Summary: North Korea celebrated the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party founded by “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung and anointed “Young General” Kim Jong-un as “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il’s successor. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 11, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraqis took to the streets in parts of Iraq to demand open elections and improved public services, revealing growing discontent among Iraqis.

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Summary: Paralleling the political trend in the United States with its Tea Party movement, the far-right in Austria resurged in local elections in the capital city of Vienna, securing the largest gains following a campaign laced with anti-Islamic rhetoric. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 10, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Afghanistan’s defense minister, calling for more international troops, said thousands of foreign fighters were pouring into Afghanistan to bolster the Taliban insurgency.

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Summary: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, thanking him for opposing a Florida pastor’s threat to burn the Quran and calling for cooperation against secularism. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 9, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that the Afghan Taliban mocked the award of a Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama, saying he should get a Nobel Prize for violence instead.

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Summary: Continuing a surge in CIA-run, drone-fired attacks, the U.S. conducted two missile strikes in the northwestern Pakistan tribal region along the Afghan border today, killing nine suspected militants. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 8, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that there were indications Afghanistan could become the theater for a proxy war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

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Summary: Analysis on the 9th anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. war in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 7, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided news and analysis on the 9th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, destroy al-Qaida, and kill or capture Osama bin Laden and other leaders of the terrorist organization.

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Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, compiled from U.S. Department of Defense news releases. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 6, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan).

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Update: Jacob Wetterling’s remains have been found after Danny Heinrich led investigators to a site in Central Minnesota. … Previous: Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner announced that nothing of consequence was found in the July 2010 search of the Rassier farmstead in the Jacob Wetterling kidnapping investigation; however, he added that technology could eventually improve to the extent that it would allow for future testing of the items seized.

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Summary: Pakistan’s shutting of a key supply line for coalition troops in Afghanistan and the apparent ease with which militants are attacking the stranded convoys are shaking an already uncomfortable relationship between Washington and Islamabad. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 4, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that hundreds of insurgents armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades nearly overran a U.S. outpost near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, killing eight U.S. soldiers and capturing more than 20 Afghan security forces in the deadliest assault against U.S. troops in more than a year.

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Summary: Militants attacked and set fire to at least 20 tankers carrying oil for NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the third such strike inside Pakistan in as many days. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 3, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that President Barack Obama had met with Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, as he pondered whether the U.S. should send tens of thousands more troops to crush the Taliban in a broad counterinsurgency strategy, or shift to a narrower antiterrorism focus on al-Qaida in neighboring Pakistan.

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Summary: Responding to credible al-Qaida threats, the U.S. State Department is issuing a travel alert urging American citizens to be vigilant if they travel in Europe. Officials have not identified specific targets, but it’s likely terrorists might be considering Mumbai-style “swarm attacks.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 2, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, U.S. Fearmonger-in-Chief — as though vying for the title of “World’s Greatest Exaggerator” — made the histrionic claim that by fall 2010 “someone’s 13-year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back, and go home on the school bus that night … [with] Mom and Dad … never the wiser.”

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