The White House says President Barack Obama still considers Pakistan a strong ally in the fight against extremist forces. Comments by Mr. Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, came Monday as the United States and Pakistan continued to discuss the closure of a key border crossing and amid concern about attacks on NATO supply convoys.

At a White House news briefing, Gibbs was asked about the attacks on NATO fuel tanker trucks, four of which occurred since Pakistan closed the northwestern Khyber Pass Torkhum border crossing last week.

The attacks followed what NATO says was a self-defense hot-pursuit action by helicopters. NATO expressed regret over the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers; a joint investigation is continuing.

>> Read more at voanews.com

I heard an amusing story the other night on ABC NewsRadio about the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Apparently she's found some habits of her communist, East German-upbringing hard to break... such as stockpiling consumer goods.

The 56-year-old German leader says she tends to over-stock the cupboards in her Berlin apartment "because you used to just get what-you-could... in an economy where things were scarce".

"Sometimes I just buy things because I see them... even though I don't really need them at the time," she said.

You'll probably hear lots of amusing anecdotes like this over the next few days as Germany celebrates the 20th anniversary of re-unification.

>> Read more at ABC.net.au