<![CDATA[International news from metro.us/philadelphia]]> en-us <![CDATA[The 10 selections on Maxim's 2012 'Hot 100' list that make us uncomfortable]]>
Whether you agree or disagree with the idea of objectifying and ranking women based on their physical appearance (and encouraging readers to do it, too, by voting for their picks), you can't argue that Maxim has made the annual tradition into a wildly popular and successful media blitz. Maybe you love to look at it or maybe you hate to look at it — but you're still looking at it.

So, of course, we here at Metro have studied the list closely, for, uh, reference purposes, and we contend that the Hot 100 are, in fact, hot. But, there are a few selections on Maxim's 2012 Hot 100 that make us rather uncomfortable.

Allow us to explain:

Amanda Knox

Everyone is talking about "Foxy Knoxy's" appearance on the list. She was acquitted this year of her roommate's murder and returned from Italian prison to her home in the United States. Besides a few professional athletes, Knox is the only woman on the list who isn't a model, actor or singer. The question is: Is it okay to judge a convicted murderer on her sexiness, as long as she was acquitted later?

Amanda Bynes

Even though Bynes seems to be clumsily following in the footsteps of trainwreck Lindsay Lohan, we can't help but still picture the former Nickelodeon star as just that — a Nickelodeon star. Her consistent roles as innocent, goofy girl have sucked any and all sexy thoughts about Bynes straight out of our heads.

Lois Griffin

Interesting choice, Maxim, interesting choice. Perhaps the writers chose the "Family Guy" mom to try and interject a little humor onto the list and send a message that says, "Sure, we judge women primarily on their worth as sexual objects, but look — we included a cartoon, so we can't be that bad, right? Ha. Ha."

Sarah Hyland

The very young-looking actress plays a teen on the show "Modern Family" and, yes, she is of legal age. But even Maxim admits that talking about her hotness is a bit borderline creepy: "It turns out the hot daughter from Modern Family is 21, so you don't have to feel weird about having a crush on her." Well, we still feel weird about it.

Vanessa Hudgens

She's already got a naked photo scandal under her belt, but Hudgens is another one of those former Disney stars who won't grow up in our minds. She probably still lives at home with her parents, right?

Emma Roberts

Another young one, Roberts was dubbed by one Metro staffer as "the human glass of milk." 'Nuff said.

Selena Gomez

Again, we know she's "legal" at age 19, but we still can't get past her Disney image. Plus, she's the the girlfriend of Justin Bieber (cutest kid couple ever!) and the whole thing makes us feel icky inside. Wait, Bieber turned 18, too?

Emma Watson

We're well aware that the Brown-educated Brit has come into her own, cut her hair, and re-branded herself as a mature actress, but we will always see her as frizzy-haired little Hermione, who helped Harry Potter save the world as a young student at Hogwarts. We don't want to sexualize anyone who's still 11 in our minds.

Miley Cyrus

She certainly wants everyone to think she's hot, with her recent sideboob unveiling and all, but she is still tween rocker Hannah Montana in our eyes. There's no doubt that Cyrus is growing up, but come one: How mad would her dad be with us for looking at his Miley in "that way."

Stephen Colbert

Apparently, he made the list after an aggressive write-in campaign by his fans, but it's puzzling, given that Maxim labels the Hot 100 as "The Definitive List of the World's Most Beautiful Women." But, uh, sure, Maxim.

]]> http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/life/article/1143749--the-10-selections-on-maxim-s-2012-hot-100-list-that-make-us-uncomfortable Tue, 22 May 2012 14:01:48 -0400 METRO.US, NEW YORK http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/life/article/1143749--the-10-selections-on-maxim-s-2012-hot-100-list-that-make-us-uncomfortable <![CDATA[Man survives suicide attempt over Niagara Falls ahead of planned tight-rope walk by stunt artist]]>
According to reports, emergency workers rescued the man from waist-deep water down the river from the falls, yesterday after he climbed over a railing near the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, jumped into the water and was swept away and over the falls. A current dragged him to shore after the 180 foot drop.

The man suffered gashes to his head, broken ribs and a collapsed lung, but is only the third person in history to survive a plunge over Niagara Falls without any equipment or devices. However, that doesn't appear to be his intention, as officials said the man likely deliberately jumped into the water in an attempt to take his own life.

Niagara Falls has frequently been the sites of suicides throughout history with a reported 2,780 people committing suicide at the falls between 1856 and 1995.

It is also a popular attraction for daredevils hoping to defy the odds. High-wire performer Nik Wallenda will be the latest person to perform a stunt at Niagara Falls when he walks a tight rope above them on June 15.

Wallenda, 33, is a seventh-generation member of the famed "Flying Wallendas" family of circus performers. He plans to cross a 2-inch cable suspended 1,800 feet across Niagara Falls gorge. He will be the first performance artist to attempt this feat between the United States and Canada in more than 100 years. However, his stunt will have a safety net, or, rather, a harness — ABC network, a financial backer of the tight-rope walk, reportedly demanded that Wallenda wear a harness for the televised event.

Wallenda was likely training for the walk when the man who attempted suicide was rescued after going over the falls. Wallenda said earlier this month he would be practicing publicly from May 12 to 22, in a parking lot less than a mile from the gorge.

]]> http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1143736--man-survives-suicide-attempt-over-niagara-falls-ahead-of-planned-tight-rope-walk-by-stunt-artist Tue, 22 May 2012 11:59:16 -0400 CASSANDRA GARRISON, NEW YORK http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1143736--man-survives-suicide-attempt-over-niagara-falls-ahead-of-planned-tight-rope-walk-by-stunt-artist <![CDATA[Tokyo Skytree: World's tallest tower, but not tallest building]]>
Wait, what about the Burj Khalifa, which opened in Dubai in 2010? That tower clocks in at 2,716 feet, 6 inches, which makes it the tallest man made structure in the world. How then, can Skytree in Tokyo claim the title of world's tallest tower?

The difference lies in the fact that the Skytree is a broadcast structure, apparently. The Burj Khalifa is an "occupied" tower with space for both residential apartments and offices, which makes it a "building" rather than a "tower."

Still, Skytree in Tokyo is an impressive man-made feat and certainly one of the biggest architectural accomplishments of our time. Just to put it in perspective, the height of the building is equivalent to:

1.41 Empire State Buildings
366 Ryan Seacrests
411 Smart Cars
2,641 iPads

Tens of thousands of people eagerly lined up for a trip to the tower's observation decks: One at 1,148 feet, which can hold 2,000 people and one at 1,476 feet, which can hold 900 people, according to CNN. The tower will accommodate 6,000 people per day and tickets are sold through an online lottery system.

]]> http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1143728--tokyo-skytree-world-s-tallest-tower-but-not-tallest-building Tue, 22 May 2012 10:13:06 -0400 CASSANDRA GARRISON, NEW YORK http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1143728--tokyo-skytree-world-s-tallest-tower-but-not-tallest-building <![CDATA[Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi has died in Libya]]>
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, released from a Scottish prison in 2009 and returned to Libya because he was suffering from terminal cancer, had been in and out of hospital for weeks and was taken for an emergency blood transfusion in April.

Megrahi's health had deteriorated quickly overnight, his brother Abdulhakim told Reuters. "He was surrounded by his family and died in his house," he said. He was 60.

"He was too sick to utter anything on his deathbed," Abdulhakim said. "We want people to know he was innocent."

Megrahi was found guilty in 2001 of bombing Pan Am flight 103 as it flew to New York from London on December 21, 1988. All 259 people aboard the aircraft were killed and 11 people in the Scottish town of Lockerbie died from falling wreckage.

He was jailed in Scotland but sent back to Muammar Gaddafi's Libya by the Scottish authorities on compassionate grounds in 2009 because he was only expected to survive for months.

The decision angered many relatives of the victims, 189 of whom were American, and was criticized by the U.S. administration. A number of U.S. politicians pressed for his extradition to the United States.

Megrahi, an intelligence agent during Gaddafi's rule, was jailed in the town of Greenock in western Scotland after he was convicted for the bombing under Scottish law at a trial held in the Netherlands.

Megrahi told Reuters in October his role in the attack had been exaggerated and the truth about what really happened would emerge soon.

An intelligence agent during the rule of Gaddafi, Megrahi denied any role in suspected human rights abuses in his home country before the Libyan dictator's fall and death in a popular uprising last year.

Libya's now-ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) has said it would work with the Scottish government over the possible involvement of others in the 1988 bombing, an attack the country's new rulers are eager to distance themselves from. ]]> http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1143537--lockerbie-bomber-abdel-basset-al-megrahi-has-died-in-libya Sun, 20 May 2012 10:16:05 -0400 Reuters http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1143537--lockerbie-bomber-abdel-basset-al-megrahi-has-died-in-libya <![CDATA[Could Europe decide the U.S. election?]]>
As workers assemble the family-owned company's hot-air fabric welders, used to manufacture everything from inflatable rafts to truck tarps, it's hard to know the recession of 2007-2009 ever happened.

Ten clocks on the wall of the plant in Navarre, Ohio, show local time from Norway to New Zealand and tell Miller Weldmaster's comeback story in a word: exports. Sixty percent of the company's business now comes from outside the United States.

Manufacturing growth, surging exports: These are central promises of Obama's reelection bid, especially in blue-collar industrial states that could determine the election.

Mindful of the Indiana surprise of 2008, when a spike in unemployment helped Obama win the reliably Republican state, the White House has every reason to fear payback in states like Ohio, this time from any deepening of Europe's financial crisis.

Already there are warning signs. One in four of Miller Weldmaster's machines is sold in Europe, and sales are down 5 percent so far this year. A further drop could force the company to consider layoffs.

"We've taken a sigh of relief - we've been over the crunch," says Jeff Sponseller, the company's vice president of sales and marketing. "The chance that this could happen again brings a lot of anxiety."

Other Ohio manufacturers share that concern. Royal Phillips Electronics, which exports X-ray machines from a 1,200-employee facility near Cleveland, warned in April that budget cuts and other austerity measures in Europe could hurt demand for its products. Glassmaker Owens-Illinois Inc, based in Perrysburg, said Europe's volatility could hit its earnings as well.

The U.S. Commerce Department estimates that more than a quarter of all manufacturing workers in Ohio depend on exports for their jobs.

Against this backdrop, the Obama administration has been involved in intense, behind-the-scenes maneuvering to steer Europe away from the financial brink.

For the past two years, Treasury officials, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, have crisscrossed the Atlantic in pursuit of solutions to Europe's problems. The president has also been actively involved, speaking to European leaders by phone at key moments in the region's crisis.

His instant invitation to France's newly elected president, Francois Hollande, to White House talks on the eve of this weekend's Group of Eight summit is evidence of a central fact in the United States: The states that will do most to determine the outcome of November's presidential and congressional elections may not be swing states like Ohio but member states of the European Union.

On condition of anonymity, a senior EU official told Reuters it felt as if the Obama administration wanted the G8 to cooperate in the reelection campaign. "They see the debt crisis as the biggest likely drag on the U.S. economy between now and November," the official said, "and so they basically want to make sure that we find a way of muddling through."

Frantic shuttle diplomacy

U.S. officials say Europe's woes are already weighing on the U.S. economy, which grew at a tepid 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012.

Rather than a hit to exports, the real nightmare scenario for U.S. businesses, banks and policymakers alike would be a chaotic unraveling of the euro zone's financial system on the scale of the crash that followed the failure of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Then, banks in the United States and beyond were pushed to the verge of collapse by a seizing up of credit, strangling the global economy and more than halving the value of U.S. and global stock markets. The psychological impact demolished consumer confidence as well as the economic track record of the Republican administration, helping hand an historic election victory to Obama.

For the sake of the U.S. economy and the election that no doubt hangs on it, the White House has no wish for history to repeat itself.

Late last year, as U.S. and European officials alike worried the entire single European currency area might fall apart, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner embarked on a frantic round of shuttle diplomacy.

Between September and December he flew to Europe five times, sometimes passing through several capitals in a day. Those directly involved say conversations with senior policymakers were often blisteringly blunt.

Officials say the strategy has been clear: to explain what is at stake for the global economy, to offer up lessons from how the United States moved to fix its banks, and to push Europe to do whatever is necessary to hold itself together.

Geithner in April made a fresh call on the European Central Bank, which has been less aggressive than the U.S. Federal Reserve, to help alleviate the crisis.

Even when Europe's worries eased in the first few months of 2012, U.S. officials continued talking to their European counterparts on an almost weekly basis.

"We've been heavily and steadily engaged with them from the outset," Under Secretary to the Treasury for International Affairs Lael Brainard told Reuters. "It's too important for our exporters and our workers not to be."

Brainard, the lead U.S. official on the issue, is already planning her next trip to Europe. It will be her ninth since September.

How persuasive a pressure?

When U.S. officials first raised serious worries over the potential survivability of the euro zone at a meeting of finance ministers from the G7 advanced economies in Canada's frozen north in February 2010, they say European leaders simply did not grasp the potential scale or impact of the crisis.

Amid the igloos and the dogsleds - and questions over why Canada decided to host the event in such a costly and inaccessible location - they outlined their fears of a potential new crisis.

Since then, they complain, euro zone leaders have struggled time and again to get ahead of events, only to settle on measures that would be too little, too late.

Officials from both sides of the Atlantic with knowledge of these discussions say that even those agreements came after last-minute U.S. pressure, often culminating in direct intervention by Geithner and Obama himself.

Without such pressure, these sources say, the May 2010 meeting in Brussels, which agreed on the first 110 billion-euro bailout for Greece, might never have reached that conclusion.

U.S. officials say they were also instrumental in persuading Europe to perform much stricter stress tests on its banks.

Without the personal intervention of Obama, one Washington insider suggested, former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero might never have accepted that his troubled economy could no longer sustain its economic stimulus and needed to confront its budget deficit.

Not everyone in Europe agrees that European policy owed quite so much to U.S. pressure. Much of what Washington wanted, they suggest, was already in the works.

"In terms of the conversations, I think they were effective," said one well-placed European diplomat on condition of anonymity. "But everyone was already aware of the need to address these issues. They were pushing at an open door."

Presidential touch

The next European leader to get Obama's personal attention will be Francois Hollande. When Obama phoned him to congratulate him on his election victory on May 8, Hollande found himself invited to the White House much sooner than he or French officials had planned.

Given Hollande will be attending the meeting of G8 leaders this weekend and a NATO summit that immediately follows, his meeting with Obama on Friday has a practical logic. But analysts and officials say there is little doubt the U.S. president will use the opportunity to try to build rapport and stress again the importance of European cohesion.

During his campaign, Hollande sharply criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her focus on austerity to solve the debt crisis. Yet on Tuesday, in a visit to Berlin hours after his inauguration, the two leaders agreed to a joint approach even as they acknowledged their differences.

On the timing of Hollande's visit to Washington, "obviously, there is an element of convenience here," said Philip J. Crowley, a former State Department spokesman under the Obama administration. "But there is also a sense of urgency. European decisions could potentially intrude on the U.S. election."

Hollande's "pro-growth" agenda is more aligned with the Obama administration's own stimulus spending than that of his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, who supported the German-led "fiscal pact" that ties euro zone members to tough spending rules. Yet the United States is anxious that Hollande soften his election pledge to renegotiate the pact, potentially jeopardizing the rest of a meticulously negotiated crisis plan.

Finding a compromise between the focus of Paris on growth and Berlin's insistence on austerity could be easy when compared with the far more difficult decisions that confront Europe.

Greece faces elections in June that could determine its chances of staying in the euro zone. Should it leave, fears will intensify that other countries could follow suit. If Germany wants to preserve the euro, it may have to decide how deeply to underwrite the more troubled Mediterranean states.

"We have much less influence over Germany, where policy is driven by domestic politics," said Tyson Barker, a Europe specialist and fellow at the Truman National Security Project who says he talks to administration officials most days. "In Greece, which itself might be on the edge of political collapse, I'd say we have no influence at all."

Republicans ready to pounce

At home, Obama's hands are largely tied.

Any new U.S. funding to the International Monetary Fund, which could be used to help fight the euro zone crisis, is considered a nonstarter: With many voters still simmering over the 2008 Wall Street bailout, more U.S. funding for Europe would play straight into Republican hands.

Republicans have tried to revoke $100 billion in previously authorized IMF emergency funding. Although the measure was defeated in the Democratic-controlled Senate, party leaders could still generate awkward headlines for Obama by pushing it in the House of Representatives.

"We haven't seen a willingness by the European Union countries to change their addiction to government spending and borrowing," says Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rogers, who is leading that effort. "It doesn't make sense to be funneling billions of dollars to bail out Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and other wealthy European countries."

Advisers to Mitt Romney, Obama's most likely challenger in November, argue that Obama's poor stewardship of the U.S. economy has left the United States exposed to the euro zone crisis and limited the administration's ability to respond.

"We think the Obama administration has limited credibility in Europe because they so badly mismanaged our economy here," said Kristen Silverberg, a former ambassador to the EU who advises the Romney campaign on European policy.

In reply, Obama's defenders argue that the recession in several European countries provides proof that his aggressive stimulus effort saved the United States from a deeper slump.

"When President Obama says, 'Look, we stabilized the financial system, we put in stimulus and the economy walked back from the brink of collapse' ... it's very hard to do the counterfactual. But now, Europe is the counterfactual," said Laura D'Andrea Tyson, a former economic adviser to President Bill Clinton who also served on Obama's jobs council.

Some say that argument will be too complicated to make on the campaign trail.

"Most voters aren't thinking about any of this," said Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who wants further big stimulus spending in the United States. "Voters have children, they have lives, they have jobs. They're not interested in this stuff except insofar as they want to know if the economy's getting better."

Recovery at risk

Back in Ohio, jobs are easier to find than they were a year ago. The state's unemployment rate, at 7.5 percent, is at its lowest point since before Obama took office.

Miller Weldmaster is hiring electricians and welders, and a natural-gas boom is luring some workers away with the promise of six-figure incomes.

Still, memories of the recession are vivid, and the company is redoubling its marketing efforts to keep the gathering storm in Europe from eroding its sales further.

"When things get slow, the first thing that goes off people's list is capital equipment," Sponseller says. The political fallout from such a downturn, as John McCain discovered in Indiana four years ago, can make all the difference.

The electoral calculus for the 2012 campaign is brutally straightforward. "In good times incumbents are rewarded," says David Cohen, a political science professor at Ohio's University of Akron. "In bad economic times incumbents are punished."

]]> http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/national/article/1143363--could-europe-decide-the-u-s-election Thu, 17 May 2012 10:22:03 -0400 REUTERS http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/national/article/1143363--could-europe-decide-the-u-s-election <![CDATA[Officials say CIA 'foiled al-Qaida bomb plot' in Yemen]]>
Separately, the Department of Homeland Security said there was no active plot against the United States at this time. "We have no specific, credible information regarding an active terrorist plot against the U.S. at this time," DHS spokesman Matt Chandler said. ]]> http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1142412--officials-say-cia-foiled-al-qaida-bomb-plot-in-yemen Mon, 07 May 2012 19:02:42 -0400 REUTERS http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1142412--officials-say-cia-foiled-al-qaida-bomb-plot-in-yemen <![CDATA[VIDEO: 'Golden Dawn' leader makes Fascist-style speech after Greek elections]]>
Greece has been in shambles for years now. The country's financial woes are nothing new.

Even so, you'd expect the country that prides itself on inventing democracy to make more sound decisions on election day.

The May 6 elections gave the Greek people a chance to voice their opinion on the austerity measures and the European bailout.

Let's just say that Greeks are not happy, and they expressed it with their ballots.

Here's the breakdown:

New Democracy, the conservative party, won the majority of the votes with 18.9%

PASOK, the socialist party that was in power the past several years when the spotlight was on Greece's troubles came in third with 13% of votes, after SYRIZA, a coalition of the radical left, with 16.7% of votes.

The surprise came with the hard-right, fascist party "Golden Dawn."

After the elections, Nikos Michaloliakos, the leader of "Golden Dawn" delivered a rousing speech, which you may be forgiven for finding incredibly frightening.

Watch the video below and ask yourself, 'Why would the people grant this man access to Greek Parliament?"

We don't have the answer, either.
]]> http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1142387--video-golden-dawn-leader-makes-fascist-style-speech-after-greek-elections Mon, 07 May 2012 17:07:36 -0400 MARY ANN GEORGANTOPOULOS, NEW YORK http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1142387--video-golden-dawn-leader-makes-fascist-style-speech-after-greek-elections <![CDATA[Connyland: Zoo rave leads to dolphins' heroin overdose, report says]]>
The dolphins, Shadow and Chelmers, suffered painful deaths after zoo handlers rented space near their training tank for a massive club-style party attended by thousands of people.

The deaths, which occurred more than a year ago, were initially blamed on antibiotics administered to the dolphins by zoo pets, according to the Daily Express. However, a "leaked" toxicology report reveals that the heroin substitute Buprenorphin was detected in the dolphins' urine following the rave.

At the time of the death, zoo keeper Nadja Gasser told local media that Shadow died first, and it wasn't long before Chelmers suffered the same fate.

"He was drifting under the water and was clearly in trouble and so we jumped into the water. We tried to hold him. He was shaking all over and was foaming at the mouth," she said. "Eventually we got him out of the water. His tongue was hanging out. He could hardly breathe. He was given adrenalin, but it didn't help. After an hour the dolphin died."

In addition to the possibility that partiers dropped illegal drugs into the dolphins' tank, animal rights activists are also criticizing the zoo for allowing such a loud event to take place near the underwater mammals which have sensitive sonar hearing.

The zoo has denied any wrong-doing, though a spokesman said he plans to follow up with prosecutors about why they didn't follow up about the dolphins being poisoned with drugs.

]]> http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1142363--connyland-zoo-rave-leads-to-dolphins-heroin-overdose-report-says Mon, 07 May 2012 13:47:46 -0400 CASSANDRA GARRISON, NEW YORK http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1142363--connyland-zoo-rave-leads-to-dolphins-heroin-overdose-report-says <![CDATA[Dead baby powder pills exist, apparently, in Korea]]>
The pills are believed to ward off diseases, according to customs agents who have busted 35 smuggling attempts since August. More than 17,450 pills disguised as "stamina boosters" have been seized in luggage or through mail, according to The Telegraph.

Korea Customs Service said the pills were made in northeastern China using the chopped flesh of babies, which was dried on a stove and then converted into a powder. However, unsurprisingly, the capsules contained harmful bacteria.

No charges have been filed in the smuggling cases because the amount is deemed small and not for retail sale, but rather for personal consumption, according to the agents.

So far, China's State Food and Drug Administration and its Health Ministry has yet to comment on the disturbing discoveries.

]]> http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1142350--dead-baby-powder-pills-exist-apparently-in-korea Mon, 07 May 2012 12:04:25 -0400 CASSANDRA GARRISON, NEW YORK http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1142350--dead-baby-powder-pills-exist-apparently-in-korea <![CDATA[Lawmakers: Taliban stronger after US surge]]>
“I think we both say that what we found is the Taliban is stronger,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein told “Fox News Sunday” in an interview that included House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, who agreed with her statement. The two lawmakers returned last week from a trip to Afghanistan.

The Defense Department said last week in a report to Congress that its surge of 33,000 extra troops in Afghanistan ordered in late 2009 had weakened the Taliban but that the insurgency remained resilient.

The report said overall insurgent attacks declined in 2011 for the first time in five years, even though violence increased in areas surrounding the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar, a region where U.S. efforts have been focused since 2009.

Feinstein, a Democrat, said radical Islamist religious schools in Pakistan were providing new recruits to the Afghan insurgency. ]]> http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1142289--lawmakers-taliban-stronger-after-us-surge Sun, 06 May 2012 19:01:27 -0400 REUTERS http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/international/article/1142289--lawmakers-taliban-stronger-after-us-surge