Sgt First Class John Russell has extended his tour of duty in Afghanistan, hoping the economy will turn around while he serves.

Nancy Youssef / MCT

Sgt. First Class John Russell, 45, has extended his tour of duty in Afghanistan, hoping the economy will turn around while he serves.

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Guardsman would rather face Taliban than U.S. economy

By Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers

Around the barren military base, which sits at the crossroads of the Taliban's poppy trade route, news arrives slowly. However, the domestic economic meltdown has reached even here. The National Guardsmen who serve with the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Corps Regiment, based here, say they fear that their jobs won't be there when they return. With uncertainty at home, some are doing what they once considered unthinkable: extending their tours. » read more

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Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention

Olivier Douliery / Abaca Press / MCT

Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention

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Review: Policy's important but so are Obama's clothes

By Halimah Abdullah | McClatchy Newspapers

President-elect Barack Obama radiates a certain stylistic sophistication that's at once Kennedyesque in its reverence for clean-cut, American style and modern in its confident embrace of a look that's both effortless and urbane. Some hope his style will encourage younger African-Americans to "pull their pants up." » read more

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President-elect Barack Obama ripped President Bush for "irresponsibly" doubling the federal debt, then warned that he could preside over trillion-dollar deficits for "years to come." He also promised change at the CIA, saying he expected his nominee to lead the agency, Leon Panetta, to put together a team "that will break with some of the past practices." » read more

Congress opens with Democrats in charge and much to do

The 111th Congress convened Tuesday in a somber mood, with economy reeling and the Democrats holding their biggest majorities in decades. Partisan bitterness was notably absent. House GOP Leader John Boehner vowed that "Republicans will strive not to be the party of opposition, but the party of better solutions." » read more

40 feared dead in Israeli strike on Gaza school

In the deadliest attack of its intensifying war in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military struck a United Nations-run school Tuesday where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge from the fighting. As many as 40 people were killed, many of them children, and 55 were wounded, U.N. officials said. » read more

Sinking oil prices threatening Hugo Chavez's revolution

Monday, Venezuela suspended its oil for the poor program in the United States, but it's hardly the last thing President Hugo Chavez will have to cut in his free-spending promotion of his socialist gospel. Oil accounts for 93 percent of the government's export income and about 50 percent of its overall income. » read more

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