Reports Claim Woods Crash Followed Argument With Wife

The mystery over Tiger Woods' car crash intensified Saturday when his agent called state troopers on their way to Woods' house and asked them to wait another day before speaking to him. It was the second straight day Woods was unavailable to talk. His wife, Elin, told troopers on Friday afternoon, after the world's No. 1 golfer had been treated and released from a hospital, that he was sleeping and asked that they return Saturday. The postponements came as reports claimed the bizarre overnight car crash outside his Florida home Friday may have occurred following an argument with his wife. Celebrity Web site TMZ claimed Woods was confronted by Elin with the report that he had been seeing New York night club hostess Rachel Uchitel. The argument grew heated, and according to TMZ’s source, she scratched his face up. He then beat a hasty retreat to his SUV, with her following behind with a golf club. She reportedly used the club on the golfer's vehicle. Woods, then, reportedly became distracted, causing the car crash.

Pakistan President Under Increasing Pressure to Resign

Pakistan's unpopular president is coming under increasing pressure from the powerful army and political opponents to resign or relinquish most of his powers, fueling political turmoil just as the West wants the country to focus on the threat posed by Al Qaeda and the Taliban. An amnesty protecting President Asif Ali Zardari and several of his key allies from graft prosecution expired Saturday, raising the possibility of legal challenges to his rule and triggering calls from the major opposition party for him to step down. Hours earlier, he relinquished command of the country's nuclear arsenal to the prime minister. He has said he will also give up some other powers inherited from his predecessor, former military leader and President Pervez Musharraf. The upheaval comes as the Obama administration is expected to announce this week a new strategy for defeating the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan and on Pakistan's western border. Any new approach will need political stability in Pakistan to have any hope of succeeding. A military coup to oust Zardari appears unlikely, as does impeachment, since he heads the largest party in Parliament. The opposition has not called anti-government street rallies, perhaps wary of pushing the country into chaos and paving the way for another stint of military rule. Zardari, 54, is languishing in opinion polls just 15 months after taking office. He has long been haunted by corruption allegations dating back to governments led by his late wife, Benazir Bhutto. He denies accusations that he took kickbacks that saddled him with the nickname, "Mr. 10 Percent." He also has found himself locked in a power struggle with the powerful military, which has objected to his overtures toward nuclear-armed rival India and his acceptance of a multibillion dollar U.S. aid bill that came with conditions some fear impose controls over the army. Zardari's office said the decision to transfer control of the National Command Authority to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was a step toward ceding sweeping presidential powers that had been adopted by Musharraf. The authority comprises a group of top military and political leaders who would make any decision to deploy nuclear weapons. In an interview Friday with a local television station, Zardari said he was also likely to relinquish the authority he inherited from Musharraf to dissolve Parliament and appoint services chiefs by the end of this year — as the opposition and civic activists have long demanded. That would reduce his job to a more ceremonial role, but would lesson some of the pressures on him to step down. Speculation over Zardari's future has escalated after he was forced to abandon an effort to get Parliament to approve the amnesty passed by Musharraf that granted more than 8,000 bureaucrats and politicians — including the president and many others from his Pakistan People's Party — immunity from a host of corruption and criminal charges. The amnesty list was part of a U.S.-backed deal to allow Prime Minister Bhutto to return from exile in 2007 and run for office safe in the knowledge she would not be dogged by corruption allegations. The U.S. and other Western nations supported the bid by Bhutto, who was seen as a secular and pro-Western politician. But Bhutto, who was forced from her post twice in the 1990s because of alleged misrule and corruption, was killed by a homicide bomber shortly after she returned to Pakistan. Zardari took over as co-chairman of her party and was elected president in September 2008 by federal and regional lawmakers.

Obama to announce increase in troops to Afghanistan

Barack Obama is set to make the boldest strategic move of his presidency on Tuesday and order a surge of tens of thousands more US troops into an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan. Addressinbg the cadets at the prestigious West Point military academy, Obama is expected to announce between 30,000 and 35,000 reinforcements as part of a new Afghan strategy intended in his own words to "finish the job" there. More than eight years after a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime after it refused to hand over Osama bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders accused of plotting the September 11 attacks in 2001, the president is also under pressure to lay out an exit strategy in address to the American nation. There were 35,000 American soldiers fighting the Taliban-led insurgency when Obama became president. After an initial boost in February there are now about 68,000. Tuesday's announcement could see troop levels triple under his tenure. Obama will therefore insist the renewed US engagement is neither unlimited nor unconditional and that the cause is clear: to prevent the region from serving as a base for attacks against the United States -- far from the grandiose notion of installing democracy espoused by the Bush administration. He will make the training of Afghan forces imperative and impress upon corruption tainted Afghan President Hamid Karzai, re-elected to a second term after disputed elections in August, the need to improve his governance.

Bin Laden Was 'Within Our Grasp'

Usama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says. The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says. Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the Al Qaeda leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Although limited to a review of military operations eight years old, the report could also be read as a cautionary note for those resisting an increased troop presence there now. More pointedly, it seeks to affix a measure of blame for the state of the war today on military leaders under former president George W. Bush, specifically Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and his top military commander, Tommy Franks. "Removing the Al Qaeda leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat," the report says. "But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide. The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism."

Britain will continue its support for Pakistan: PM Brown

British Prime minister Gordon Brown has assured Pakistan of their full support and cooperation in war against terror. On the other hand, Peresident Asif Ali Zardari has told that the South Waziristan operation will continue till the objectives are achieved. In a telephonic conversation between the two leaders, Mr Brown lauded the role of Pakistan and its contributions to eliminate terrorism from the region.He also said that Britain will continue to cooperate till the restoration of economy and rehabilitation of the operation affectees. The leaders also exchanged views on the availability of Pakistani goods in the European markets. The British PM wished President Zardari a very happy eid. Mr Zardari told the PM that the Pak army is achieving its objectives in the Waziristan operation, and that it will continue till situation goes back to normal.