PORT-OF-SPAIN: President Barack Obama says the United States is seeking a ``new beginning with Cuba.'' The president made the remark in Trinidad on the first day of a summit of Western Hemisphere democracies. He said the United States is ready to engage with the Cuban government but cautioned the country would not simply talk for the sake of talking. Obama noted ``decades of mistrust'' and said he wants to talk with Cuban leaders about human rights, democratic reform and economic issues. The United States has announced eased restrictions on travel and finances to the Cuba, and Cuba has signaled willingness to talk with the new administration.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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