(The Hindu) President Obama can call an end to the Fourth Afghan War and allow the Pakistani Army to fill the void, or he can shift tack and push for an end to the alliance between generals and jihadis that lies at the root of the region's terror complex.

(Haaretz) Livni told Haaretz on Thursday that she would not join a government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu that would include Shas, Habayit Hayehudi and National Union, but she would be willing to consider a Likud-Kadima-Yisrael Beiteinu coalition.

(Washinton Post) Alison Des Forges, a human rights activist who drew the world's attention to the killings of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Rwanda in the 1990s and chronicled the massacre in a powerful account of modern genocide, died Feb. 12 in the crash of a Continental Airlines passenger plane in Clarence Center, N.Y., near Buffalo. She was 66.

CANTERBURY, England (New York Times) Nearly three weeks of discussion aimed at preventing a breakup of the worldwide Anglican Communion over homosexuality ended Sunday at a conference here with 650 bishops and archbishops agreeing to seek a new pact among all parties to the ecclesiastical controversy.

(San Jose Mercury) Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's visit to Washington comes at a time when his nation of 165 million is being lost to the dark side.

LONDON (Christian Science Monitor) The deep fractures in the 80-million-strong Anglican church were laid bare Wednesday as the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams opened a once-a-decade summit with a quarter of bishops boycotting the event because of a festering row over sexuality and liberal interpretation of Scripture.

COPENHAGEN (International Herald Tribune) - A Danish TV station said Tuesday it has chosen an Iraqi-born woman as winner of the Miss Headscarf 2008 competition, as the Nordic country debates Islamic traditions in the aftermath of a deadly attack on its embassy.

DAR ES SALAAM (International Herald Tribune) - Samuel Mluge steps outside his office and scans the sidewalk. His pale blue eyes dart back and forth, back and forth, trying to focus. The sun used to be his main enemy, but now he has others. Mluge is an albino, and in Tanzania now there is a price for his pinkish skin. "I feel like I am being hunted," he said.

(International Herald Tribune) As the Department of Homeland Security pushes to complete 670 miles of fencing along the Mexican border by the end of this year, it is confronting the sharpest resistance yet while conceding that physical barriers alone do not stop illegal crossings.

USA (Miami Herald) - In a 'total victory' for gay rights activists, California's Supreme Court struck down a ban on same-sex marriage, which could have implications for Florida.

WASHINGTON (International Herald Tribune) - Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton undertook the final, furious hours of campaigning Monday in North Carolina and Indiana, a day before potentially decisive primary contests that suddenly look far closer than they did a few weeks ago.

LONDON (THE INDEPENDENT) - A blogger arrested for his pro-reform opinions in Saudi Arabia has been released without charge after being imprisoned for nearly five months. Fouad al-Farhan, 32, the first online critic to be arrested by the Saudi government, was freed from Dahban prison in Jeddah at 5.30am on Saturday, according to his wife.

SANAA (Yemen Times) - Eight-year-old Nojoud is now safe after an anonymous donor paid her 30-year-old husband to divorce her. Although this chapter of her life has closed, there are many other Yemeni girls who still suffer from early marriage and its consequences.

MOSCOW (The Moscow Times) - United Russia voted unanimously to create a new party leadership position, which it will offer to Vladimir Putin, a move likely to cement the outgoing president's grip on power after he leaves office next month.

BEIJING (China Daily) - Actions speak louder than words, however the words of Olympic torch hero Jin Jing trumpeted louder than her brave deeds. "I would die to protect the torch," she said. The 27-year-old Shanghai girl, whose name "Jin" means "gold", is now a national hero because of her triumph over adversity.

BEIJING - China faced rare criticism of its human rights record from the head of the International Olympics Committee on Thursday, even as calls for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the games grew louder in Europe and the United States.

SANAA (Yemen Times) - An eight-year-old girl decided last week to go the Sana’a West Court to prosecute her father, who forced her to marry a 30-year-old man.

CAIRO, (Middle East Times) - Amid turmoil and demonstrations over crippling price rises, Egypt went ahead with local elections on Tuesday much to the frustration of activists and the leading opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 11 (NEW YORK TIMES)— Iraqis reflecting on the report to Congress by General David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker found themselves in a difficult spot: although there is nothing they want more than to have American soldiers leave Iraq, there is nothing they can less afford.