US-AFGHANISTAN-GATES
NEW: Gates: US cannot cede Afghanistan to Taliban
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates is telling Congress that a U.S. failure in Afghanistan would mean "a Taliban takeover" of the wartorn South Asian nation.
In remarks prepared for a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing later Wednesday, Gates said defeat for America also would strengthen the al-Qaida terrorist network and give comfort to like-thinking extremists in the region.
Gates was lined up to appear along with other administration witnesses a day after President Barack Obama announced he was sending an additional 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan, some as early as Christmas. Obama also revealed a goal of commencing a U.S. troop withdrawal by the summer of 2011.
US-AFGHANISTAN-CLINTON
NEW: Clinton: Obama's Afghan policy right for US
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling the Obama administration's newly announced surge-and-exit strategy in Afghanistan "the best way to protect our nation now and in the future."
In testimony she readied for a Senate panel Wednesday, Clinton also maintained that the strategy overhaul that President Barack Obama has announced was badly needed in the wake of the time and energy the U.S. has spent in recent years elsewhere — in Iraq.
Clinton said in her prepared remarks that the American focus in Afghanistan has been distracted in recent years by "the fog of another war." She said if the United States doesn't remain committed in Afghanistan, the terrorist forces that attacked this country will again have access to "the very same safe havens they used before 2001."
US-AFGHANISTAN: REAX
Biden, McCain spar over Obama's new Afghan buildup
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden says the Obama administration's new surge-and-exit troop strategy in Afghanistan serves notice on the Karzai government that "you now have to step up to the ball."
A day after President Barack Obama outlined his plan to send 30,000 additional troops, Biden said on CBS's "The Early Show" that the announcement of a plan to commence withdrawal by July 2011 wasn't intended to make the surge "more palatable" to the American public.
But Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who lost to Obama last year, said he disagrees with suggesting an endgame. McCain, appearing on CBS, said he supports Obama's strategy generally. But he also said that signaling a likely withdrawal date is "sounding an uncertain trumpet" to America's friends in the region.
AFGHANISTAN-MILITARY REACTION
UPDATE: US troops hope Obama plan will wind down war
FORWARD OPERATING BASE AIRBORNE, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. service members in Afghanistan are welcoming President Barack Obama's decision to send in 30,000 more troops.
They're hopeful it will allow them to get back home sooner. But they know that will depend on whether the reinforcements can build up the Afghan army to protect civilians against the Taliban.
An Air Force sergeant on his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq says, "As soon as the Afghans can do it on their own without our help, we can go home." He says the Afghans are inexperienced but determined.
But a sergeant with the Army's 10th Mountain Division questions whether Afghan forces will be ready in 18 months, the time frame set by Obama for starting to withdraw U.S. troops.
And a civil affairs officer says more troops mean nothing unless they can give local Afghans a sense of perceived security. He says the reason the surge worked in Iraq is because troops were able to get into the field and make Iraqis feel safer.
The men were interviewed at a base west of Kabul.
NATO-AFGHANISTAN
NEW: No word on more troops from largest allies
BRUSSELS (AP) — Britain, France and Germany are mum on sending more troops to Afghanistan. They're holding off until a conference planned for late January in London.
NATO's chief says he expects allies to contribute more than 5,000 more troops to the international force. Poland says it will likely send another 600 reinforcements. A news report says Spain's defense ministry is considering sending additional 200.
Albania says it would look favorably on increasing its unit, and Italy says it will do its part. Finland says it will consider sending more troops next week.
Those announcements came hours after President Barack Obama announced the deployment of 30,000 new U.S. troops to the effort. Obama has promised to start withdrawing troops in 18 months.
IRAN-NUCLEAR
Ahmadinejad: Iran will refine uranium to 20 percent
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran will enrich its uranium to a higher level in direct contravention to an international call to halt the process.
Ahmadinejad expressed frustration with negotiations over a U.N.-backed deal to swap Iran's low-enriched uranium for higher-enriched fuel rods to power its medical research reactor.
He told a crowd of thousands Wednesday in the southern city of Isfahan that Iran "will produce 20 percent" enriched uranium and "anything it needs" for its nuclear program.
The West fears Iran's enrichment program will produce the material for a nuclear bomb, a charge Iran denies.
The idea behind the swap deal was to keep Iran from having sufficient enriched uranium on hand to produce a weapon.
UNINVITED GUESTS-BIDEN
NEW: Biden says he assumed they were invited
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden says he assumed they were invited guests.
He's talking about Tareq (TAH'-rehk) and Michaele Salahi (mih-KEHL' sah-LAH'-hee), who posed for pictures with Biden and others at last week's state dinner for the prime minister of India. It turned out they were there without an invitation.
Biden spoke about the episode this morning on NBC and CBS. He said he didn't know the couple -- but that they "acted like they knew everybody in the room." He says they acted like they were Biden's "old buddies."
Biden isn't offering any opinion on whether he thinks they should face criminal charges for attending without an invitation.
The couple have said they believed they were invited. The Secret Service says they weren't on the guest list and that it erred by letting them into the dinner.
Biden said he was "completely satisfied" with the Secret Service, which he said does "a great job" protecting him and his family.
TIGER WOODS
NEW: Woods says he's let family down
UNDATED (AP) — Tiger Woods says he has let his family down and regrets "those transgressions with all of my heart."
In a statement Wednesday on his Web site, Woods says he has not been "true to my values and the behavior my family deserves."
He offered his "profound apology" to his supporters.
His comments came after Us Weekly magazine published a cover story alleging that a Los Angeles cocktail waitress had a 31-month affair with the world's No. 1 golfer.
WALL STREET
UPDATE: Stocks open in narrow range after jobs report
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are little changed in early trading after a private group's report showed job cuts declined in November for the eighth straight month, but not as much as forecast.
Overseas markets were mixed Wednesday.
In the first of three straight days of employment reports, the ADP National Employment Report says 169,000 private sector jobs were lost in November. That's slightly worse than the 160,000 cuts expected by economists, but better than the 195,000 jobs lost in October.
REACHING THE BANKLESS
NEW: FDIC: Poor, minorities struggle to access banks
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bank regulators say nearly 26 percent of U.S. households have little or no access to banking services, and the problem hits poor and minority families the hardest.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says many black, Hispanic and native American populations struggle to access savings accounts and other services critical to financial security.
The agency says 71 percent of the households that have no access to banks earn less than $30,000 a year.
The data come from the second FDIC survey to review access to basic banking services. It's part of an effort to bring the so-called "unbanked" into the financial mainstream.
The Census Bureau conducted the survey on behalf of the FDIC.
ITALY-ROBOTIC HAND
Experts: Man controlled robotic hand with thoughts
ROME (AP) — A group of European scientists say they have successfully connected a robotic hand to a man who had lost an arm, allowing him to feel sensations in the artificial hand and control it with his thoughts.
The experiment lasted a month. Scientists say it was the first time an amputee has been able to make complex movements using his mind to control a biomechanic hand connected to his nervous system.
The Italian-led team said at a news conference Wednesday in Rome that last year they implanted electrodes into the arm of the patient, who had lost his left hand and forearm in a car accident.
The electrodes were removed after a month, during which the man learned to wiggle the robotic fingers and make other movements.
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