Taliban: All local leaders must quit

A Taliban spokesman has issued a series of threats and ultimatums against Pakistan’s ruling political class as that country’s artillery and helicopters continue to pound the Islamic militant group in the Swat Valley. Speaking on the telephone with CNN, Muslim Khan announced that all national and provincial parliament members from the Malakand Division, the northwestern region where the Swat Valley is located, must resign within three days.

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Investigator: Texting driver should have seen stopped trolley

The operator of a trolley that rear-ended another trolley should have been able to see the other vehicle was stopped 480 feet ahead, a federal investigator said Monday. The trolley driver has told investigators he was text messaging during Friday night’s collision, which injured 20 people

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Scientists discover winter home of world’s second-biggest fish

The migration patterns of basking sharks have long mystified marine biologists, but new research has finally revealed where the world’s second-biggest fish hide out for half of every year. “While commonly sighted in surface waters during summer and autumn months, the disappearance of basking sharks during winter has been a great source of debate ever since an article in 1954 suggested that they hibernate on the ocean floor during this time,” said Gregory Skomal of Massachusetts Marine Fisheries, one of the authors of a report recently published in “Current Biology”. “Some 50 years later, we have helped to solve the mystery while completely re-defining the known distribution of this species.” Using new satellite-tagging and a new geo-location technique, the researchers found that basking sharks make long migrations through tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean during the winter, traveling at depths of 200 to 1,000 meters.

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The GOP Plans a Rebirth, with Pepperoni and Protests

If House and Senate Republican leaders have their way, Saturday’s gathering at Pie-Tanza, a strip-mall pizza joint in Arlington, Virginia, will be remembered as the beginning of the rebirth of the Grand Old Party. In addition to pizza, the venue, selected by the freshly born, center-leaning National Council for a New America , served up symbolism: suburban areas like this one, on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., were GOP bastions not so long ago, and they’ll need to come back to the fold for a Republican resurgence.

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U.N. wary of second wave of swine flu

A shutdown of public venues in Mexico City is likely to be lifted by Wednesday, despite caution by U.N. health officials that a second wave of the swine flu virus could "strike with a vengeance." By early Monday, the number of cases worldwide stood at 985, with 26 deaths. Twenty-five deaths were reported in Mexico — the epicenter of the outbreak with 590 cases.

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Asia markets rise on China manufacturing rise

Asian markets were buoyed on Monday as a report showed manufacturing output in China on the rise, while Asian governments agreed to create a $120 billion foreign currency reserve fund. The notice would allow The New York Times Co., which owns the Massachusetts newspaper, to close it in 60 days, the Globe reported. The Times Co

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Boston Globe owner threatens to shut newspaper down

The Boston Globe management warned the newspaper’s four unions Sunday that failure to reach a financial concession would force the company to file a notice to shut down, the Guild said in a statement. The notice would allow The New York Times Co., which owns the Massachusetts newspaper, to close it in 60 days, the Globe reported. The Times Co

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Craigslist suspect’s wedding called off

The wedding of a Boston, Massachusetts, medical student accused of killing a woman he met through Craigslist has been called off, his fiancee’s lawyer said. Megan McAllister, who was accompanied by her mother, met Phillip Markoff for about 25 minutes in a Boston jail earlier this week, her lawyer Robert Honecker told CNN affiliate WCVB

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