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Obama could lock in Afghanistan decision Monday

U.S. Army Spc. Stoney Harper from Winsboro, So. Carolina, from the South Carolina National Guard guards an alley near the town of Baraki Barak, Logar province, Afghanistan, Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
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AP - 3 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The White House said President Barack Obama could use an unusual evening war council session Monday to lock in his long-awaited decision on whether to commit tens of thousands of new U.S. forces to the stalemated war in Afghanistan.

  • FILE - In this Sept. 22, 2009 file photo, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. gestures during a health care news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. The late Sen. Edward Kennedy will be a tough act to follow, even for the Kennedys. Kennedy's brain-cancer death, coupled with the decision by family members not to seek the seat he held for nearly five decades, has prompted plenty of speculation that the family's long-running political dynasty is over. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)
    Lawmaker defends RI Rep Kennedy in Communion flap AP - 4 minutes ago

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A Pennsylvania lawmaker defended Rep. Patrick Kennedy on Monday against a bishop who has acknowledged asking the Rhode Island congressman not to receive Holy Communion because of his support for abortion rights.

  • Belgian says he was alert but mute for 23 years AP - 1 hour, 10 minutes ago

    BRUSSELS - For 23 torturous years, Rom Houben says he lay trapped in his paralyzed body, aware of what was going on around him but unable to tell anyone or even cry out.

  • Adam Lambert, left, gets ready to kiss one of the dancers as he performs during the closing act of the 37th Annual American Music Awards on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
    ABC: Lambert's performance draws 1,500 complaints AP - 21 minutes ago

    NEW YORK - Complaints poured in Monday about Adam Lambert's sexually charged performance at the American Music Awards, including criticism of his kiss with a male keyboard player that was left out of rehearsals for the show.

  • Mass. woman seeks funds for turkey's eye surgery AP - 1 hour, 57 minutes ago

    REHOBOTH, Mass. - A Massachusetts woman is seeking donations from fellow pet lovers to help pay for eye surgery for her turkey named Jerry. Lyndsey Medeiros and her husband adopted three-year-old Jerry and another turkey from a Rhode Island farm last week. But Jerry has cataracts, and the eye problems mean he can't eat independently or join his female companion, Penelope, in flying.

  • FILE - This is an Aug. 13, 2009, file photo showing Minnesota Twins' Joe Mauer hitting a three-run homer against the Kansas City Royals in the fifth inning of a baseball game in Minneapolis. Mauer has become only the second catcher in 33 years to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, Monday, Nov. 23, 2009.(AP Photo/Hannah Foslien, File)
    Mauer near-unanimous pick as American League MVP AP - 2 hours, 4 minutes ago

    NEW YORK - Joe Mauer sat behind a table on a podium in a conference room at the Metrodome when Justin Morneau shouted out the last question of the day. "Are you finally going to buy dinner now?" Morneau said to his teammate from the audience, one MVP to another.

  • Home sales at 2-1/2 year high Reuters - Mon Nov 23, 5:02 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of previously owned U.S. homes jumped last month to their highest level in more than 2-1/2 years, but a fall in an economic gauge was a reminder that recovery from recession would be patchy.

  • Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is seen in a video grab released on October 2, 2009 by Israeli television. REUTERS/Handout
    Israel-Hamas prisoner swap deal near Reuters - Mon Nov 23, 1:36 PM ET

    CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel has softened its terms for a prisoner swap with Hamas and the two are nearing a deal to exchange hundreds of jailed Palestinians for an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip, officials said on Monday.

  • South Carolina governor faces ethics allegations Reuters - Mon Nov 23, 4:53 PM ET

    MIAMI (Reuters) - Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, a conservative seen as a presidential contender before a sex scandal wrecked his reputation, faces 37 possible ethics violations, the state ethics commission said on Monday.

  • US President Barack Obama, seen here on November 14, will decide "in the coming days" whether to attend a United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, a senior administration official said Monday.(AFP/File/Kazuhiro Nogi)
    U.S. to bring emissions cut target to Copenhagen talks Reuters - Mon Nov 23, 3:42 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will propose an emissions reduction target at U.N. climate change talks in Copenhagen in December with an eye toward winning support from U.S. lawmakers who must agree to put it into law.

  • Eight charged in U.S. for Somali war recruiting Reuters - 2 hours, 30 minutes ago

    MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Authorities unsealed terrorism-related charges Monday against eight defendants they said recruited young Somali-American men to return to their homeland to fight for an Islamist militant group.

  • U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (2nd L) another other cabinet members look on as President Barack Obama speaks at the end of a meeting with members of his administration in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, November 23, 2009. REUTERS/Jason Reed
    Obama says boosting jobs is a top priority Reuters - 2 hours, 1 minute ago

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama assured Americans on Monday that boosting jobs was a top priority, but gave no specifics about how to meet this goal that some economists say warrants more government spending.

  • Rescuers prepare to enter the Xinxing coal mine to search for survivors following a gas explosion at the mine in Hegang, Heilongjiang Province November 22, 2009. REUTERS/Aly Song
    China families protest mine disaster, toll hits 104 Reuters - Sun Nov 22, 9:57 PM ET

    HEGANG, China (Reuters) - Relatives of victims of a gas blast at a mine in northeastern China scuffled with police and demanded answers from the owners on Monday as state media put the toll from the country's latest mine disaster at 104.

  • A view of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant from Goldsboro, Pennsylvania, March 22, 1999. REUTERS/STR New
    Radiation leak investigated at Three Mile Island Reuters - Mon Nov 23, 8:09 AM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal officials are investigating a radiation leak at Three Mile Island, scene of the worst U.S. nuclear power accident, but said on Sunday there was no threat to public health or safety.

  • Philippine Army armoured personnel carriers and trucks move down a highway of the town of Datu Piang in Maguindanao on military actions against separatist rebels in May 2009. At least 21 people were murdered in the lawless southern Philippines on Monday in a massacre that the military and relatives of the victims said was likely linked to a political rivalry.(AFP/File)
    At least 21 dead in Philippine political massacre: military AFP - Mon Nov 23, 2:49 PM ET

    MANILA (AFP) - At least 21 people were murdered in the lawless southern Philippines on Monday in a massacre that the military and relatives of the victims said was likely linked to a political rivalry.

  • A couple walks past a poster of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Jerusalem. Israel said there is no deal yet on a prisoner swap with Hamas, as efforts appeared to gather pace on an accord that could see a Gaza-held soldier exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians.(AFP/Menahem Kahana)
    Israel says no deal yet on Shalit prisoner swap AFP - Mon Nov 23, 3:42 PM ET

    JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel said on Monday there was no deal yet on a prisoner swap with Hamas, as efforts appeared to gather pace on an accord that could see a Gaza-held soldier exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians.

  • Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivers a speech during a ceremony to sign agreements with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia. Lula da Silva on Monday urged his visiting Iranian counterpart to find a "just solution" with the West to Tehran's contested nuclear program.(AFP/Evaristo Sa)
    Iran needs 'just solution' to nuclear row: Brazil AFP - 25 minutes ago

    BRASILIA (AFP) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday urged his visiting Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to find a "just solution" with the West to Tehran's contested nuclear program.

  • Scientists react as they stand in front of a screen at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) control center of the ATLAS detectors during the restart of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva. Two circulating beams produced the first particle collisions in the world's biggest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider, three days after it was restarted, scientists announced.(AFP/Fabrice Coffrini)
    Success for Large Hadron Collider as first atom smashed AFP - Mon Nov 23, 4:06 PM ET

    GENEVA (AFP) - Two circulating beams on Monday produced the first particle collisions in the world's biggest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), three days after its restart, scientists announced.

  • The KLM airplane which runs on biokerosene is seen at Schiphol airport, near Amsterdam. A Boeing 747, one of four engines powered by a 50-percent biokerosene mix, circled the Netherlands for an hour on Monday for what airline KLM called the world's first passenger flight using biofuel.(AFP/ANP/Lex Lieshout)
    KLM flies world's first "passenger flight on biofuel" AFP - Mon Nov 23, 4:24 PM ET

    THE HAGUE (AFP) - A Boeing 747, one of four engines powered by a 50-percent biokerosene mix, circled the Netherlands for an hour on Monday for what airline KLM called the world's first passenger flight using biofuel.

  • A sold sign is posted in front of a home for sale in August 2009 in San Francisco, California. A rush to cash in on tax incentives helped to push up sales of existing US homes by 10.1 percent in October giving momentum to the ailing sector, industry data showed Monday.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Justin Sullivan)
    Tax credits fuel 10 percent surge in US home sales AFP - Mon Nov 23, 3:37 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (AFP) - A rush to cash in tax incentives helped boost sales of existing US homes 10.1 percent in October, according to data Monday showing fresh momentum for the sector at the heart of the economic crisis.

  • Gold prices soared to a record 1,174 dollars an ounce here on Monday as a sliding US currency and worries about a possible spike to inflation increased demand for the "safe-haven" metal, traders said.(AFP/File/Sebastian Derungs)
    Gold hits record high 1,174 dollars AFP - Mon Nov 23, 1:29 PM ET

    LONDON (AFP) - Gold prices soared to a record 1,174 dollars an ounce here on Monday as a sliding US currency and worries about a possible spike to inflation increased demand for the "safe-haven" metal, traders said.

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  • Healthcare workers at a hospital. A Belgian man thought to have been in a coma for 23 years has told of his "second birth" after doctors realised he was in fact conscious, a German weekly reported Monday.(AFP/File/Simon Maina)
    FAQ: A normal person's guide to health care reform The Yahoo! Newsroom - Sat Nov 21, 9:27 PM ET

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