US 'disappointed' with lack of Mideast peace: Clinton

Sunday, February 14, 2010
DOHA: US State Secretary Hillary Clinton said Sunday that Washington was "disappointed" with the lack of a breakthrough in the Middle East peace process, but stressed solutions cannot be forced.

"I know people are disappointed that we have not yet achieved a breakthrough. The President, (Middle East peace envoy) Senator (George) Mitchell, and I are also disappointed," she told the US-Islamic World forum in Doha.

"But we need to remember that neither the United States nor any country can force a solution. The parties must resolve their differences through negotiations," she added.
Clinton said "the goal of a comprehensive peace is fully in the interests of the United States. We are committed to our role in ensuring that negotiations begin and succeed."

"This is hard work. But our resolve is strong and we are determined to settle this conflict once and for all," she added.

Clinton flew in to Qatar on Sunday on the first leg of a Gulf tour aimed at reviving the Middle East peace process, as well as ramping up pressure on Iran over its nuclear drive.

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US troops in Iraq head to Afghanistan

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.

Cuba's world-famous cigar festival closes in Havana

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Berlin Celebrates the Day the Wall Fell

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 BERLIN: World leaders and partying Germans are descending on Berlin Nov. 9 to mark the 20th anniversary of the day the Berlin Wall was breachedIt is a day for celebrations and commemorations, for festivities and sober reflection. Berlin is marking 20 years since the fall of the Wall on Monday with a series of events, big and small. Leaders from around the world are descending on the German capital to help celebrate the momentous events of Nov. 9, 1989, a date that has come to symbolize the end of communism in Eastern Europe. The main focus of events will be the historic Brandenburg Gate, where 20 years ago, joyful East and West Berliners gathered together to dance on top of the wall and celebrate the sudden opening up of the Iron Curtain. The iconic gateway had once stood in the midst of no man's land, surrounded by barbed wire and machine guns. Now 20 years on, a concert and fireworks display will recall those heady moments. A line of 1,000 foam dominoe...

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