Afghanistan Slowly Slipping away out of U.S. Hands

And so their back. Today Afghan suicide bomber kills 18 people in an attempt to kill provincial governor Mohammed Daoud Safi. The governor was inside the compound and was not hurt in the attack.

• In Kandahar, Safia Ama Jan, Afghan Minister for Women's Affairs was killed by two gunmen in front of her home.

• Japan elected their new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. At 52 he is the youngest leader since world war II.
• Chrysler Group may sell Chinese Chery Automobiles. Wow.
• President Bush defends his grounds on war againts terror, saying it isn't true that the Iraq war increased the terrorist threat to the United States.

• Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice challenge Ex-President Clinton's statement.
• "What we did in the eight months [between Bush's inauguration and 9/11] was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding years," Rice told the New York Post in comments published Tuesday.
  

• New Zealand voted as the coolest places in the world by UK brand: CoolBrands.

• Google pushing for more electrical efficiency in PCsToday is the is the 269th day of the year.270th in leap year.Today is also European Day of LanguagesCelebrating linguistic diversity, plurilingualism, lifelong language learning.
• Golf Legend Byron Nelson died tonight of natural causes, he is 94 years old.
  

Today In History

• 1944 :World War II: Operation Market Garden fails.
• 1934 :Steamship RMS Queen Mary is launched.
• 1918 :World War I: Battle of Meuse.
• 1810 :A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.
• 1789 :Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first United States Secretary of State, John Jay is appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Osgood is appointed the first United States Postmaster General, and Edmund Randolph is appointed the first United States Attorney General.
• 1783 :Fayette County, Pennsylvania created
• 1777 :British troops occupy Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.
• 1687 :The Parthenon in Athens is partially destroyed after an explosion caused by the bombing from Venetian forces led by Morosini who were besieging the Ottoman Turks stationed in Athens.
• 1580 :Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe.
• 0715 :Ragenfrid defeats Theudoald at the Battle of Compiègne.
• 46 BC : Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to his mythical ancestor Venus Genetrix in fulfilment of a vow he made at the battle of Pharsalus.