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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Friday ordered 4,000 more military troops into Afghanistan, vowing to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" the terrorist al-Qaida network in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. In a war that still has no end in sight, Obama said the fresh infusion of U.S. forces is designed to bolster the Afghan army and turn up the heat on terrorists that he said are plotting new attacks against Americans. The plan takes aim at terrorist havens in Pakistan and challenges the government there and in Afghanistan to show more results.

"WASHINGTON – The skies are dimming, for most of the world. Increases in airborne pollution have dimmed the skies by blocking sunlight over the past 30 years, researchers report in Friday's edition of the journal Science. While decreases in atmospheric visibility — known as global dimming — have been reported in the past, the new study compiles satellite and land-based data for a longer period than had been available. "Creation of this database is a big step forward for researching long-term changes in air pollution and correlating these with climate change," Kaicun Wang, assistant research scientist in the University of...

Insane. Childish. Disaster. And those were some of the kinder comments from political pundits about Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and his response to President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress on Tuesday night. Jindal, 37, a Rhodes scholar and son of Indian immigrants, is considered a rising star in Republican ranks and a likely 2012 presidential candidate. GOP leaders, looking for a fresh face for the party’s image, tapped Jindal earlier this month for the high-profile task of rebutting Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress. But in both style and substance, Jindal’s speech has drawn flak from Republicans...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama warned on Thursday that failure to act on an economic recovery package could plunge the nation into a long-lasting recession that might prove irreversible, a fresh call to a recalcitrant Congress to move quickly.

WASHINGTON – Suspicious packages have been sent to National Guard bureaus and reserve facilities in 36 states, federal authorities revealed Wednesday. An internal Dec. 16 report from the Department of Homeland Security said the 51 packages included anti-war compact discs, and one package also had a suspicious powder. It said the powder, sent in a package to Utah's National Guard headquarters in Draper, was tested and found not to be toxic. All the packages were postmarked from Tennessee, according to Homeland Security, and they started arriving at the Guard facilities on December 12. The FBI is investigating these and similar...

Just wondering if anyone else is able to get into their Yahoo mail. Even www.yahoo.com isn't coming up for me.

"WASHINGTON – Wary of playing Scrooge during tough economic times, Congress is defying President George W. Bush's veto threat and considering extending unemployment benefits to the nation's growing jobless masses. The Senate this week is expected to take up legislation already passed by the House that would extend unemployment insurance for those whose benefits have run out. The Senate vote could occur as early as Thursday evening and would require support from 60 senators to pass. Bush has threatened to veto the bill, calling it fiscally irresponsible."

Retail gasoline prices fell further overnight, bringing the decline since the summer's record high to nearly $2 a gallon, according to figures released Friday. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell 2.6 cents to $2.152 from $2.178 Thursday, according to a daily survey for the American Automobile Association. The price of gas has dropped $1.962, or 48%, since hitting an all-time high of $4.114 in July. Gas prices have declined for 58 days in a row, tumbling more than $1.70, or 44.2%, in that time. Friday's national average price is the lowest since Jan. 31, 2007,...

"WASHINGTON – A day after the Federal Reserve slashed a key interest rate to battle an economic downturn, the government reported Thursday the economy did shrink in the summer, sending the strongest signal yet that a recession may have already begun."

"Palestinian militant group Hamas has passed on a "personal" letter to captive Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit from his family, his father Noam and a Hamas spokesman said on Friday. It was the first letter to reach him from his family, although Schalit has been able to send a trickle of messages home since he was snatched by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid near Gaza in June 2006. The letter was given to the soldier last month, Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said."

"After Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric, many predicted her debate with Senator Joe Biden would be another "moose in the headlights" train wreck. That wasn't the case. The Alaska governor held her own and had a clear command of the facts. But was she good enough to win?"

" LONDON - The doomsday script was never used by the British Broadcasting Corp., but decades later the message remains haunting. ADVERTISEMENT "This is the wartime broadcasting service," the announcement begins. "This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons." The decades-old statement continues: Communications have been severely disrupted, and the number of casualties and the extent of the damage are not yet known. The announcer promises to bring further information as soon as possible and tells listeners to stay tuned. A draft of the message was released by the National Archives on Friday, along with letters between government bureaucrats and...

"Facebook profiles can tell you more than just peoples' birthdays and what movies they like - they can reveal the self-adoring, a new study suggests. Researchers at the University of Georgia gave personality questionnaires to nearly 130 Facebook users and analyzed the content of their online profiles. They also had untrained observers look at the profiles and rate how narcissistic, or excessively egotistical, the owners of the profiles were. "

"The McCain campaign is speaking for the Alaska state government these days, especially when it wants to ensure that nothing embarrassing about Gov. Sarah Palin emerges before Election Day. "

"Former President Bill Clinton has some words of wisdom for Todd Palin, the husband of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: “Give support,” but don’t “make her look weak.” "

""I am now caving," he said. "Get ready for real tough times. They're coming. There is no credit available.""

"If this election were about which candidate people wanted as their child's schoolteacher, Barack Obama would be moving to the head of the class. They'd also rather watch a football game with him, but only by inches."

" NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - When it comes to purchasing lottery tickets, making people feel poor will prompt them to spend more money on a chance to become rich, American researchers said. They found that people who were convinced they were earning a low salary bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets compared to others who were made to feel more affluent. "When people are made to feel subjectively poor, they end up buying more lottery tickets which is somewhat perverse since every time you buy a lottery ticket, it's the equivalent of burning money," said George Loewenstein, a...

" OSLO (Reuters) - Twenty-three people were wounded when a gang of 40-50 men armed with steel bars and machetes attacked residents at a refugee centre in Norway late on Thursday, officials said on Friday. No one was seriously wounded, but 10 were sent to hospital and 13 treated at a local clinic, hospital officials said. An official at the centre in Oestfold south of Oslo said the attackers were Chechens and the victims Kurds. Police declined to confirm or deny that and said they had made no arrests so far. "There was an attack from outside the asylum centre...

" No one can remember the last time Congress enacted two major economic stimulus packages in one year. But 2008 may see a sequel to the $100 billion worth of checks that started filling individuals' bank accounts in early spring. Democrats say they will proceed this fall with a "Son of Stimulus." Whether it materializes is questionable; President Bush currently opposes such a move, preferring to wait to see the full effect of the first stimulus package. As for economists, some say it's a good idea, if done differently from Round 1, but many are skeptical that money can start...