Petraeus: NATO Pressure Forcing Taliban to Seek Peace

The leader of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan says alliance progress in recent months has congested Taliban advances in most of the country, and is put force on even senior leaders of the group to seek a peace deal with the Afghan administration.

Universal Petraeus has spoken of progress in specific parts of Afghanistan previous to, but now he says that in the last three-to-six months Afghan troops and his international forces have changed the situation in most of the country.

"I think the Taliban momentum has, as I noted earlier, been overturned in many areas and definitely under arrest in the bulk of the country," said Petraeus. "I wouldn't say all parts.

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US 'horrified' by Somali girls' execution

The United States on Friday uttered dismay at the executions of two girls by Somalia's Shebab, saying it show the Al-Qaeda-inspired group's ignore for the nation's people.

Witness said that a Shebab firing squad on Wednesday shot dead two teen girls accused of spying in front of hundreds of residents in the central town of Beledweyne.

"We are appalled by news of the execution," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said, reproachful the killings "in the strongest potential terms."

"This makes clear that al-Qaeda Shebab continues to deprive the Somali people of defense, peace and stability," Crowley told reporters.


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MINTY CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE (GF)

MINTY CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

This Christmassy cheesecake has a very mild, pleasant minty flavor to complement the milk chocolate; however, if you like, you can leave it out.

Crust:

1 cup Low-Carb Bake Mix, OR (250 mL)

  Gluten-free Low-Carb Bake Mix

3 SPLENDA^® packets

7 tbsp butter, melted (105 mL)

Filling:

24 oz regular cream cheese (750 g)

1 cup ricotta cheese (250 mL)

¹/₃ cup sour cream (75 mL)

3 eggs

²/₃ cup SPLENDA^® Granular (150 mL)

7 tbsp powdered erythritol (105 mL)

2 tbsp cocoa (25 mL)

1 tsp vanilla extract (5 mL)

¹/₄ tsp peppermint extract (1 mL)

4 oz sugar free chocolate chips, (120 g)

  (sweetened), melted

Crust:  In food processor, combine bake mix, SPLENDA^® and butter; process.  Place in 9-inch (23 cm) nonstick springform pan. Cover with plastic wrap and press to cover bottom of pan. Bake in 350°C (180°F) oven 10 minutes.

Filling:  In food processor with sharp blade, process cream cheese, ricotta cheese and sour cream until smooth.  Add eggs one at a time while processing.  Add SPLENDA^® Granular, erythritol, cocoa, vanilla extract and peppermint extract; process.  Add melted chocolate chips (soften in microwave oven); process.  Pour batter over crust.  Bake in 350°C (180°F) oven 45 to 50 minutes, or until top turns light brown and the center is softly set.  Refrigerate when cool.


Helpful Hints:  One cherry has 2 grams of carbs - those are half cherries at 1 g carbs, however, pick off the decoration and give it to someone who would appreciate it more.  I also garnished the top with my Creme Fraiche recipe, but you could use whipped cream stabilized with a bit of Xanthan or guar gum and sweetened.

Iran agrees to new nuclear talks

For the first time in additional than a year, Iran has agreed to talks with earth powers over its nuclear power agenda.

European Union foreign rule chief Catherine Ashton told reporters in Brussels on Friday that she received an affirmative reply from Iranian nuclear negotiator Said Jalili to a standing invite to talks sometime after Nov. 10 "in a place and on a date suitable to both sides," according to news agencies.

Ashton describe the letter as "a significant move" and said diplomats were now attempt to pinpoint a place and time for negotiations on ways to decide the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at producing arsenal and Iran says is solely for civilian purpose.

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Africa too on India-US radar

India and the US are coming jointly to help Africa and a declaration of this intent is predictable during President Barak Obama's visit. Although the African initiative comes under the India-US agricultural cooperation, the teamwork is being firmed up at a time when the Chinese are miles ahead in Making their impression felt in Africa.

The India-US initiative comes soon after India and Japan formally setting in place a "dialogue" for Africa to synchronise their strategies in the continent.

Ben Rhodes, US second-in-command national security advisor for strategic communication, had said, "This is a chance to talk about that partnership, and also it’s possible to service our broader food security plan in places like Africa, as well as continuing to go forward our bilateral cooperation with India."

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Next major online offering may be entire Catholic register collection

The National Library of Ireland (NLI) is planning to scan all 520 microfilms that make up its collection of Roman Catholic parish registers and put the scans online.

While they won't be transcribed (so genealogists will still be going cross-eyed and pulling their hair out with frustration at the many illegible pages of records) nor indexed, this step would be hugely beneficial. At present, family historians have to visit the NLI in person, and only one microfilm for each parish is made available at any one time.

So, while not perfect, having this resource online would be an outstanding advance. The collection represents, for the majority of researchers, the main source of birth, marriage and death records for pre-1864 (when civil registration started).

The project is still at the tender stage, so it's some way off, but scanning and uploading 520 films to the web isn't an enormous undertaking and should be achievable within a year from now.

Source: John Grenham/Irish Times

LINDA'S HERB PARMESAN CRACKERS

Linda (Beeb) is one of the most innovative bakers on Lowcarbfriends.com   She is also an author and a mom.  Thanks, Linda, for these beautiful-looking crackers and for finding such a good use for my bake mix.

Herb/Parmesan Crackers:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Almond Flour
1/2 cup Splendid Bake Mix
2 teas. sweetener
1 egg white
3/8 teas. salt
1/8 teas. garlic powder
1/8 teas. onion powder
1 to 2 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese (more or less to taste. I used a heaping Tbs)
2 teas. un-toasted sesame seeds
2 Tbs softened butter
1/2 Tbs Italian herbs of choice (I used an herb mixture of oregano and basil......also use more herbs if you want a stronger herb taste)


Mix all ingredients well in bowl. Chill dough for 20 minutes.Take about 1/2 teas. of dough, roll into a ball and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Do this until the cookie sheet is filled, placing the dough balls about 1 1/2 inches apart.
Using the bottom of a baking powder can or any item that has a 1/8" height rim around like the baking powder can, place a small piece of plastic wrap on each dough ball and press down until the can hits the cookie sheet.
Peel off plastic and move to the next dough ball until all are have been pressed and shaped.
Prick with fork.
Bake at 325 F for 15 -20 minutes, or until golden brown. After 15 minutes, check every minute or so to make sure they don't get too browned.
Cool and store in a air tight container at room temp. or freeze for longer storage.
SPLENDID LOW-CARB BAKE MIX™
1 2/3 cups ground almonds (400 mL)
2/3 cup vanilla whey protein* (150 mL)
2/3 cup vital wheat gluten (150 mL)
In large bowl, combine ground almonds, vanilla whey protein and vital wheat gluten. Use a large wooden spoon to stir and mix well. Store in a closed container at room temperature. Shake container to ensure ingredients are combined well.

Nutritional Analysis:  25 crackers, 1 cracker:
34 calories; 1.6 g protein; 2.8 g fat; 0.47 g carbs