new exodus is expected as the government prepares to step up its fight against the extremists. Thousands of people have already left their homes and after Thursday's multiple terror attacks, the expectation is that the military will soon move in." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"Billionaire hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and executives from some of the most prestigious U.S. companies were charged on Friday with the largest hedge fund insider-trading scheme ever. Investigators said they used court-approved telephone wire taps for the first time in a Wall Street insider trading case, sending shivers through the hedge fund industry which has traditionally picked up and shared trading tips to make big profits." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"TEGUCIGALPA – Representatives of ousted Honduran President Mel Zelaya and the de facto regime led by Roberto Micheletti reached agreement Wednesday on the draft of an accord to restore the elected head of state to office. “We have managed to achieve a consensus on a unified text that will be submitted to the discussion and analysis of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales and Mr. Roberto Micheletti,” a member of the deposed leader’s Cabinet, Victor Meza, told reporters outside the Tegucigalpa hotel hosting the talks." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

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"PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani aircraft bombed militants in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border Tuesday as government forces prepare for a ground offensive against the militant hub, security officials said. The government says most attacks in the country -- including four big ones over the past week that killed more than 100 people -- are plotted in South Waziristan, the main bastion of al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban and their allies. "There's been a heavy bombardment. They targeted some militant hideouts as well as pro-Taliban tribal elders," said an intelligence agency official in the region, who declined to be identified. Two ethnic Pashtun tribal elders were said to have been killed, he said." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"NEW YORK (CNN) -- A man accused of playing a role in the 1968 hijacking of a Pan Am flight from New York to Puerto Rico was captured Sunday, federal officials said. Luis Armando Pena Soltren surrendered to federal authorities at New York's JFK International Airport. Luis Armando Pena Soltren, 66, surrendered to federal authorities at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport after exiting a flight from Havana, Cuba, officials said. It's the same airport from which Pan Am Flight 281 took off more than 40 years ago." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"ISTANBUL — A multinational air force exercise that was supposed to take place in Turkey has been postponed indefinitely after the Turks asked Israel not to participate, officials said Sunday, in a sign of the strained relations between the two allies. The 11-day exercise, which takes place every few years, was supposed to start on Monday. A statement on the Turkish military’s Web site said that the exercise would take place on a national level, but that international participation had been canceled after “international negotiations conducted by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.” Military officials declined to elaborate. A Foreign Ministry official, who requested anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter, said the international exercise was postponed for technical, not political, reasons. But another government official, who also spoke anonymously, said, “We can say that Turkey has reservations against the participation of Israel.”" - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"(CNN) -- Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday defended a controversial decision to defer action on a United Nations report accusing Israel and Hamas of war crimes. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas says the report didn't get the "number of voices that we needed." Abbas said the draft resolution backing the so-called Goldstone report "did not gather the number of voices that we needed. We did not want this draft resolution to be turned into a number like all the other resolutions regarding Palestine that are still unimplemented." The report, written by South African Richard Goldstone who headed the U.N. investigation into the conflict, was particularly critical of Israel. Abbas has been the target of Palestinian anger after the decision to shelve action on the report, effectively halting any possible action against Israel -- or Hamas -- for six months." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that international powers would not wait forever for Iran to prove it was not developing nuclear bombs. British foreign minister David Miliband, whom Clinton met in London, said Iran would never have a better opportunity to establish normal ties with the rest of the world but that it had to start behaving like a "normal country."" - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Hundreds of federal police officers seized control of a company that supplies power to four central states and the capital, Mexican state media reported Sunday. Police erect a barrier outside the offices of Luz y Fuerza del Centro in Mexico City. The federal government cited high operation costs and losses, and labor liabilities, as reasons for the takeover. The utility had been ensnared in a labor dispute between federal officials and a union representing employees of the company, Luz y Fuerza del Centro. The official federal journal, El Primer Minuto Domingo, announced the takeover after 500 police officers seized the company's facilities in Mexico City, and the states of Hidalgo, Mexico, Morelos and Puebla. Early this month, members of the Mexican Electricians Union demonstrated outside the president's residence to demand recognition of their leader, according to the journal. On Monday, the government refused to recognize Martin Esparza, alleging a... more... - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"LONDON — The United States is confident Pakistan has control over its nuclear arsenal despite an "increasing" militant threat to Islamabad's authority, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday. "We have confidence in the Pakistani government and military's control over nuclear weapons," said Clinton, speaking at a press conference with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. She said the militant attack at the weekend of the Pakistani military headquarters in Rawalpindi was another reminder that the extremists were "increasingly threatening the authority of the state" of Pakistan. "But we see no evidence that they are going to take over the state," she said, referring to the militants. Miliband made a similar point. "There's no evidence that's been shown publicly or privately of any threat to the Pakistani nuclear facilities," he told reporters following talks between the two top diplomats. Analysts said an audacious siege at Pakistan's army headquarters was deeply... more... - Wallace from Bookmarklet

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"Pakistani commandos raided a building inside army headquarters early Sunday and freed 22 people held hostage for more than 18 hours by Islamist militants, a military spokesman said. Three captives and four militants were killed in the operation. Explosions and gunshots rang out as commandos moved into a building in the complex just before dawn, while a helicopter hovered in the sky. Three ambulances were seen driving out of the heavily fortified base close to the capital, Islamabad. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said "mopping up" operations were still under way, but it appeared the crisis was nearing its end." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Suspected militants dressed in army uniforms attacked Pakistan's army headquarters on Saturday, killing four guards and triggering a battle in which four gunmen were killed, military officials said. The brazen attack on the tightly guarded headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi came as the army prepares a major offensive against Pakistani Taliban militants in their northwestern stronghold on the Afghan border." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish President Lech Kaczynski signed the European Union's reform treaty into law on Saturday, leaving the Czech Republic as the only country still to ratify the document." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

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"TEHRAN, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- The reported disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Saudi Arabia follows a series of apparent defections and mysterious deaths involving important Iranian figures in recent years that suggest the involvement of U.S. and Israeli intelligence services. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki accused the United States Wednesday of complicity in the disappearance of Shahram Amiri. He vanished in June during a pilgrimage to Mecca, birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed and the most sacred site in the Muslim faith. Amiri reportedly worked at Malek Ashtar University in Tehran, identified by the United Nations as a nuclear research facility. It is believed to be linked to the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Tehran regime's Praetorian Guard, which controls Iran's nuclear program. Various reports in the Iranian media say Amiri was kidnapped while in Saudi Arabia or defected." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"DAMASCUS, SYRIA - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia arrived here Wednesday to mend fences with Syria and strengthen regional cooperation in a move that some hope could advance President Barack Obama's Middle East peace plans. The two day visit by the king – his first since he took power in 2005 – will focus on unrest in Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, where political rivals backed by the two countries are wrangling over power. The Saudi monarch and close US ally is also seeking to nudge Syrian President Bashar al-Assad out of Iran's diplomatic orbit toward closer cooperation with fellow Arab states. The visit is the latest sign of a thaw in relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia, which went into deep freeze after the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Mr. Hariri was a close friend of the king's family, and Saudi Arabia and many others believe that Syria ordered his murder, a charge Damascus has denied. "The trip is very significant, given the... more... - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"October 7, 2009 Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday that the United States may have had a role in the disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, state TV reported. Scientist Shahram Amiri vanished during a pilgrimage to the Saudi kingdom in late May, Iranian authorities have said. Relatives quoted in Iranian media have said Amiri researches medical uses of nuclear technology at a Tehran university. His disapperance came months before the revelation of a second uranium enrichment facility that Iran has been building near the city of Qom, raising speculation that Amiri may have given the West information on it or other parts of the nuclear program. Relatives said Amiri was not involved in the broader nuclear program beyond his research." - Wallace from Bookmarklet

"TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Israel's leaders are circling the wagons against international efforts to arrest them abroad on war crimes charges. The deputy prime minister, Gen. Moshe "Boogie" Yaalon, a former military chief of staff, this week canceled a fundraising visit to London for fear he might be arrested for the assassination of Hamas military chief Salah Shehahdeh in July 2002. Shehahdeh was killed when the air force dropped a 2,200-pound bomb on his apartment block in Gaza City, along with 14 other people, including his wife and nine children. Yaalon, a former commander of the Israeli army's elite Sayaret Matkal special forces unit, was forced to call off an earlier visit to London in September 2005 after Palestinian groups sought warrants for his arrest for the Shehahdeh killings." - Wallace from Bookmarklet