August 26, 2010 - Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A foreign spy agency pulled off the most serious breach of Pentagon computer networks ever by inserting a flash drive into a U.S. military laptop, a top defense official said Wednesday.

The previously classified incident, which took place in 2008 in the Middle East, was disclosed in a magazine article by Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn and released by the Pentagon Wednesday.

He said a "malicious code" on the flash drive spread undetected on both classified and unclassified Pentagon systems, "establishing what amounted to a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control."

"It was a network administrator's worst fear: a rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary," Lynn wrote in an article for Foreign Affairs. "This ... was the most significant breach of U.S. military computers ever and it served as an important wake-up call."

August 24, 2010 - Associated Press

BAGHDAD -- The number of U.S. troops in Iraq has fallen below 50,000 for the first time since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and ahead of the end-of-the-month deadline mandated by President Obama, the American military said in a statement Tuesday.

The number is a watershed in the more than seven years that the United States has been at war in Iraq. Under Obama's plan, American forces will no longer conduct combat operations but are instead to focus on training Iraqi troops.

Agence France-Presse
Aug. 16, 2010. 09:47 PM EST
The proposed construction of a 100-million-dollar, 13-story mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York City, has stirred raw emotions in the United States as the country prepares to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that the US government should not interfere in people's religion, or where they worship. He said that Muslims are "as welcome to worship in lower Manhattan as anyone else."

August 10, 2010 - Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran has dug mass graves in which to bury U.S. troops in case of any American attack on the country, a commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday, warning that a military strike would spark an "extensive war" in the region.

The announcement appears to be a show of bravado after the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said last week that the U.S. military has a contingency plan to attack Iran, although he thinks a military strike is probably a bad idea.

Private employers added new workers at a weak pace for the third straight month, making it more likely economic growth will slow in the coming months. The jobless rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent.

Press Association UK
Aug. 04, 2010. 10:36 AM EST
British forces have been consolidating a "significant gain" after seizing the last Taliban stronghold in an area of southern Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama declared Monday that the Iraq war was nearing an end "as promised and on schedule," touting what he called a success of his administration.

BP hopes to keep using its giant cork to block oil from reaching the Gulf of Mexico until they plug the blown out well permanently. As AP's Haven Daley reports, business owners and visitors are starting to get their lives back to normal.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana's NewsCenter) - A fifteen year old girl is being nationally recognized for her work supporting the troops. Alison Mansfield is one of ten young people across the country to be named a Huggable Hero through Build-A-Bear-Workshop's Community Service Program.

An amendment to end the military’s long-established ban on allowing abortions in its overseas hospitals was passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee in late May. It would require women to pay for abortions upfront and without government funds, but would allow doctors at military hospitals to perform the procedures if those conditions are met. The amendment would overturn a policy put into place by Congress in the mid-1990s that restricted abortions at military hospitals only to cases of rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is in danger. To read more on this issue, please go to: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/7/military-abortion-issue-returns/