A leading gay rights acitivist organization argues that married gay service members deserve to have the same rights as heterosexual couples once President Barack Obama ends the military's ban on open homosexuality in the ranks.

According to the Washington Times, "equal treatment of legally married gays has emerged as an issue in the debate in Congress, as some Republicans are asking whether the military will deny housing and mediacl benefits to gay spouses and potentially create morale and readiness problems."

Under the cover of darkness on Feb. 21, a 30-man Philippines marine special operations platoon crawled into a jungle encampment of Abu Sayyaf terrorists. An hour-long fight ensued and afterwards six Abu Sayyaf gunmen, including the organization's brashest young leader. albader Parad, were found slain, but one marine was klled and three others wounded.

It's difficult for anyone to argue that the foreign policy of the Jimmy Carter administration could be deemed a success. He significantly weakened the the military and diplomatic presence of the U.S. all over the globe during his reign, under the naive assumption that he didn't want America to appear as a so-called 'imperialist' nation.

Now, President Barack Obama is following in the foreign policy footsteps of Mr. Carter, and China believes that this represents an opportunity for its nation to surpass the U.S. as the world's number one superpower. Beijing recognizes that Obama wants to be perceived as a global diplomat for the U.S. and U.N., rather than a military force to be reckoned with. Hence, Beijing can build-up its military without fear of repurcussions from the White House.

In London, England, airport officials have confirmed that two Muslim women were halted from boarding a flight after refusing a full body scan.

The Taiwan Sun reports that, "insisting that religious and medical reasons should preclude them from the procedure, which requires a person to pass through a machine which scans the full body for weapons and other contraband, the pair refused to be convinced the scan was necessary."

On Friday, Singapore raised its security alert and mobilized its defenses after receiving information of a terrorist plot to attack ships off the coast of the city-state in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, as disclosed by a Cabinet minister.

According to the Houston Chronicle, "Malaysia and Indonesia have also stepped up maritime and air patrols in the Malacca Strait where millions of barrels of oil pass daily. Singapore's navy warned Thursday that a terrorist group was planning attacks on oil tankers and other vessels but provided no details."

For a second week in a row, Texas gasoline prices rose this week.

The Houston Chronicle reports that, "the weekly AAA Texas survey released Thursday showed regular unleaded gasoline averaging $2.57 per gallon across the state, 4 cents higher than last week. Nationally, the average price rose 3 cents to $2.71 per gallon."

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that they will play an exhibition game in Taiwan next week. Have they seen some photos of the damage caused by the 6.4 earthquake that struck the southern portion of the island?

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