A total of 91,731 reports from United States military databanks relating to the war in Afghanistan are to be made publicly available on the Internet. Never before has it been possible to compare the reality on the battlefield in such a detailed manner with what the US Army propaganda machinery is propagating. WikiLeaks plans to post the documents, most of which are classified, on its website.

Britain's Guardian newspaper, the New York Times and Spiegel have all vetted the material and compared the data with independent reports. All three media sources have concluded that the documents are authentic and provide an unvarnished image of the war in Afghanistan - from the perspective of the soldiers who are fighting it.

The reports, from troops engaged in the ongoing combat, were tersely summarized and quickly dispatched. For the most part, they originate from sergeants - but some have been penned by the occasional lieutenant at a command post or ranking analysts with the military intelligence service.

The editors in chief of Spiegel, the New York Times and the Guardian have agreed that they would not publish especially sensitive information in the classified material - like the names of the US military's Afghan informants or information that could create additional security risks for soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. The publishers were unanimous in their belief that there is a justified public interest in the material because it provides a more thorough understanding of a war that continues today after almost nine years.

Global reserve managers are leading the trend. In the first quarter, central banks who report their reserves added a record $24.5 billion of "other" currencies to their portfolios, Nomura data show. The share of reserves in "other" currencies stood at 3.7 percent in the first quarter, up from 1.5 percent at the beginning of this decade. It's generally believed this category includes currencies of Canada, Australia, Norway, Sweden and New Zealand.

Still, debate over the dollar's role in the global economy continues. Talk of more stimulus money and the possibility of a double-dip recession could lead to escalating worries about the swelling US deficits.

Jerome Booth, head of research at Ashmore Investment Management in London, said investors "should never equate the dollar with risk-free." Booth added that the argument that the US Treasury market is the most liquid in the world may not hold true if a few central banks started selling.

The revelations by the organization Wikileaks emerged as Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of greater NATO casualties in Afghanistan as violence mounts over the summer. It also came as the Taliban said they were holding captive one of two US servicemen who strayed into insurgent territory, and that the other had been killed. The reported capture will further erode domestic support for America's nine-year war.

Documents leaked by Wikileaks said representatives from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence met directly with the Taliban in secret strategy sessions to organize militant networks fighting US soldiers. The White House condemned the leak, saying it could threaten national security and endanger the lives of Americans. Pakistan said leaking unprocessed reports from the battlefield was irresponsible.

US national security adviser Jim Jones said the leak would not affect "our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships with Afghanistan and Pakistan".

The revelations were contained in more than 90,000 classified documents in which US officials focused on the period leading to the launch of President Barack Obama's Afghan strategy last December, when he authorized deployment of 30,000 additional troops.

Declaring itself "appalled" at this "shameful" act of racism, the NAACP said it would investigate the Georgia crowd that cheered her and praised the Department of Agriculture for firing her. On Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was begging for Sherrod's forgiveness, and the NAACP was burbling apologies.

For the video turned out to be an excerpt from a speech in which Sherrod described her growth from a bitter black woman whose father was murdered by a white man into one who found joy helping poor white folks keep their farms. What was it that caused the rush to judgment by Vilsack, the NAACP and a White House that supported the ouster of Sherrod without talking to her or viewing the full tape?

Panic. The White House fears it is losing white America because of a false perception that it harbors a bias against white America. As the National Journal's Ron Brownstein has been reporting, white America is increasingly alienated and distrustful of all our major economic and political power centers - the banks, big corporations, the government. And, for the first time in our lifetimes outside the South, white racial consciousness has visibly begun to rise.

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The decree covers all districts of the country more than 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) above sea level, as well as three regions in the Peruvian jungle that have registered strangely low temperatures in the last few weeks. According to official figures, so far this year at least 409 people have died of pneumonia and ailments related to the cold weather, most of them younger than 5 years old (200 deaths) and over 60 years (158 deaths).

The emergency declaration, which has a duration of 60 days, covers districts in the regions of Ancash, Apurimac, Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cusco, Huancavelica, Huanuco, Junin, Lima, Moquegua, Pasco, Puno and Tacna, which in recent days reached a temperature of -24C (-11 F).

A state of emergency was also declared in the jungle regions of Madre de Dios, Ucayali and Loreto.

This GM soy variety now occupies half the cultivated soy area in the Brazilian state of Matto Grosso, and GM crops occupy half of all agricultural fields in the northern part of the state. The Sinop Rural Union of northern Matto Grosso stated recently that after failing to achieve any positive resolutions through meetings with Monstanto, it is preparing to take the company to court. The union objects to the company's practice of carrying out two separate royalties collections for its patented GM seeds.

In part, they object simply to the high prices Monsanto demands upon purchase of its seeds. "In January they charged R$0.45 (US$0.25) per kilo of seed, which is equivalent to 30 percent of the price of each sack," said the union's president, Antonio Galvan. More fundamentally, however, the union objects to Monsanto's practice of carrying out a second royalties collection at the time of harvest.

The company tests all seeds arriving at warehouses to determine whether they are GM or not, then charges royalties to all farmers who bring in GM seeds and have not paid already. Farmers object that this practice does not account for possible contamination at the warehouse, and penalizes farmers whose seeds have been genetically contaminated through cross-pollination with Monsanto's product.

A second farmers group, the Association of Soya and Corn Producers of Matto Grosso, is also suing Monsanto over excessive royalties, and objects that the company pressures farmers to buy only GM seeds.

In comments posted to the People's Bank of China Web site, the central bank's Deputy Governor Hu Xiaolian said using a basket of currencies from the nation's top trading partners would allow the Chinese yuan to better reflect trading fundamentals. "Compared with pegging to a single currency, the exchange-rate regime with reference to a basket of currencies will help adjust exports and imports, current account, and balance of payment in a more effective manner," she said.

China's central bank currently sets a "central parity rate" against the US dollar each day, with that day's trading range confined to 0.5% above or below that level

North Korea will "legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the US and the South Korean puppet forces," the National Defense Commission said, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The maneuvers, which involve 20 vessels and 200 aircraft from the US and South Korea, pose a threat to the country's sovereignty and security, Ri Tong Il, an official with North Korea's delegation to the Asean Security Forum, told reporters in Hanoi yesterday.

Ri's comments came after North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun sat in the same room with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Hanoi for a security meeting of Asia's largest powers. Clinton condemned North Korea for being "on a campaign of provocative, dangerous behavior," urging Kim Jong Il's regime to change.

Much of the money went on developing and promoting a green-skinned EU superhero called Mr Fruitness designed to persuade children to eat more fruit. Last night critics said such examples of profligacy go to show that the EU should not be insulated from the kind of spending cuts that member states are making.

A spokesman for Open Europe, the Eurosceptic think-tank, said: 'ridiculous spending like this just goes to show that the EU budget contains plenty of fat that can be trimmed away. In these tough economic times, do we really need an EU-funded superhero to tell us that fruit is healthy?'

The website set up to publicise Mr Fruitness - www.fruitness.eu - describes him as 'a superhero with special powers that come from the nutritional substances in fruit - vitamins and others; key components of an intelligent and conscious diet'.

Over 3000 government and private firms now are gathering information, mostly on American citizens, supposedly to combat terrorism. All of these report to the President, and Congress has no control over it. America has become a "top-secret" surveillance state.

A two-year investigation by the newspaper found what it called a "Top Secret America" that's hidden from public view and largely lacking in oversight. The newspaper's investigation is based on hundreds of interviews with intelligence, military and other officials, as well as public documents and records.

In its first installment of a series of reports, the Post said there are now more than 1,200 government organizations and more than 1,900 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in some 10,000 locations across the US.

Approximately 854,000 people - or nearly 1 1/2 times the number of people who live in Washington - have top-secret security clearance, the paper said.

Through the end of this year, the federal estate tax rate is zero - thanks to the package of broad-based tax cuts that President Bush pushed through to get the economy going earlier in the decade. But as of midnight December 31, the death tax returns - at a rate of 55% on estates of $1 million or more. The effect this will have on hospital life-support systems is already a matter of conjecture.

Resurrection of the death tax, however, isn't the only tax problem that will be ushered in January 1. Many other cuts from the Bush administration are set to disappear and a new set of taxes will materialize. And it's not just the rich who will pay.

The lowest bracket for the personal income tax, for instance, moves up 50% - to 15% from 10%. The next lowest bracket - 25% - will rise to 28%, and the old 28% bracket will be 31%. At the higher end, the 33% bracket is pushed to 36% and the 35% bracket becomes 39.6%.

But the damage doesn't stop there. The marriage penalty also makes a comeback, and the capital gains tax will jump 33% - to 20% from 15%. The tax on dividends will go all the way from 15% to 39.6% - a 164% increase. Letting the Bush cuts expire will cost taxpayers $115 billion next year alone, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and $2.6 trillion through 2020.

Booker estimates that the pool closures alone would save $250,000. He also says that no gas will be purchased for municipal vehicles that are not deemed critically important.

"Taxes can not be the answer," Booker said. Booker says property taxes in Newark have gone up 76 percent in last decade and 19 percent in the past five years.

At the news conference Booker was also quoted as saying, "Call me Mr Scrooge, if you want, but they'll be no Christmas decorations around the city." Booker has proposed a $600 million budget which includes the possibility of laying off as many as 350 police and firefighters.

Temperatures in the capital hit 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time since 1981, said the Fobos weather forecasting centre, which provides weather data for the country's top media outlets.

Environmental groups including Greenpeace say Russia's heatwave is evidence of global warming, but forecasters with the national weather centre have said it is too early to draw a direct link.

The Russian Grain Union, an industry lobby, said the drought was Russia's worst in 130 years and had already shrivelled grain on 9 million hectares - an area the size of Portugal and about one fifth of the total area sown for this year's harvest. The drought is forcing Russia and neighbouring Ukraine and Kazakhstan to cut their grain production targets, officials said.

Bonnie is the second named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, with wind speeds of 40mph (65km/h), the US National Hurricane Center says. Forecasters say the edge of the tropical storm could reach the spill area by early on Saturday. It has already caused flooding in Haiti, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and is moving north-west over the Bahamas, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Admiral Allen said the rig drilling the relief well - which will ultimately be used to block the leaking well permanently - and many other boats would leave the area. Earlier on Thursday, Admiral Allen said increasing confidence in the security of a new cap placed on the leaking well had convinced scientists it would be safe to leave the capped well unmonitored for several days.

Permission for BP to test the integrity of the well was conditional on close seismic, acoustic and visual monitoring - all of which will stop during the evacuation of the site. The first relief well is only 4ft from the damaged well horizontally, but more work needs to be done before it can be used for a "kill" to stop the flow permanently. A final piece of casing needs to be cemented in place at the bottom of the relief well.

Zenit interviewed Monsignor Andrew Summersgill, coordinator for the September 16-19 Papal visit to the United Kingdom, about the preparations and the climate in that region. In this interview, Monsignor Summersgill explained the significance of the invitation to the Pope by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and he described some of the ways in which Catholics are being prepared for the visit of the Pope.

Monsignor Summersgill said,"The queen is a practicing Christian and quite clearly a woman of faith. You only have to listen to her Christmas broadcast to appreciate this. An invitation to undertake a State visit is unique for the visiting Head of State - it cannot be repeated. So I am sure it is with a personal warmth and welcome that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II issued the invitation. Though of course in these matters the queen acts on the advice of the government. Both the previous and present government is committed to offering the Pope a welcome as the spiritual leader of approximately ten percent of the UK population, as well as affirming the different areas of cooperation between the UK government and the Holy See, especially in tackling poverty in the world and in the shared commitment to education."