At a press conference in Brussels, the European Union’s President-elect Herman Van Rompuy offered a unifying message in English, Flemish and French -  vowing to listen and take into account all the diverse views of the 27-member block.

“Europe must be in every member state’s advantage,” said  Herman Van Rompuy. “This cardinal principle leds me to a two-track approach. First of all, I will consider everyone’s interests and sensitivities. Even if our unity is our strength, our diversity remains our wealth. Every country has its own history, its own culture, its own way of doing things. Our journey may be toward a common destination, but we will all bring along different luggage.”

Von Rompuy also vowed to ensure that every country in the EU will emerge victorious from any decision taken. He becomes the new EU president January 1.

Von Rompuy’s selection took place fairly swiftly over a dinner meeting among European leaders, after weeks of divisions over who would get the top job. In selecting the Belgian premier, they opted for a candidate able to cobble unity and compromise, rather than a high profile figure for the job.

EU leaders also sought balance in selecting Catherine Ashton, the British trade commissioner for the European Union, for the job as foreign minister. Ashton said she was proud to be selected for a high-profile role in an institution dominated by men. And she said she would deliver results.

“Am I an ego on legs? No I’m not,” said Catherine Ashton. “Do I want to be seen as saying everything all the time? No I don’t. Judge me on what I do and I think you’ll be pleased and proud of me.”

The moment of greatest levity - and complexity - came when a reporter asked who world leaders should dial when they wanted to speak to the European Union. That remains a tricky answer as the EU is still a federation of individual and independent states.

A three-judge panel handed down guilty verdicts for 27 of the 46 defendants in the so-called Ginbot Seven case.  Thirteen others who are not in custody had earlier been convicted in absentia.  The remaining six were acquitted.

Those convicted include several current and retired army officers, including two generals, along with senior opposition political figures.  They were charged with plotting to kill unnamed government ministers, destroy strategic facilities and incite rebellion within the army as part of a coup attempt.

Lawyers say some of the defendants could face the death penalty. In a telephone interview, Justice Ministry spokesman Mekonnen Bezadeih said it would be up to prosecutors to decide whether to seek the maximum sentence.

“I am not sure whether the prosecutors will ask for the death penalty or not,” he said. “This will be presented by the prosecutors who followed the case.”

Police opened the case in April, seizing weapons and documents they said were evidence of a coup plot masterminded by Berhanu Nega, founder of Ginbot Seven.

Berhanu was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in the disputed 2005 elections, but did not take office and was among opposition leaders jailed for life on charges of fomenting post-election violence.
 
After being pardoned, Berhanu went to the United States and founded the political organization Ginbot Seven, or May 15, the date of the 2005 election.  The party has since been outlawed, and Berhanu was among those convicted in absentia. 

Other opposition parties immediately questioned the verdict.  A senior leader of the Forum for Democratic Dialogue, Bulcha Demeksa, said it seems impossible that such a complex trial could be completed quickly.

“I do not believe that such an involved case can be cleared up in a matter of four months, five months and sentence so many people,” he said. “It is so complicated that it should take a long time for witnesses to [testify] and all kinds of evidence has to be collected and I do not believe a fair judgment can be made so quickly.”

But Justice Ministry spokesman Mekonnen countered that the speedy trial was evidence of the judiciary’s efficiency.

We are trying to facilitate the justice system to give fast decision, and the case already started before they convicted, the police was followed them before the case was brought to court, and I think it is not fast,” he said.

The trial was marked by complaints from defendants that they had been tortured in custody.

A highly-decorated former army general and hero of Ethiopia’s war with Eritrea, Asamenew Tsige, caused a stir last week when he told the court he had lost the sight in one eye during a prison beating.  The defendants were reported to have stood up in unison and shouted, “Let us be heard’.
But the judges refused to hear the charges, saying they were a matter for police to investigate.

When the trial resumed Thursday, scores of federal police officers lined the walls of the courtroom to keep order. Judge Adam Ibrahim warned defendants and observers against emotional outbursts.

Defense attorneys say they will appeal the verdict.

At approximately 9 a.m. today, an IED detonated in downtown Farah in western Afghanistan. Initial reports indicate seven Afghans were killed and more than 35 were injured. No ISAF service members were in the area at the time.

ISF and U.S. advisors searched two buildings in Ramadi for a suspected AQI leader believed to be responsible for multiple vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attacks in the region.

After questioning those in the buildings and examining evidence found at the scene, ISF arrested two suspected AQI associates.
 
During a second security operation in Tikrit, the 3rd General Directorate Salah ad Din Police Unit and U.S. advisors searched one building for an alleged associate of AQI and ISI.

Iraqi Police conducted a preliminary investigation and based on questioning conducted at the scene, arrested two individuals determined to be accomplices of the suspected AQI member.

During a third operation conducted in southern Kirkuk, the 3rd Emergency Services Unit and U.S. advisors searched a building for a suspected member of ISI who is believed to be involved in planning and conducting VBIED attacks against security forces in Iraq.

The 3rd ESU made one arrest without incident based on evidence found at the scene linking the arrested individual to criminal activity.

Former Army Secretary Togo West and retired Navy Adm. Vernon Clark, former chief of naval operations, will head the initial 45-day review, which will inform a follow-on investigation expected to last four to six months.

“The shootings at Fort Hood raise a number of troubling questions that demand complete but prompt answers,” Gates said during a Pentagon briefing. “It is prudent to determine immediately whether there are internal weaknesses or procedural shortcomings in the department that could make us vulnerable in the future.”

The department review is separate from both the criminal investigation of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan — the Soldier charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder — and a review ordered by President Barack Obama to take a government-wide look at all intelligence related to the incident. Initial findings of the president-mandated review are due Nov. 30.

The purpose of the department review is three-fold, Gates said, including targeting possible gaps in procedures for identifying dangerous servicemembers who could pose credible risks to other troops. The review also will assess how “adverse information” about troops is recorded and handled, and will gauge the level of security and emergency response capabilities at Defense Department facilities.

As part of the initial review, each military service branch will appoint a senior official to work with Clark and West on service-specific issues, Gates said.

“In light of the Fort Hood incident and unique challenges, the Army will conduct a more in-depth, detailed assessment of whether Army programs, policies and procedures reasonably could have prevented the shooting,” he said. The Army’s findings will be submitted as part of the Army’s contribution to the departmental review, Gates added.

He noted the initial review represents only the beginning of the process, with preliminary findings leading into a follow-up investigation.

“Its results will inform and largely shape a department-wide follow-on examination of any systemic institutional shortcomings, an examination I expect to be completed within four to six months,” he said.

The more in-depth review will entail each service selecting an investigative panel that will report their findings up the chain of command to a department-level panel. The department-wide group will assess the findings and identify changes needed in policy and procedure, as well as areas where additional resources are required, Gates said.

“Among other issues, this review will cover topics such as servicemember support programs, care for victims and families of mass-casualty events, how we assess and sustain the performance of health-care providers, and overall stress on the troops and their families,” he said.

The department will exercise “full and open disclosure” amid the review process, Gates said, speaking a day after he attended a memorial ceremony in the small Tennessee hometown of Spc. Fred Greene, one of 13 killed in the Fort Hood massacre.

“There is nothing any of us can say to ease the pain for the wounded, the families of the fallen, and the members of the Fort Hood community touched by this incident — pain I saw vividly and firsthand yesterday in Mountain City, Tenn.,” he said. “All that is left for us to do is everything in our power to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.”

According to the fishermen, they were left stranded in the water after 12 suspected pirates hijacked their vessel. The fishermen also said that the pirates gave them an ultimatum to either jump overboard with only a wooden plank as a flotation device or be killed.

After surviving for three days with only a few bottles of water, a passing merchant vessel spotted them in the water. The merchant vessel notified Coalition forces and a Chosin rescue team picked up the stranded fishermen.

Chosin medical personnel treated the fishermen, and the ship gave them food and water. Once the fishermen were deemed to be medically stable, Chosin transferred the fishermen to a Yemeni naval vessel.

CTF 151 is a multinational task force established to conduct counter-piracy operations under a mission-based mandate throughout the Combined Maritime Forces Area of Responsibility to actively deter, disrupt and suppress piracy in order to protect global maritime security and secure freedom of navigation for the benefit of all nations. CTF 151 currently includes naval forces from the United States, Spain, United Kingdom, Pakistan, Australia and Turkey.

CAB, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, is the only battalion-sized combat assault unit in the Marine Corps. The battalion provides 3rd MarDiv with engineers, amphibious assault vehicle support and light armored reconnaissance vehicle support as well as motor transport, heavy equipment, communications and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense Marines.

“CAB provides the engineers, LARs and AAVs for the entire division,” said Lt. Col. Dan Yaroslaski, commanding officer of CAB. “We provide three unique capabilities that the division would not have itself.”

At 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions, stateside, engineers, LARs and AAVs comprise battalions of their own, he said adding that here CAB does it all.

CAB was activated Feb. 16, 1942, at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., as 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion.

The Marines of the batallion participated in several World War II campaigns including Guadalcanal, Finschhafen, New Britain, Peleliu and Okinawa.

The battalion continued its fighting legacy at the Chosin Reservoir and the Pusan perimeter in the Korean War and in Danang during the Vietnam War.

As the 1st Amphibian Assault Battalion during the Vietnam War, CAB Marines conducted operations which earned its Marines the nickname “AmGrunts.”

AmGrunts were Marines who worked with amphibious assault tractors but also dismounted and carried on missions as infantrymen.

“Playing such a unique role in the Marine Corps brings its share of challenges, but we take them on and overcome them every day,” Yaroslaski said.

The battalion finally found its home on Camp Schwab in July 1969 and after several name changes the battalion was designated CAB Oct. 5, 1994.

Made up of a headquarters and service company, a combat engineer company, an LAR company and an AAV company, CAB’s mission is to conduct and support amphibious operations by landing and transporting surface assault elements and equipment to inland objectives while conducting close combat engineer support, light armored reconnaissance and limited offensive and defensive operations.

“CAB is the only forward-deployed unit that does what we do,” said 1st Sgt. Tim Henshaw, acting sergeant major of CAB.

“In the past, CAB has even deployed as its own task force,” he said.

“CAB is an organization that you won’t find anywhere else in the Marine Corps,” said Gunnery Sgt. Garrett Robinson, an AAV crewman with 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, assigned to CAB through the unit deployment program. “It brings all these different assets into one like no one else can. CAB is a unique blend of military occupational specialties and Marines.”

The Marines at CAB overcome diversity among themselves and their respective jobs to succeed in their mission, said Staff Sgt. Ericson Ariaga, the CAB training chief and a tank crewman.

CAB also plays host to many Marines on the unit deployment program.

“There are so many different people from so many different MOSs working together here. Very rarely do you see a tanker and an engineer working together,” said Sgt. Robert Stoecker, a CAB combat engineer.

“We get to know each other and each others’ jobs very well. It’s a unique experience working here,” he said.

Keeping up to par with training standards at a battalion with such a diverse conglomeration of Marines can sometimes be difficult, explained Ariaga.

“Training-wise, CAB is very busy. Every Marine has to get trained up on basic Marine skills and also for their job,” Ariaga said. “From pistol training to demolitions ranges, we do a little bit of everything.”

The diverse array of Marines creates familial bonds, said Master Sgt. Joseph Chiaramonte, the CAB logistics chief.

“We’re a tight knit community here,” Chiaramonte said. “We’re like one big family.”

The bombing was the sixth in less than two weeks in and around Peshawar.  Officials say the attacker blew himself up when guards were trying to search him at the court’s gate. They say three policemen were among the dead. Doctors say at least 36 people were wounded.

Militant attacks have surged in the northwest since Pakistan launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in the lawless tribal region of South Waziristan in mid-October.

This latest bomb attack occurred hours after a suspected U.S. drone missile attack killed at least three people and wounded at least four others in neighboring North Waziristan, another militant stronghold bordering Afghanistan.

A separate suspected U.S. drone missile attack on Wednesday killed four people and wounded at least five others in North Waziristan.

In South Waziristan, Pakistani military officials said six alleged militants were killed and five soldiers wounded Wednesday after militants shot at them.  Another three soldiers were wounded in a separate bomb attack.

Military officials say 500 militants and 70 soldiers have been killed since the military began its offensive.  

The reports cannot be independently verified, because journalists and rights groups are barred from the battlefield.