definitely
start reducing the number of its soldiers in Afghanistan next July. His comments to the Los Angeles Times newspaper come after the new commander of international forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, said he might advise President Obama to delay the withdrawal.
The United States Senator leading an investigation into the release of a Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, has called for “whistle-blowers” to
come forward
with inside information. Robert Menendez is looking at whether the Libyan’s release from a Scottish prison nearly a year ago was linked to a BP oil deal with Libya.
Officials from the United States have been allowed to visit an American serving hard labor in North Korea for entering the country illegally at the start of the year. A State Department spokesman said two doctors and a consular official visited Aijalon Gomes in hospital in the capital Pyongyang. US officials were concerned about Mr Gomes’s health and welfare after North Korea said last month he’d attempted suicide.
A Colombian passenger plane has crashed and broken up into three pieces after reportedly being hit by lightning as it was coming into land on the Caribbean island of San Andres. All but one of the more than 120 people on board survived. The Island’s governor said it was a miracle that only one person died in the crash. Jeremy McDermott has this report from Colombia.