Obama marking end of Iraq war

President Barack Obama walks down the stairs of Marine One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011, prior to traveling to Fort Bragg, N.C.. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

President Barack Obama walks down the stairs of Marine One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011, prior to traveling to Fort Bragg, N.C.. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

First lady Michelle Obama is greeted at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011, prior to her and President Barack Obama traveled to Fort Bragg, N.C. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama wave prior to boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (AP) ? President Barack Obama saluted troops returning from Iraq Wednesday, declaring that the nearly nine-year conflict is ending honorably, "not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home."

Marking the conclusion of the war at this military base that's seen more than 200 deaths over nearly nine years of fighting in Iraq, Obama never tried to declare victory. It was a war that he opposed from the start, inherited as president and is now bringing to a close, leaving behind an Iraq that is still struggling.

But he sought to declare a noble end to a fight that has cost nearly 4,500 American lives and left about 32,000 wounded.

"The war in Iraq will soon belong to history, and your service belongs to the ages," he said, applauding their "extraordinary achievement."

All U.S. troops are to be out of Iraq Dec. 31, though Obama has pledged the U.S. will continue civilian assistance for Iraq as it faces an uncertain future in a volatile region of the world. Even as majorities in the U.S. public favor ending the war, some Republicans have criticized Obama's withdrawal, arguing he's leaving behind an unstable Iraq that could hurt U.S. interests and fall subject to influence from neighboring Iran.

Obama, appearing with first lady Michelle Obama, highlighted the human side of the war, reflecting on the bravery and sacrifices of U.S. forces now on their way back home. He recalled the start of the war, a time when he was only an Illinois state senator and many of the warriors before him were in grade school.

He noted the early battles that defeated and deposed Saddam Hussein and what he called "the grind of insurgency" ? roadside bombs, snipers and suicide attacks.

"Your will proved stronger than the terror of those who tried to break it," he said.

Upon his arrival in Fort Bragg Wednesday, Obama met with five enlisted service members who had recently returned from combat. He also met with the family of a soldier killed overseas.

Obama has on several occasions addressed his reasons for ending the war, casting it as a promise kept after he ran for president as an anti-war candidate and speaking of the need to refocus U.S. attention on rebuilding the troubled economy at home.

Obama's approval rating on handling the situation in Iraq has been above 50 percent since last fall, and in a new Associated Press-GfK poll, has ticked up four points since October to 55 percent. Among independents, his approval rating tops 50 percent for the first time since this spring.

With the economy foremost on people's minds, fewer now consider the war a top issue. Fifty-one percent said it was extremely or very important to them personally, down from 58 percent in October, placing it behind 13 of 14 issues tested in the poll.

It was the president's first visit to Fort Bragg, which is home to Army Special Operations, the 18th Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne, among others. Special Forces troops from Fort Bragg were among the first soldiers in Iraq during the 2003 invasion and its paratroopers helped lead the 2007 troop increase.

North Carolina, which Obama narrowly won in 2008, also is an important state for the 2012 presidential election and will host the Democratic convention.

In his speech, Obama said that Iraq "is not a perfect place."

But he added that "we are leaving behind a sovereign, stable, and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We are building a new partnership between our nations."

___

Associated Press writer Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, North Carolina, and AP Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-14-Obama/id-ffe2ce00ef084c979b3612b65a523c61

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Albania holds funeral for self-styled king Leka I (AP)

TIRANA, Albania ? The self-proclaimed heir to Albania's royal throne was buried on Saturday during a ceremony attended by the country's top leaders and broadcast live on national television.

Though a parliamentary republic, Albanian authorities held official ceremonies for the self-styled king ? who called himself Leka I Zogu ? at the Parliament building. They also declared Saturday a day of national mourning, with flags flying at and a minute of silence at noon.

Zogu, who returned home from exile to try to claim the throne himself, died Wednesday of a heart attack. He was 72.

He was the son of King Ahmet Zogu, a Muslim chieftain who proclaimed himself Albania's monarch in 1928 and ruled for 11 years during a time that many older Albanians now remember as prosperous and stable.

Albania's communist rulers abolished the monarchy in 1946, but, even in exile, the royal family insisted that Leka Zogu was Albania's legitimate ruler.

President Bamir Topi and Prime Minister Sali Berisha, joined hundreds of other officials and leaders in paying their respect during a ceremony that was broadcast live on public television and some other private channels. Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga also attended.

"We have come here today ... to honor, with full historic gratitude and national pride, the work of Leka Zogu, son of Ahmet Zogu, King of Albanians," said Tirana's Mayor Lulzim Basha

"Leka Zogu's commitment to the democracy in Albania was never separate from the extraordinary attention to Kosovo's fate," Basha said.

Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox prayers were read by religious leaders.

He was buried next to his wife's and mother's grave at the public Sharra cemetery in a Tirana suburb.

"I, Prince Leka II, swear in front of the body of my father that I will follow the road of King Zogu, of King Leka I to be at the service of the nation, the homeland," said Leka II, his only son.

No opposition leaders were present at the ceremony. Erion Brace, an opposition lawmaker, said that Leka Zogu was never the country's king.

Born just two days before Albania was occupied by Italian forces in 1939, Leka Zogu, the only son of King Ahmet Zogu, spent most of his life in exile in Europe and Africa while his country was ruled by Communists.

After Albania's Communist regime fell in 1990, Leka Zogu made two disastrous attempts to return home ? being thrown out during the first in 1993 and charged with leading an armed uprising during the second in 1997.

The six-foot, five-inch (2-meter) tall Leka Zogu finally settled in Albania in 2002, leading a quiet life with his Australian wife, who died in 2004, and son but never relinquishing his claim to the throne. The royal family's official website listed his interests as "arms, shooting, reading and history."

Leka Zogu's Hungarian mother, Queen Geraldina, died in 2002.

His family was given back some of its old royal properties and granted diplomatic passports. Leka Zogu's son has since served as an adviser to several Albanian governments. Today, a small royalist party is allied to the governing Democratic Party's coalition of Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha.

The government has pledged to bring home from Paris the late king's remains, calling the monarch "one of the greatest, most distinguished personalities with a major contribution to the history of the Albanian nation."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_re_eu/eu_albania_leka_zogu

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UK spy agency asks hackers to crack code (AP)

LONDON ? Can you crack the code?

That's the question Britain's electronic listening agency, GCHQ, is asking in an online campaign to find the next generation of cyber specialists.

GCHQ quietly launched a cryptic website last month featuring a box of code made up of numbers and letters. There is no branding on the site, only the phrase "Can you crack it?"

The agency has now revealed it is behind the campaign, and said Friday it's trying to reach individuals with "a keen interest in code breaking and ethical hacking" for careers at GCHQ.

"It's to arouse interest in people who perhaps might not be caught by our normal recruitment campaigns," a GCHQ spokesman said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

Cracking the code reveals a keyword, which when entered into a space on the website prompts the GCHQ job-recruitment website to appear.

The agency is currently recruiting for cyber security specialists ? at a pay grade of around 25,000 pounds ($39,000) ? and hopes to recruit around 35 people over the next few months, the spokesman said.

More than 50 people have successfully cracked the code so far ? of which 80 percent have submitted an application, the spokesman said.

GCHQ said the fast-moving pace of the digital arena and cybersecurity means it must find new ways to engage with prospective candidates, who typically have entered the agency as graduates.

"With the threats to information and computer technology constantly evolving, it is essential that GCHQ allows candidates who may be self taught, but have a keen interest in code breaking and ethical hacking, to enter the recruitment route too," it said in a statement.

But career hackers beware: "Anyone applying who has hacked illegally will not be eligible to continue in the recruitment process," GCHQ warned.

And gaming the website isn't a guarantee for joining GCHQ's ranks. The spokesman said that while anyone who cracks the code likely has an aptitude for GCHQ's type of work, it won't catapult code-crackers ahead of other job applicants automatically.

The agency said it has been using social media to get the word out and that the site has attracted about 8,000 hits.

___

Online:

http://www.canyoucrackit.co.uk/

_________

Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_hi_te/eu_britain_spy_games

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US jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent in November

Joshua Lott / Reuters

People wait to be interviewed during a job fair in Phoenix, Ariz., held last month.

By msnbc.com news services

Employment growth picked up speed in November, pushing the nation?s unemployment rate down to 8.6 percent -- its lowest level since March 2009.

The Labor Department reported Friday that nonfarm U.S. payrolls increased by 120,000 last month, accelerating from October?s 80,000 gain and roughly matching analysts? expectations. The U.S. jobless rate fell sharply from the prior month?s 9 percent level.

Private employers added a net gain of 140,000 jobs in November, but governments shed 20,000 jobs, mostly at the local and state level. Governments at all levels have shed nearly a half-million jobs in the past year. The Labor Department revised up its job gains for September and October by 52,000 and 20,000, respectively.

?The labor market is gradually healing. It?s a glacial pace, but we are taking small steps in the right direction,? said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Penn.

More than half the jobs added last month were by retailers, restaurants and bars, a sign that holiday hiring has kicked in. Retailers added 50,000, the sector's biggest gain since April. Restaurants and bars hired 33,000 workers. The health care industry added 17,000.

Still, a worrisome drop in the size of the U.S. workforce means that even with a big decline in the unemployment rate in November, it's still not time to break out the champagne.

The fall in the jobless rate was aided by 315,000 people leaving the workforce. That pushed the participation rate, a ratio of the amount of the population in the labor force, down to 64.0 percent.

Those who exited the workforce, many of whom gave up on looking for work, outnumbered the 278,000 people who found jobs, according the Labor Department's household survey, which is separate from payrolls data.

Even with the recent gains, the economy isn't anywhere close to replacing the jobs lost in the recession. Employers began shedding workers in February 2008 and cut nearly 8.7 million jobs for the next 25 months. Since then, the economy has regained nearly 2.5 million of those jobs.

The jobs report is unlikely to take much pressure off President Barack Obama, whose economic stewardship will face the judgment of voters next November. The outlook for the U.S. economy is also being threatened by Europe's ongoing financial crisis.

Speaking at a Washington, D.C., press event to promote a $4 billion effort to increase the energy efficiency of government and private sector buildings, Obama noted Friday that, despite some ?strong headwinds,? the U.S. private sector has now added jobs for 21 months in a row.

?We need to keep that growth going,? he added.

The relative strength of the jobs report is in keeping with a recent trend, bolstered by upward revisions to the employment counts for September and October. But it is not seen as proving decisive for the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is weighing whether the recovery needs further monetary policy support.

Data ranging from manufacturing to retail sales suggest the pace of expansion could top 3 percent, in contrast to China, where growth is cooling and much of Europe, where growth has stalled.

While the economy's growth pace appears to have accelerated from the third quarter's 2 percent annual rate, Europe's festering debt crisis poses a big threat. At the same time, U.S. fiscal policy is set to tighten in the new year, even if lawmakers extend a payroll tax cut.

Taken together, some analysts believe the headwinds facing the U.S. economy will lead the Fed to ease monetary policy further by buying more bonds.

Though the economy emerged from recession two years ago, about 25 million Americans are either out of work or underemployed, a fact that is hurting Obama's chances of winning a second term.

Analysts say the economy needs to create at least 125,000 jobs every month just to keep the unemployment rate steady. So far this year, job growth has averaged 125,600 jobs a month. At that pace, it would take about 4-1/2 years for employment just to return to where it was when the recession started.

But there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic.

While the government's survey of employers has shown a still tepid pace of job growth, its separate poll of households that is used to calculate the unemployment rate has suggested more-robust jobs gains.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Chavez: New regional group revives Bolivar's dream (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela ? South American independence hero Simon Bolivar once dreamed of unifying several nations as a counterweight to their powerful hemispheric neighbor, the United States.

Two centuries later, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is tapping into that legacy at a two-day summit of the Americas starting Friday. Chavez describes the new regional bloc that excludes the U.S. as a tribute to his idol, saying the time has come to put an end to U.S. hegemony.

"This is the achievement after 200 years of battle," Chavez said Thursday. "The Monroe Doctrine was imposed here: America for Americans, the Yankees. They imposed their will during 200 years, but that's enough."

Chavez also sees the nascent Community of Latin American and Caribbean States as a tool to strengthen regional integration.

"We must march toward what Bolivar called a great political body," Chavez said.

The 33-nation bloc, known by its Spanish initials CELAC, includes every country in Latin America and the Caribbean. Unlike the Washington-based Organization of American States, it will have Cuba as a full member and will exclude the U.S. and Canada.

Cuban President Raul Castro echoed Chavez's stance as he arrived Friday, saying the creation of the new bloc is "the biggest event in 200 years."

Many Latin American leaders, however, say they see CELAC as a forum to build closer economic and political relations across the region rather than a platform for challenging U.S. policies.

Visiting Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff also referred to Bolivar as an inspiration, but did not cast Washington as the region's unwelcome neighbor.

"Our countries are demonstrating this vocation for a common future," Rousseff said at a meeting with Chavez on Thursday. "Two hundred years ago, Caracas stood out like a light for the independence struggle. ... I believe in Bolivar's dream."

Plans for the new organization, which grew out of the 24-nation Rio Group, have been in the works since a 2008 summit hosted by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Chavez's closest allies, including Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, share his hopes of a region increasingly free of U.S. influence.

"With the creation of CELAC, Chavez is realizing his Bolivarian vision and dream for the region. Other CELAC participants will recognize Chavez for that and give him due credit," said Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue. "There is a strong strain of regionalism throughout Latin America and the Caribbean."

Chavez has long sought inspiration in the legacy of Bolivar, who in the early 1800s served as president of Gran Colombia, a republic made up of much of northern South America and modern-day Panama until it broke up into individual states following years of dissent and political upheaval.

Chavez calls his political movement the Bolivarian Revolution and has changed the country's name to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Last year, Chavez even oversaw the opening of Bolivar's coffin to re-examine the cause of his death, and the Venezuelan government is building a new mausoleum to house Bolivar's remains.

Bolivar was an admirer of the American Revolution, although he warned the unrivaled power of the United States could eventually pose a threat to the young nations of Latin America that had won independence from Spain.

___

Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda in Caracas contributed to this report.

___

Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_summit

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Michael Jackson doctor plans to appeal conviction (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's doctor filed court papers on Friday indicating he plans to appeal his involuntary manslaughter conviction over the singer's death and his four-year jail sentence.

Lawyers for Dr. Conrad Murray filed the papers with Los Angeles Superior Court in a precursor to a formal appeal being lodged with a California Appeals Court.

Murray was convicted last month of involuntary manslaughter, or gross negligence, after admitting he gave the pop star nightly doses of the anesthetic propofol in June 2009 to help him sleep.

Murray was sentenced on Tuesday to four years in jail by an angry Los Angeles judge who called him a "disgrace to the medical profession."

Jackson, 50, died in Los Angeles on June 25, 2009, of an overdose of propofol - which is normally used to sedate patients during surgery - and sedatives. His death came just weeks before a planned series of comeback concerts in London.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

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APNewsBreak: New Calif. border drug tunnel found (AP)

SAN DIEGO ? U.S. authorities said they discovered a major cross-border tunnel Tuesday, the latest in a spate of secret passages found to smuggle drugs from Mexico.

"It is clearly the most sophisticated tunnel we have ever found," said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego. She did not provide details.

The tunnel links warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, authorities said.

Mexican soldiers found the entrance on the south side of the border at a Tijuana warehouse after the U.S. opening was discovered. A photo released by U.S. authorities shows a hydraulic lift inside the Tijuana building.

Mexican soldiers guarded the two-story warehouse near the Tijuana airport as darkness fell. The white building had a broken window that was covered with paper and no exterior sign.

The Tijuana warehouse is on the same block as a federal police office and sits next to a packaging company and tortilla distributor.

The discovery comes less than two weeks after U.S. authorities found a 400-yard passage linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, seizing 17 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border. It was equipped with lighting and ventilation.

As U.S. authorities heighten enforcement on land, tunnels have emerged as a major tack to smuggle marijuana. More than 70 have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years. Many are clustered around San Diego, California's Imperial Valley and Nogales, Ariz.

California is popular because its clay-like soil is easy to dig with shovels. In Nogales, smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals. Authorities said they found a drug tunnel Tuesday in Nogales, running from a drain in Mexico to a rented house on the U.S. side.

San Diego's Otay Mesa area has the added draw that there are plenty of warehouses on both sides of the border to conceal trucks getting loaded with drugs. Its streets hum with semitrailers by day and fall silent on nights and weekends.

Raids last November on two tunnels linking San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 52 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border, ranking among the largest pot busts in U.S. history. Those secret passages were lined with rail tracks, lighting and ventilation.

On Monday, a Mexican man was sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison for his role in last November's tunnels. Prosecutors described Daniel Navarro, 45, as a significant player in moving marijuana from the San Diego warehouse and sought a 30-year prison sentence.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said Navarro, a legal U.S. resident since 1999 who worked as a trucker in Southern California, was "up to his hips" in smuggling the large marijuana loads.

"This is just a gigantic amount of marijuana," Burns said.

___

Associated Press writer Mariana Martinez contributed to this report from Tijuana, Mexico.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_re_us/us_drug_tunnel

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