White House calls on China to restrain N. Korea

The White House on Thursday called on China to rein in its North Korean allies in order to "stabilize" the alienated peninsula as the top bureaucrat in the US military returned from the region.

"China is in a place to have strong influence over the actions and the presentation of the North Koreans," White House press escritoire Robert Gibbs told reporters.

"It is our conviction that they should use their influence in that country to become stable the region," he added, when asked about a visit to the district by Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mullen was predictable to brief US President Barack Obama about the trip, which came as part of a flurry of tactful activity aimed at reducing stress on the peninsula after a deadly North Korean attack last month.

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Military recruiters told to accept gay applicants

The Defense Department said Tuesday that it is tolerant openly gay workers, but is warning applicants they might not be allowable to stick around for long.

Subsequent last week's court ruling that struck down a 1993 law banning gays from portion openly, the military has suspended enforcement of the rule known as "don't ask, don't tell." The Justice Department is appealing the choice and has asked the courts for a temporary stay on the ruling.

The Defense Department said it would fulfill with the law and had frozen any set free cases. But at least one case was reported of a man being twisted away from an Army recruiting office in Austin, Texas.

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US military build-up in Kandahar will bolster Taliban, warns security monitor

The US military build-up in Kandahar is likely to further make stronger the hold of the Taliban over the vital southern Afghanistan city, a highly respected security organization said today in a bleak report warning of record Taliban violence and rising civilian deaths across the country.

The account by the Afghanistan NGO Security Office, which monitors trends in aggression on behalf of aid organizations, said Nato's counter-insurgency strategy was not showing any signs of succeeding amid rising violence, the unchecked establishment of local militias and a huge increase in attacks on private development workers across the country.It exposed that June marked a record for Taliban attacks – up 51% on the previous year to 1,319 operations.