Violence drops in Iraq

Violence drops in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion, finally opening a window for reconciliation among rival sects, the second-ranking U.S. general said Sunday as Iraqi forces formally took control of security across half the country.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the man responsible for the ground campaign in Iraq, said that the first six months of 2007 were probably the most violent period since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The past six months, however, had seen some of the lowest levels of violence since the conflict began, Odierno said, attributing the change to an increase in both American troops and better-trained Iraqi forces.

Violence killed at least 27 Iraqis on Sunday — 16 of them members of a U.S.-backed neighborhood patrol killed in clashes with al-Qaida in a volatile province neighboring Baghdad. Thirty-five al-Qaida fighters also died in that fighting, Iraqi officials said.

Odierno said Anbar province, once plagued by violence, only recorded 12 attacks in the past week, down from an average of 26 per week over the past three months.

Retail sales unimpressive

NEW YORK — With Christmas a little more than a week away, many stores are finding themselves in the same predicament as in recent years: waiting for those last-minute shoppers who seem to be procrastinating even more than a year ago.

Based on early reports from analysts and malls, sales results were generally unimpressive this past weekend, as shoppers were held back by a snowstorm that spread a mix of sleet, freezing rain and snow from the Great Lakes states to New England. Consumers, fretting about economic worries, were also delaying their shopping even more this year, knowing there’s a full weekend before Christmas, when the bargains will be better.

Meanwhile, for online retailers, which finished their busiest days last week, their fate appears to be already sealed: Holiday sales didn’t live up to industry’s hopes as lower-income shoppers pulled back on spending.

Church vows to move on

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The leader of a megachurch where a gunman opened fire a week earlier, killing two teenage sisters and wounding three other people, said Sunday that the congregation’s trials of the past couple of years were nothing more than tests.

“Last weekend was a test ... but we are passing the test,” said the Rev. Brady Boyd, New Life Church senior pastor.

Another test came a year ago, Boyd said, when founder the Rev. Ted Haggard was dismissed after a former male escort claimed Haggard paid him over three years for sex. Haggard publicly admitted committing unspecified “sexual immorality.”

Drop in border attacks

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — A top American general said Sunday that attacks along the Afghan-Pakistan border have dropped more than 40 percent since July and the U.S. and its allies are making progress in the fight against the Taliban.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel said the decrease in insurgent activity along the border could be attributed to the onset of winter, a rise in insurgent attacks in Pakistan and an increase in communication and coordination among NATO, Afghan and Pakistani forces.

Recent media and analysts’ reports have said the international mission is not succeeding and Afghanistan is becoming increasingly unstable.

Singer Dan Fogelberg dies

NEW YORK — Dan Fogelberg, whose hits “Leader of the Band” and “Same Old Lang Syne” helped define the soft-rock era in the 1970s, died at his home in Maine after battling prostate cancer.

His death was announced Sunday in a statement by Anna Loynes of the Solters & Digney public relations agency, and was also posted on the singer’s Web site.

Fogelberg, 56, was found in 2004 to have advanced prostate cancer.

Associated Press