World News: Allied forces' efforts 'fail to dent Taliban numbers'

A MASSIVE effort by US and Nato forces has failed to dent Taliban numbers over the past year, according to the military and diplomats.

A Nato official said the estimated current number of insurgent fighters at up to 25,000, confirming figures provided earlier by several military officers and diplomats.

That number is the same as a year ago, before the arrival of an additional 40,000 US and allied troops.

The US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has kept official figures of enemy strength under wraps throughout the nine-year war. But non-US military assessments have tracked the growth of the Taliban from about 500 armed fighters in 1993 to 25,000 in early 2010.

"These are rough estimates, because they're not just standing around to be counted," said the Nato official.

The Taliban is pitted against about 140,000 ISAF troops - two-thirds of them Americans - and more than 200,000 members of the government's security forces.

President Barack Obama has doubled US troop numbers since taking office, hoping to inflict major losses on the Taliban before a planned pull-out starting this year.

Millard South High School, Omaha, Nebraska, US, holds a candlelight vigil after a student shot dead the assistant principal and wounded the principal.

Oprah stars in Morgan debut

Piers Morgan will open his new prime-time US TV show with an Oprah Winfrey interview.

Morgan's new show makes its first appearance on January 17, filling the slot once held by Larry King. The former Daily Mirror editor said he interviewed Winfrey in California this week.

Flood-hit get to head home

Evacuated victims began returning to homes caked in sludge today as Australia's flood crisis eased.

Officials said they were moving from the emergency phase into clean-up as flood water levels stabilised in the hard-hit coastal city of Rockhampton and dropped further in towns inland.

Queensland state has been in the grip of Australia's worst flooding in some 50 years since drenching tropical rains fell for days starting just before Christmas.

Killer stuffed victims into tree

A MAN who broke into a home to commit "a random burglary" admitted killing three people who surprised and confronted him, stuffing their remains in a hollow tree, and kidnapping and raping a 13-year-old girl who was with them.

Matthew Hoffman, 30, was sentenced in Ohio to life in prison without parole.

Dogs banned in public sites

Abu Dhabi is putting dog owners on a short leash by banning the animals from public beaches, parks and other sites.

The new rules, carried in local media today, were imposed after complaints of dog mess in the seaside sands and grassy areas in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Cash-strapped Portugal faces soaring costs

Portugal: The financial crisis engulfing Portugal showed no signs of abating as its borrowing costs surged again, even though it lowered its budget deficit to the targeted 7.3 per cent of gross domestic product last year.

Haiti: United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon has appointed an independent panel of health experts to investigate the source of a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 3000 people in Haiti.