In brief: 150 militants killed, NATO says
NATO today said as many as 150 insurgents were killed in a battle in eastern Afghanistan after two large groups of fighters crossed the border from Pakistan.
The fighters, who had crossed over into Paktika province, were attacked with ground fire and airstrikes, NATO said. Gen. Murad Ali, the Afghan army regional deputy corps commander, said the insurgents had come with several trucks of ammunition.
A NATO statement said that “initial battle damage estimates” indicated that as many as 150 fighters were killed.
Independent confirmation of the death toll was not immediately possible.
MINSK, Belarus
Nations resolve pipeline dispute
Russian oil began flowing again through a Belarusian pipeline late Wednesday, a top Belarusian oil official said, resolving a dispute between the countries that had disrupted supplies to Eastern Europe as well to the former Soviet Republic.
Alexei Kostuchenko, general director of pipeline concern Gomeltransneft-Druzhba, said Russian oil entered the Belarusian system and was being pumped to Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
NEW YORK
Dodd to announce presidential bid
Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, a veteran lawmaker who entered Congress in the post-Watergate class of 1974, will announce his bid for the presidency, Democratic officials said Wednesday.
Dodd, 62, will make the formal announcement in an interview this morning on the “Imus in the Morning” radio show.
The 26-year Senate veteran enters a growing Democratic field overshadowed by two likely candidates – Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, of New York, and Barack Obama, of Illinois.
Seattle
Gates Foundation to check holdings
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Wednesday that it would review its investments to determine whether its holdings are socially responsible.
In addition to what it called a continuing review of “our approach to investments,” the foundation said on its Web site, “we will review other strategies that can fulfill a social responsibility role, both in terms of their aspirations and in understanding the impact that they may have.”
The announcement came two days after the Los Angeles Times published the second article in a two-part investigation showing that the foundation reaps vast financial gains every year from investments that contravene its good works.