An assault by the Syrian army on the restive city of Homs enters its fourth day as Russia’s foreign minister is due in Damascus for talks.

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Syria assault enters fourth day

Officials and residents in the Mississippi River flood plain known as the American Bottom say the Army Corps of Engineers overreacted after Hurricane Katrina.

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Illinois’s Metro East Disputes Levees’ ‘Unacceptable’ Rating

Syria’s army moves to reassert control in rebellious suburbs of Damascus in the worst fighting around the capital in the 10-month uprising, activists say.

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Crackdown on rebels in Damascus

Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff, is leaving the Army in much the same manner that he served in it over the past decade: as an iconoclast. The general, who retires Tuesday, used a final interview with The Washington Post to argue that the law banning women from combat jobs in the military was an unnecessary anachronism — and that women are already effectively serving in combat roles. Read full article > >

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Army’s vice chief of staff, Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, gives closing words of advocacy

PARIS—France said Friday that it will accelerate the pullout of its combat forces from Afghanistan by one year, to the end of 2013, and in concert with Afghanistan urged NATO to hand over all combat operations to the Afghan army by the same date. Read full article > >

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France will speed up troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by one year

The Syrian army launches renewed assaults on the restive cities of Homs and Hama, activists say, as the UN prepares to discuss the conflict.

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Assault on restive Syrian cities

The Pentagon budget will actually shrink next year, for the first time since 1998, under a proposal released by the Obama administration that will cut the size of the Army and Marine Corps, trim the number of fighter aircraft and ships, and seek congressional approval for another round of military base closures. Read full article > >

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Pentagon budget set to shrink next year

Even as the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was preparing a strategic plan designed to improve its problem-plagued federal retirement program, the Army was informing its annuitants of yet another setback — delayed interim payments. Read full article > >

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Federal retirees face confusion, possibly payment delay

“It’s ‘open the envelope time,’ ” Gen. David Petraeus told his security team as his SUV approached the White House on June 21, 2011, for his final meeting with President Obama on the drawdown of forces from Afghanistan. Petraeus had returned to Washington from his command in Kabul for consultations with Obama on the drawdown, and for a Senate committee hearing on his nomination to become the next director of the CIA. On the way from the Pentagon, retired Army general Jack Keane, a mentor and former vice chief of staff of the Army, e-mailed Petraeus with rumors of what he was hearing: The White House was going to recommend 10,000 troops depart by the end of 2011, with the remaining 23,000 surge forces out by the summer of 2012, a far more drastic timetable for withdrawal than Petraeus had recommended. Read full article > >

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Gen. David Petraeus: ‘The troops can’t quit’

While Army pardons 1,959 activists.

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Muslim Brotherhood Tops Election Results

BAGHDAD — Gunmen armed with AK-47 assault rifles opened fire at an army checkpoint in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah on Saturday, killing four soldiers, according to a security official. The attack in the center of the city follows an assault six days earlier in the nearby city of Ramadi, when insurgents tried to blast their way into a police compound and set off a deadly firefight with local police. After that attack, a police major warned that insurgents might soon target Fallujah. Read full article > >

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4 Iraqi troops killed in attack in Fallujah

An army of volunteers is needed to help children play safely outdoors, say campaigners.

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Volunteers to boost outdoor play

JERUSALEM – The chief of the U.S. military held closed talks with the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the Israeli army’s chief of staff Friday in an effort to coordinate responses to Iran’s nuclear program. Read full article > >

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U.S. military chief in Israel for talks on Iran

A proposal to bring in Army medics to cover a shortage of doctors at a hospital’s emergency department is criticised by MPs.

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Army A&E medics plan ‘worrying’

Pakistan’s Supreme Court issues a contempt order against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, raising fresh tensions between the government, courts and army.

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Pakistan PM faces contempt charge