Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Pentagon plays down comments on US role in Iraq

By Dan De Luce, AFP

9 hrs ago

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta suggested that Iraq had agreed to keep American troops in the country beyond a 2011 deadline, but Baghdad insisted the issue was still under negotiation.

In an interview with two US newspapers published Friday, Panetta said the Iraqis appeared to have made up their mind to extend the presence of American troops beyond the year-end withdrawal deadline.

“My view is that they finally did say, ‘Yes,'” Panetta told Stars and Stripes and the Military Times.

2 Verizon strike to end but talks to continue

By Sinead Carew, Reuters

48 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – About 45,000 Verizon Communications employees are set end a two-week strike and return to work by Tuesday after the telephone company and unions said they reached an agreement to resume bargaining.

Almost half of the workers in Verizon’s wireline business went on strike on August 7 after talks for a new labor pact failed when their contract expired.

Under the latest agreement, reached early on Saturday morning, Verizon promised to extend the terms of the old contract indefinitely while it continues bargaining for a new one with unions representing technicians and customer service workers.

3 Analysis: Diplomatic woes pile up for isolated Israel

By Crispian Balmer, Reuters

4 hrs

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel was expecting a diplomatic tsunami to strike in September, but the problems have come sooner than expected, leaving it ever more isolated in the Middle East.

Egypt’s decision on Saturday to recall its envoy from Israel will remove the last Arab ambassador from Tel Aviv, further undermining a relationship that had started to buckle following the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Tensions flared after a cross-border attack earlier this week, with Cairo accusing Israeli forces of shooting dead three Egyptian security guards during gunbattles with Palestinian militants who had earlier ambushed and killed eight Israelis.

4 Investors seeing gold in farmland, infrastructure

By Christine Stebbins, Reuters

6 hrs ago

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The overall economy may be struggling against a double-dip recession but in farm country the boom times have rarely been better.

Farmland prices are setting records and farmer incomes have been buoyed by exports and biofuels, easing the pain of some rough summer weather from drought, floods and fires.

Amid China’s voracious appetite for grains and worries about climate hurting crops and food supplies in many countries, U.S. agriculture’s attraction as the world’s breadbasket has become a beacon for Wall Street.

5 Free games boost gaming industry revenue

By Michelle Martin, Reuters

7 hrs ago

COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) – An increase in the number of people playing free games is providing the gaming industry with an additional source of revenue as gamers shell out millions for virtual goods and add-ons.

Free games, once the bane of the gaming industry, are now proving lucrative for game developers who entice people to pay for virtual costumes or tools which enhance game experience.

According to a survey published by German tech industry association Bitkom earlier this month, 45 percent of German gamers opt for free-to-play versions only.

6 Libya rebels take seaside city close to Tripoli

By BEN HUBBARD, KARIN LAUB, Associated Press

11 mins ago

ZAWIYA, Libya (AP) – Libyan rebels took control of this coastal city Saturday, clearing a major hurdle in their march toward Moammar Gadhafi’s remaining bastion, the capital of Tripoli, just 30 miles away.

Rebel fighters said Gadhafi’s troops put up little resistance before fleeing their posts in Zawiya’s hospital and multistory buildings around the main square – another sign suggesting that the Libyan dictator’s 42-year-old regime is crumbling.

Trucks and cars packed with rebels as well as civilians drove around Zawiya’s central square, honking horns, flashing V-for-victory signs and yelling “Allahu akbar” or “God is great!” An ambulance crew posed for photos on the sidewalk while a rebel called through a loudspeaker on his truck, “Zawiya is liberated!”

7 Norway massacre survivors return to scene of crime

By MALIN RISING, Associated Press

1 hr 14 mins

UTVIKA, Norway (AP) – Survivors of a massacre which claimed the lives of 69 people in Norway last month carried flowers to the site of the killings Saturday, laughter blending with tears as they remembered the joys of an island youth camp that turned into a scene of horror.

Stine Renate Haaheim, who survived the shooting spree on Utoya island, said her feelings ranged from emptiness and extreme grief to joy when she returned to the place she had visited each summer for more than 10 years before the horrific events on July 22.

“There was an extreme mix of feelings because it was very difficult and we are still in grief, but at the same time I was looking forward to seeing Utoya. I was hoping that in some kind of way it will still be the same island as it used to be,” Haaheim, 27, told The Associated Press after returning from the island.

8 In Iraq, youngest US troops bore the heaviest toll

By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer

4 hrs ago

SILVANA, Wash. (AP) – In a hilltop graveyard overlooking this Stillaguamish River village lies a young soldier killed in the infancy of the Iraq war.

Army Spc. Justin W. Hebert’s story is sad and sadly unremarkable, a tragedy bound up in the tale of a grinding war that took young lives with grievous regularity. Nearly one-third of U.S. troops killed in Iraq were age 18 to 21. Well over half were in the lowest enlisted ranks.

For Hebert, the Army was an adventure. But it didn’t last long.

9 Boomer Sooner! Oklahoma No. 1 in AP Top 25

By RALPH D. RUSSO, AP College Football Writer

6 hrs ago

NEW YORK (AP) – Being voted preseason No. 1 is a tradition at Oklahoma, and this season is no different.

The Sooners will start out top-ranked in The Associated Press college football poll for the 10th time, more than any program in the country.

The defending Big 12 champions received 36 of 60 first-place votes and 1,464 points in the Top 25 released Saturday.

5 comments

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  1. there was no rush.

  2. Got dragged away from the bs I was dealing with all week. I spent the day going to the farmer’s market. I picked up locally grown zucchini, plum tomatoes to try out one of the recipes in the Health & Fitness diary with some seared Salmon and pasta.

    I also bought some white peaches. I tried one when I got home and it was so sweet and crisp at the same time. Some peaches are tasteless and grainy from the grocery store. I may go pick up more tomorrow to make a cobbler.

    I’ve been down at the marina most of the afternoon relaxing & enjoying the waning days of Summer. Headed home to cook and enjoy the wonderful evening.

  3. I remember being so excited about the crop of Democratic presidential candidates back in 2007/8. Now I wonder if there was ever a true Democrat in that bunch.

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