Jackie Palmos

The comments by Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, Pakistan's army chief, however, were also a reflection of growing self confidence within the military, which increasingly recognizes its pivotal role in Mr. Obama's plan to stabilize Afghanistan. In the past week, U.S. officials, before and after the international conference on Afghanistan which was held in London, spoke of the beginning of a period of rehabilitation of Taliban militants who are prepared to lay down their arms in Afghanistan.

Benedict blasted proposed laws before the British Parliament that are intended to prevent employers from denying jobs to applicants on the grounds of gender, sexuality, age or race. Current legislation exempts religious organizations, but the planned new law would effectively apply to lay people employed by churches. Benedict told the bishops that they needed to take a firm, public stand against the proposed legislation, which he said violated natural law. "Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society," he told them. "The effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs." The Vatican says unjust forms of discrimination must be avoided. But it has, for example, opposed a U.N. initiative against gender discrimination on the grounds that it could pressure countries to recognize same-sex marriages. The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual activity is sinful. Meanwhile, Benedict confirmed Monday he would visit Britain later this year, a trip that has grown fraught following his move to welcome into the Roman Catholic Church groups of Anglicans upset over the ordination of gays and women. No dates were announced. Officials at both the Vatican and in Britain say the visit is planned for September. It marks the first papal visit to Britain since Pope John Paul II visited in 1982. Benedict confirmed his plans in a speech to visiting British bishops, saying he hoped the trip would "strengthen and confirm" the faith of Catholics across the country. He urged the bishops to help disaffected Anglicans who want to convert to Catholicism. "I am convinced that, if given a warm and openhearted welcome, such groups will be a blessing for the entire Church," he said. The Vatican announced last October it was making it easier for Anglicans to become Catholic, essentially creating independent dioceses for ベラジョンカジノ converts who could still maintain certain Anglican traditions, including having married priests. The unprecedented invitation shocked Anglicans and Catholics alike - particularly in Britain, seat of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Neither Williams nor Britain's Catholic bishops were consulted by the Vatican, and they were only advised of the new rules shortly before they became public. Williams pointedly raised his concerns about the way in which the announcement was made when he met with the pope last November. "Clearly many Anglicans, myself included, felt that it put us in an awkward position," Williams told Vatican Radio at the time. The Vatican has said it was merely responding to the many Anglican requests to join the Catholic Church and has denied it was poaching for converts. But the move strained Catholic-Anglican relations and is sure to affect Williams' 77-million Anglican Communion, which was already on the verge of schism over homosexuality and women's ordination issues before the Vatican intervened. Anglicans split from Rome in 1534 when English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment. For decades, the two churches have held discussions on trying to reunite, part of the Vatican's long-term effort to unify all Christians. But differences remain, and the ecumenical talks were going nowhere as divisions mounted between liberals and traditionalists within the Anglican Communion.

The move by the United Nations last week to remove five former Taliban members from its official sanctions list reflects a growing belief by U.S. and international officials that some less-active leaders of the Afghan Taliban are no longer tightly linked to the al Qaeda network they sheltered before the terror attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. The decision anchors an Obama administration policy shift that would transform the Afghanistan war from a broad international conflict into an internal political struggle largely handled by the Afghans themselves. Key to that change would be an effort to negotiate with and buy out midlevel Taliban figures willing to renounce violence and abandon their fight. But in paring back some of the Taliban's connections to al Qaeda, the move risks running up against the American public's ingrained perception that the Afghan faction remains a national enemy and that there is no ideological daylight between the two groups. A few other Taliban figures have been dropped from the target list in recent years, but the latest round signals a more comprehensive approach. Any large-scale tinkering with the U.N. target list would have a tangible impact on American counterterror moves: The U.S. typically has a strong behind-the-scenes role in the U.N.'s decision and the U.N. list is often used by the U.S. to identify its own targets for diplomatic and economic punishments. U.S. officials are quick to say that the decoupling is limited and proceeding carefully. Some Taliban leaders, they say, may never come off the list - such as Mullah Mohammed Omar or the leaders of the Haqqani network, which directs the fight against U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan from the Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan. Worldwatch: A Conference Won't Fix Afghanistan Even Defense Secretary Robert Gates, クイーンカジノ who has endorsed the reconciliation plan as essential to success in the Afghanistan war, warns of the complexities involved in separating the two militant groups. Gates ticked off "a syndicate of terrorist groups" on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border, including al Qaeda, Afghan and Pakistan Taliban and a number of Pakistani groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba. "So you can't say one's good and one's not good," he said recently. "They're all insidious, and safe havens for all of them need to be eliminated." The U.N. Security Council first imposed sanctions against the Taliban in November 1999 for refusing to send Osama bin Laden to stand trial on terrorism charges in connection with two 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa. Those sanctions - a travel ban, arms embargo and assets freeze - were later extended to al Qaeda, and in January 2001, the U.N. assembled its first target list of 10 al Qaeda leaders and 74 top Taliban officials. The list has grown to 268 al Qaeda and 137 Taliban figures - and is largely replicated in a similar list used by the State and Treasury Departments to pinpoint terror targets. The U.N. decision - approved by all 15 members of the Security Council - came last week after Russia dropped an objection. The driving concern of those opposing the move focuses on what would happen if the Taliban are allowed to regain any power in Afghanistan. Opponents fear that al Qaeda, including its leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, who are believed hiding along the Pakistan border, would be welcomed back. Richard Barrett, the head of a U.N. group that monitors the threat posed by al Qaeda and the Taliban and among those who back the decision to start removing Taliban leaders from the list, said that "in areas that have been under Taliban control for some time - there aren't al Qaeda there." Other terrorism analysts are more cautious, warning that it will be difficult to determine who is no longer a threat, and that removing names may undercut the credibility of the list. "The lines are blurred between the tribal affiliations of the Taliban on both sides of the border and al Qaeda," said Juan Zarate, a top counterterrorism official in the Bush administration who is now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It becomes a very difficult chess game and you need astute Afghans to help guide this. You don't want to make a deal with the wrong set of actors, you don't want to make a deal with the devil," he said. U.S. officials see a similar move as a key turning point in the Iraq conflict, says a senior Obama administration official who requested anonymity to discuss the rationale behind the strategy. U.S. forces teamed up with former Sunni insurgents to fight against al Qaeda and began an effort to absorb them into national security and other civilian jobs. Removing the names of former Taliban leaders from the sanctions list would provide them with significant benefits. The sanctions bar their travel to other countries and freezes their financial assets, making it impossible for them to conduct business overseas. Lifting financial sanctions on Taliban leaders "may well serve as a conduit for acquisition of funds, economic resources and weapons for the Taliban," warned retired U.S. diplomat Victor Comras, who was one of five international monitors who oversaw the implementation of U.S. Security Council terrorism financing measures in 2002. Several of the Taliban members dropped from the list last week were senior leaders. Among them were Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, a former foreign minister and Mullah Omar confidant who has recently been involved in helping negotiations, and Abdul Hakim Monib, a former deputy minister of frontier affairs who later renounced the Taliban and became a provincial governor.

Lohan, accompanied by her attorney, surrendered herself at the Beverly Hills Police Department shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday to be fingerprinted and photographed, said Officer Brian Ballieweg. She was booked on suspicion of a DUI with a blood alcohol level above .08, California's legal limit, and on suspicion of misdemeanor hit and run, Ballieweg said. A message left early Friday with her publicist was not immediately returned. The booking was reported by TV's "The Insider."'Lohan and two other adults were in her 2005 Mercedes SL-65 convertible when she lost control and crashed into a curb and shrubbery on westbound Sunset Boulevard at about 5:30 a.m. on May 26, police said. After the crash, Lohan got into a second car and was driven to a hospital in nearby Century City for クイーンカジノ treatment of minor injuries, police said. The two other people in her car were not hurt. Officers received a 911 call about the accident and traced her to a local hospital. Police said at the time she had been arrested for investigation of driving under the influence, though she wasn't formally booked on the allegation until Thursday. Lohan's booking comes a few days after she finished a second rehab stint that lasted over six weeks. She began rehab after a wild Memorial Day weekend that included the crash. She said in January she had checked into a rehabilitation center for substance abuse treatment.

The attack on the convoy as it carried supplies from an airport in the southern town of Jeremie underscored the shaky safety in the streets that has added to Haitians' frustration at the slow pace of aid since the Jan. 12 earthquake. Complete Coverage: Devastation in Haiti Haiti Quake: How You can Help Most quake victims are still living outside in squalid tents of sheets and sticks and aid officials acknowledge they have not yet gotten food to the majority of those in need. Mobs have stolen food and looted goods from their neighbors in the camps, prompting many to band together or stay awake at night to prevent raids. About 20 armed men blockaded a street Saturday and attacked a convoy carrying food from the airport in Jeremie, according to UN spokesman Vicenzo Pugliese. U.N. and Haitian officers fired warning gunshots and the men fled the scene, Pugliese said. No injuries were reported and no one was hurt. Haitian police have increased their own patrols and are accompanying UN police guarding aid distribution. "The overall security situation across the country remains stable but potentially volatile," the UN mission said in a statement Tuesday. In Jacmel, also a southern city, 33 escaped prisoners were apprehended Sunday, the U.N. said. Many prisoners escaped when prisons collapsed. While Haitians are still mourning friends and ベラジョンカジノ relatives, many still unburied, anger at the government's sluggish response to the quake is feeding political resentment. About 40 protesters gathered outside the Haitian government's temporary headquarters, holding placards to demand pay for state workers. Many who had jobs before the earthquake can't return to work because buildings have collapsed. Hundreds more waited outside the migration agency Tuesday to renew their passports in the hope they can leave the country. Others, despairing of government help, paid men to excavate loved ones from the rubble. Hundreds gathered Monday at a gravel pit in Titanyen where countless earthquake victims have been dumped, turning a remembrance ceremony for the dead into one of the first organized political rallies since the disaster. Many denounced President Rene Preval and called for the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "Preval has done nothing for this country, nothing for the victims," said Jean Delcius, 54, who was bused to the memorial service by Aristide's development foundation. "We need someone new to take charge here. If it's not Aristide, then someone competent." Critics were already blaming Preval for rising unemployment, corruption and greed. Then the earthquake struck, flattening most government buildings and turning the capital into an apocalyptic vision of broken concrete and twisted steel. Preval has rarely been seen in public since, leaving Prime Minister Max Bellerive to defend the government's performance Tuesday as Haiti's Senate met in a prefabricated room at the police academy because its own building collapsed in the quake. "Even the most advanced countries could not respond to this crisis," Bellerive said. "There is still a government, but we have no buildings. We have no equipment. We have no resources." The government has asked all non-governmental aid groups in the country to start working with it to improve the often disjointed food distribution. "It is true we are in need," said Sen. Jean Joel Joseph. "But don't treat us like dogs ... as if we are animals. We ask the prime minister to ask the foreigners to reorganize the way this aid is being distributed. " Haiti's government also has had to deal with the 10 Americans who tried to take a busload of undocumented Haitian children out of the country. The Idaho-based church group was being held without charges at a police station as officials debated what to do with them. Bellerive has said they could be prosecuted in the United States because Haiti's shattered court system may not be able to cope with a trial. U.S. Embassy officials would not say if a U.S. court process is possible. Discontent with Preval appears to be growing, three weeks after the disaster. "He came Saturday and then just left," said Jude John Peter, 23, in a camp across from Haiti's demolished National Palace, where some 2,000 people are crammed into tents. "He's nowhere to be seen at first and then leaves when things get hot." Aristide, a former slum priest had a huge following among Haiti's poor, but he was ousted in 2004 as corruption and drug trafficking grew rampant and some of former supporters accused him of abandoning his early followers to line his own pockets. Aristide has said that he would like to return from his exile in South Africa - a move that would add political instability to the post-quake chaos. Before legislative elections scheduled for Feb. 28 were postponed, Haiti's presidentially appointed electoral council had excluded more than a dozen political parties - including Aristide's from the next round of elections in 2011. Opposition groups accused the council of trying to help Preval expand his power. Across the capital, Haitians have voiced anger over the hasty burials of earthquake victims. Many Haitians believe that bodies must be properly buried and remembered by relatives and family so their spirits can pass on to heaven. In Voodoo, some believe that improper burials can trap spirits between two worlds. The mourners on Monday gathered near a white metal cross erected on a mound of gravel that covered nameless bodies dropped into a pit by dump trucks. The corpse of a woman lay uncovered at the base of a nearby gravel pile. One by one, people tied black pieces of cloth to the cross as a Catholic priest sprinkled the ground with holy water. A choir sang traditional Haitian hymns as religious leaders prayed for the dead.

The attack on the convoy as it carried supplies from an airport in the southern town of Jeremie underscored the shaky safety in the streets that has added to Haitians' frustration at the slow pace of aid since the Jan. 12 earthquake. Complete Coverage: Devastation in Haiti Haiti Quake: How You can Help Most quake victims are still living outside in squalid tents of sheets and sticks and aid officials acknowledge they have not yet gotten food to the majority of those in need. Mobs have stolen food and looted goods from their neighbors in the camps, prompting many to band together or stay awake at night to prevent raids. About 20 armed men blockaded a street Saturday and attacked a convoy carrying food from the airport in Jeremie, according to UN spokesman Vicenzo Pugliese. U.N. and Haitian officers fired warning gunshots and the men fled the scene, Pugliese said. No injuries were reported and no one was hurt. Haitian police have increased their own patrols and are accompanying UN police guarding aid distribution. "The overall security situation across the country remains stable but potentially volatile," the UN mission said in a statement Tuesday. In Jacmel, also a southern city, 33 escaped prisoners were apprehended Sunday, the U.N. said. Many prisoners escaped when prisons collapsed. While Haitians are still mourning friends and relatives, many still unburied, anger at the government's sluggish response to the quake is feeding political resentment. About 40 protesters gathered outside the Haitian government's temporary headquarters, holding placards to demand pay for state workers. Many who had jobs before the earthquake can't return to work because buildings have collapsed. Hundreds more waited outside the migration agency Tuesday to renew their passports in the hope they can leave the country. Others, despairing of government help, paid men to excavate loved ones from the rubble. Hundreds gathered Monday at a gravel pit in Titanyen where countless earthquake victims have been dumped, turning a remembrance ceremony for the dead into one of the first organized political rallies since the disaster. Many denounced President Rene Preval and called for the return of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "Preval has done nothing for this country, nothing for the victims," said Jean Delcius, 54, who was bused to the memorial service by Aristide's development foundation. "We need someone new to take charge here. If it's not Aristide, then someone competent." Critics were already blaming Preval for rising unemployment, corruption and greed. Then the earthquake struck, flattening most government buildings and turning the capital into an apocalyptic vision of broken concrete and twisted steel. Preval has rarely been seen in public since, leaving Prime Minister Max Bellerive to defend the government's performance Tuesday as Haiti's Senate met in a prefabricated room at the police academy because its own building collapsed in the quake. "Even the most advanced countries could not respond to this crisis," Bellerive said. "There is still a government, but we have no buildings. We have no equipment. We have no resources." The government has asked all non-governmental aid groups in the country to start working with it to improve the often disjointed food distribution. "It is true we are in need," said Sen. Jean Joel Joseph. "But don't treat us like dogs ... as if we are animals. We ask the prime minister to ask the foreigners to reorganize the way this aid is being distributed. " Haiti's government also has had to deal with the 10 Americans who tried to take a busload of undocumented Haitian children out of the country. The Idaho-based church group was being held without charges at a police station as officials debated what to do with them. Bellerive has said they could be prosecuted in the United States because Haiti's shattered court system may not be able to cope with a trial. U.S. Embassy officials would not say if a U.S. court process is possible. Discontent with Preval appears to be growing, three weeks after the disaster. "He came Saturday and then just left," said Jude John Peter, 23, in a camp across from Haiti's demolished National Palace, where some 2,000 people are crammed into tents. "He's nowhere to be seen at first and then leaves when things get hot." Aristide, a former slum priest had a huge following among Haiti's poor, but he was ousted in 2004 as corruption and drug trafficking grew rampant and some of former supporters accused him of abandoning his early followers to line his own pockets. Aristide has said that he would like to return from his exile in South Africa - a move that would add political instability to the post-quake chaos. Before legislative elections scheduled for Feb. 28 were postponed, Haiti's presidentially appointed electoral council had excluded more than a dozen political parties - including Aristide's from the next round of elections in 2011. Opposition groups accused the council of trying to help Preval expand his power. Across the capital, Haitians have voiced anger over the hasty burials of earthquake victims. Many Haitians believe that bodies must be properly buried and remembered by relatives and family so their spirits can pass on to heaven. In Voodoo, some believe that improper burials can trap spirits between two worlds. The mourners on Monday gathered near a white metal cross erected on a mound of gravel that covered nameless bodies dropped into a pit by dump trucks. The corpse of a woman lay uncovered at the base of a nearby gravel pile. One by one, people tied black pieces of cloth to the cross as a Catholic priest sprinkled the ground with holy water. A choir sang traditional Haitian hymns as religious leaders prayed for the dead.