FOREIGN NEWS

Pakistan Warns U.S. Over Missile Strike

Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson on Thursday to lodge a formal protest against another suspected U.S. missile strike on its territory, an act the country's prime minister called a violation of his nation's sovereignty.
The strike in the Bannu region of Pakistan's North West Frontier province left five dead and seven wounded Wednesday. It was deeper inside Pakistani territory than previous attacks. It targeted a home outside the tribal areas that U.S. intelligence says have become a haven for Taliban and al Qaeda fighters battling U.S. and NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
The attack was the third suspected U.S. strike on Pakistani soil in November and the first to hit outside the tribal districts. At least three non-Pakistanis were believed to be living at the home that was the target of the raid, local official Abdul Hameed, told Newsmen. The U.S. government has not acknowledged hitting targets within Pakistan, an ally in the war on al Qaeda launched after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. But Pakistan's government has repeatedly complained about the strikes.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani took to the floor of the parliament and renewed his condemnation of the attacks Thursday, saying they violate Pakistan's sovereignty. In October, the foreign ministry summoned Patterson to lodge a "strong" protest on continuing missile attacks and said they should be stopped immediately. At the time, a missile strike from a suspected U.S. drone on a compound in South Waziristan killed 20 people.

Sources: Obama Picks Daschle, Napolitano For Cabinet Posts

One source said he believed the final decision depends on the vetting of the Democratic governor, much like the selection of Eric Holder for attorney general. The choices were among several revealed Wednesday as Obama continues the process of assembling a team to accompany him to the White House in January.
Obama has chosen former Sen. Tom Daschle to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the former Senate majority leader has indicated he wants the job, three sources close to the transition told Newsmen The sources said that Daschle negotiated that he will also serve as the White House health "czar," or point person, so that he will report directly to the incoming president. By wearing two hats, Daschle -- not White House staffers -- will be writing the health care plan that Obama submits to Congress next year.
The sources said the precise timing of the announcement has not been worked out, but Daschle is likely to officially join the Obama transition team as the lead adviser on health issues in the next few weeks. An Obama transition official would not comment. Daschle is currently billed as a "special public policy adviser" in the Washington office of the lobbying firm Alston Bird, though he is technically not a federally registered lobbyist. But his wife, Linda Daschle, is a registered lobbyist at the powerful firm Baker Donelson, which does have some clients in health-related fields.
Meanwhile, critics questioned whether Obama's top staff picks so far represent the "change" that he promised during the campaign More than half of the people named so far to Obama's transition or staff posts have ties to former President Bill Clinton's administration. The Clinton-heavy team has caused some Republicans to question Obama's call for change. "I think several individuals are very frustrated to think that President-elect Obama may just cut and paste from some of the Democratic operatives from the Clinton administration and put them into his White House," said Leslie Sanchez, a Republican strategist and contributor.
Republicans aren't the only ones who want Obama to branch out. Robert Kuttner, a liberal and author of "Obama's Challenge," says the president-elect should broaden his recruiting efforts. "It's not as if the only competent people who ever served in government or who are capable are serving in government are veterans of the Clinton administration, so he's got to be careful how many Clintonistas he appoints to top level government posts," Kuttner said.
Before Clinton, however, Democrats had not been in the White House since Jimmy Carter, and many of those in Carter's administration are too old to serve again under Obama. Lanny Davis, President Clinton's former special council, lobbied publicly for Obama to choose Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate during the campaign. Despite what critics say, Davis says real change is about policy, not people. "What this conversation is about is laughable if you ask people in America what they care about. They care about the economy, jobs, education, health care. They don't care about whether somebody who fills a particular box is from a prior administration," he said. The Obama transition team said in a statement that they are dedicated to building a well-rounded administration.
"President-elect Obama is committed to putting together a competent team that is diverse in many ways, including experience. Serving in high level positions whether in government, in the private sector or in public service is seen as a positive," spokesman Nick Shapiro said. Among the so-called "Clintonistas" is the former president's wife, who is widely considered the front-runner to be the next secretary of state.
Obama last week asked Sen. Clinton if she would consider taking on the post, multiple sources told Newsmen. Her response is expected this week.
Observers say President Clinton could pose an obstacle to his wife's becoming secretary of state, given his extensive international business dealings and global foundation. The former president has agreed to release the names of several major donors to his charitable foundation and will submit future foundation activities and paid speeches to a strict ethics review, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions. Clinton also would step away from day-to-day responsibility for his foundation and would alert the State Department to his speaking schedule and any new sources of income, should his wife become the secretary of state, the source said. That move could smooth Sen. Clinton's path to the new job.
Obama's latest selection -- Eric Holder -- also has ties to Clinton. Sources told Newsmen that Obama offered Holder the position of attorney general. Holder served in the Clinton administration as deputy attorney general. Rahm Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff, is a former top aide to President Clinton. And Peter Orszag, the head of the Congressional Budget Office, was picked to head Obama's Office of Management and Budget, a top Democratic source told Newsmen. Orszag worked at the Clinton White House as special assistant to the president at the National Economic Council and served on the Council of Economic Advisers.
There's been little word on how the president-elect's transition team is going about business in the Pentagon, but that is because they are under strict orders not to talk to the news media, according to a senior Pentagon official who has been interacting with the transition team.

Britain, France Push For More U.N. Troops In Congo

IBritain and France are calling for an additional 3,000 United Nations troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the U.N. already has its biggest peacekeeping mission, a senior British diplomat said Wednesday.

A U.N. peacekeeper rides atop an armored vehicle last week in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. Mark Malloch-Brown, the British Foreign Office minister for Africa, the Middle East and the United Nations, announced a draft resolution on the troop increase while on a four-day mission to the war-torn Congo.
Britain expects the U.N. Security Council to adopt the resolution by the end of the week, a spokeswoman for the British mission to the United Nations said.
The resolution follows calls from the United Nations' own peacekeeping experts, Human Rights Watch, and local human rights groups in Congo for more troops to support the 17,000 U.N. soldiers already there. A coalition of 44 organizations in eastern Congo wrote to the Security Council on Tuesday, pleading for more troops.
"This would help to prevent the atrocities that continue to be committed against civilians on an ever greater scale here in North Kivu [province], on the border of Rwanda and Uganda," the coalition wrote.
Fighting between government forces, allied militias and rebels under the command of Laurent Nkunda has forced an estimated 250,000 people to flee their homes since August.
"Since August 28, fighting has intensified in many areas, causing deaths, rapes, lootings, forced recruitment and further displacements of civilian populations," the local coalition wrote."The population has thus been immersed in unspeakable suffering. In the last few days, fighting has drawn closer to large populated areas, such as the town of Goma. Fighting has also invaded and torn apart the region of Rutshuru, particularly in the town of Kiwanja, where hundreds of civilian deaths have now been recorded."
The letter echoes concerns expressed by the British aid group Oxfam last week."The world is failing in its responsibility to protect the Congo's innocent civilians," Juliette Prodhan, the head of Oxfam in Congo, said in a statement released November 13."There has been an increase in incidents of forced labor, rape and widespread brutality, according to assessments carried out by international agency Oxfam over the past week, as armed men from all sides prey upon those who have sought 'sanctuary' from the fighting in North Kivu" province, she said.
Another aid group, World Vision, says the conflict in the African country is the deadliest since World War II. The country has been at war since 1997."The last decade of conflict has resulted in some 4 million deaths; an estimated 1,200 people die every day due to ongoing epidemics and war-related causes; some aid agencies estimate upward of 1,400 deaths per day," World Vision said in a statement. The local groups in Congo specifically requested help from the European Union, which can deploy military units faster than the United Nations can.
Georgette Gagnon, the executive director for the Africa division of Human Rights Watch, said she also would like to see the European Union send troops."Our concern is that it is going to take three months [for the United Nations] to get anybody on the ground," she said. "Our request is for the EU to send a bridging force. The EU has done this in the past for the Congo, and they have the capacity to get people on the ground within two weeks."
The European Union has not announced plans to send troops to police the conflict. Catriona Little, a spokeswoman for the British mission to the United Nations, said London is "not ruling in or out EU forces," instead focusing on strengthening the U.N. presence in eastern Congo.

Apennsylvania woman was charged in the shooting death of an FBI special agent who was killed at her Pittsburgh-area home Wednesday while serving a warrant on a suspected drug ring. Christine Korbe, 40, was charged with one count of criminal homicide in connection with the death of Agent Samuel Hicks, 33, Allegheny County police said.
Newsmen, reports Christine Korbe is the wife of one of the drug suspects Police surrounded the house and announced themselves saying, "This is Pittsburgh police. We have a warrant for your arrest," according to an affidavit obtained by WTAE. The affidavit indicated that Hicks, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, looked inside the house and saw a man running. At that point, authorities said the homeowner, Robert Korbe, 39, went to the basement of the house to flush cocaine down the sink, WTAE reported.
According to the affidavit, Christine Korbe said she got a gun and fired one shot down the steps, thinking it was a burglar coming in and not federal agents. The gunshot struck Hicks and agents and officers pulled him out of the house and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He died at an area hospital, WTAE reported. Christina Korbe, 40, stated that she never heard police announce themselves, but Robert Korbe told police he knew full well it was police and not burglars at the door, according to the affidavit, WTAE reported.
Hicks was accompanied by other members of a multijurisdictional anti-drug task force that was rounding up suspected traffickers in the Pittsburgh area, said FBI spokesman Bill Crowley. He said he didn't know how many people were arrested. Hicks, a native of western Pennsylvania, was married with a 3-year-old son. Hicks and other law enforcement officers were serving a federal warrant in connection with "a violent drug distribution ring,"
"This is the most tragic information you can relay to any spouse, child, parent or colleague," said Michael Rodriguez, special agent in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh office. "He served with honor and bravery and will be greatly missed by his colleagues here in Pittsburgh and throughout the FBI." Rodriguez said Hicks had been with the FBI since March 2007, and was assigned to the Pittsburgh office five months later. Previously he was an officer with the Baltimore Police Department and a teacher.
He had graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown in 1999. The last FBI special agent killed in the line of duty was Barry Lee Bush, 52, who was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow agent outside a bank on April 5, 2007, in Readington, New Jersey, according to the FBI.