Muara Teweh!

Two of Pakistan’s bigger opposition parties said today they would probably boycott the parliamentary elections due to be held in early January if the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, persisted in holding the vote while still maintaining emergency rule.

However, the leader of the biggest opposition party, Benazir Bhutto, has not yet said whether she would pull her party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, out of the election.

On Sunday, Ms. Bhutto said General Musharraf’s announcement that elections would go ahead in January was a positive though insufficient step. Today she assumed a slightly tougher tone, suggesting her negotiations with General Musharraf had come to an end.

“We cannot work with anyone who has suspended the Constitution, imposed emergency rule and oppressed the judiciary,” she said. “We are saying ‘no’ to any more talks.” » Read more after the jump →

The six leading Democratic presidential candidates showed up for the Iowa Democratic Party’s big Jefferson Jackson Dinner on Saturday night, and five of them gave very good speeches.

Barack Obama’s was excellent. It was one of the best of his campaign. The passion he showed should help him close the gap on Hillary Clinton by tipping some undecided caucusgoers his way.

His oratory was moving, and he successfully contrasted himself with the others — especially Clinton — without being snide or nasty about it.

That was an important thing for him to do. Historically, the Iowa party’s “JJ” dinner is a landmark event in Democratic presidential caucus campaigns. All the key party activists, donors and players are present. This year, about 9,000 of them showed up.

(Most were from Iowa, though there was some grumbling that Obama packed the place with ringers from Illinois. Joe Biden even greeted them in his speech. The charge that they brought » Read more after the jump →

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - First lady Laura Bush, an increasingly prominent voice on matters at home and abroad, says the difference lately is not her policy role in the White House but rather the attention she gets for it.

“The fact is, I’ve been involved for a long time in policy, and I think I just didn’t get a lot of coverage on it,” she said in a rare Sunday talk show appearance.

“I mean, I really do think there’s a stereotype. And I was stereotyped as being a certain way because I was a librarian and a teacher and, you know, had the careers that traditional women have,” she said.

She returned last week from the Middle East, where she promoted breast cancer awareness in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan. » Read more after the jump →

WASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani, to quote a Democratic rival, would be like President Bush on steroids in the way he would go about protecting the U.S. from terrorists. In reality, Giuliani doesn’t seem very different from Bush on the issue.

The former New York mayor says the government shouldn’t be shy about eavesdropping on citizens. He is prepared to use military force to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons and root out terrorists in Pakistan. And he opposes a U.S. pullout from Iraq.

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh, a Giuliani friend and adviser on homeland security issues, said in an interview: “I would say they’re very much joined at the hip on these policies, and particularly the mind-set and commitment of both the president and Mayor Giuliani to stay on offense.”

Giuliani sounds more muscular. » Read more after the jump →

By Tabassum Zakaria
Reuters

The United States pressed the Iraqi government and Kurdish leaders to move quickly to stop Kurdish rebel attacks against Turkey and said on Monday it did not want to see the conflict widen along the border.

President George W. Bush expressed his “deep concern” about the Kurdish rebel attacks and told Turkish President Abdullah Gul that the United States would continue to urge the Iraqis to take action against the PKK, the White House said.

Bush also spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and they agreed to work with Turkey to prevent the Kurdish rebels from carrying out attacks from Iraqi soil, the White House said.

The United States and Iraq had been asking Turkey to show restraint, but Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan faces increasing domestic pressure to show force against the Kurdish rebels » Read more after the jump →

By STEVEN LEE MYERS
NyTimes.com
JERUSALEM, Oct. 15 — It has officially been a secret of American diplomacy, if not a particularly well-kept one: the time and place of the international conference called by President Bush to begin negotiating peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday lifted the secrecy and, perhaps, nudged the process forward.

“We have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op,” Ms. Rice said after meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah, referring to the capital of Maryland and home of the United States Naval Academy.

Ms. Rice also let slip the words “November document,” setting a deadline of sorts for the Israelis and Palestinians to agree on a written document to serve as the basis for the peace talks. The conference is expected to begin Nov. 26, Israeli officials said. » Read more after the jump →

WASHINGTON — Kathleen Casey-Kirschling filed for early retirement Monday, becoming the first baby boomer to start collecting Social Security.

Born one second after midnight in January 1946, the retired teacher leads the way for as many as 80 million individuals who will qualify for the retirement payout.

“I think I’m just lucky to be at the top of the boom. I’m just one of many many millions and am blessed to have been in this generation and really blessed and to take my Social Security now,” Casey-Kirschling said during a ceremony held at the National Press Club featuring Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue.

Casey-Kirschling said she supports anyone who wants to collect retirement benefits whenever he or she is eligible to take them. But many Washington officials and American workers are wondering if Social Security will be able to support them. » Read more after the jump →