US commanders in Afghanistan are condemning a decision by the Karzai government to release 65 prisoners. US says they're directly tied to attacks that killed and wounded dozens of NATO and Afghan forces. NPR's Tom Bowman has more. 

The Afghan government said there wasn't enough evidence to try those who are released from Bagram prison, just north of Kabul. But US officials say many of them had direct links to attacks and the evidence including fingerprints and explosion residues found on their hands and personal property. Among those releases, Nek Mohammad, is accused of helping a stage rocket attack against US and Afghan forces around Kandahar. He was found with several 107-millimeter artillery shells as well as mortal rounds in homemade explosives. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said president Karzai has sidestepped his own rule of law. Graham wants to cut off all US develop aids until Afghan election is held in April. Tom Bowman, NPR News, Washington. 

 

GM is recalling near 800,000 older model compact cars because of the ignition key problem. As Michigan Radio Sarah Swags reports, the carmaker says the problem has been linked to 6 deaths. 

The recalling applies to some 2005 through 2007 model year Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5s. their fault ignition switch could actually cause the car’s ignition to shut off while driving. According to GM, that can be caused by a joint event at rough roads or even the drivers’ key chains be too heavy. It can also result in airbags failing to deploy in a crash. The Detroit automaker acknowledges that the flaw has been connected to 6 deaths in crashes or airbag didn’t deploy. GM dealers will replace the ignition switch in effected cars with recon loads going out to owners in the coming weeks. For NPR News, I’m Sarah Swagsin Detroit. 

 

Facebook is announcing its 159 million US users will now get an option can complete a question on their profiles, identifying gender. Working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights groups, the social networking site has come up with a costumer option which lets users indentify from up to 50 different terms which as known gender. Alex Schultz as Facebook director of growth:

"Facebook wants to allow people to be able to express their genuine authentic self in the site, and we want them to express their whole selves and so we allow people to express something fundamental. While they think about their gender is not really that cool, so we want to make that available for everyone we possibly can."

Among the gender options, Facebook users in the US will now be able to specify in androgynous, bigender, intersex, or genderfluid.

 

Nation's retailers were a bit less busy last month as the released in terms of their sales number that American spent less money on autos, clothing and restaurants.  According to the Commerce Department, retail sales were down 0.4%, marking the second straight decline after a smaller drop the previous month. 

 

Stocks close higher today with Dow back about 17,000. the Dow was up 63 points. 

 

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The mediator for the UN broker Syrian peace talks now says Russia and US have agreed to help break current deadlock. UN negotiator Lakhdar Brahimi, emerging from the meeting, with senior US and Russia officials today said respective countries have agreed to try to unblock the situation because it lacks of progress. Second Syrian peace conference in Geneva this year offered an opportunity for conversation but resulted in little way of movement. 

 

The Obama administration is leading at an international new created global bio-surveillance network. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports the project aims at setup a system to quickly attack or respond to emerging disease outbreaks. 

The global health security agenda is an international network for aim to try to a deal with new infectious diseases wherever they popped up in the world. the project is a collaboration between 26 countries in the world health organization and several other international agencies. The idea is to try to be better prepared to the next SARS or swine flu outbreak. National security officials say an international bio-surveillance network will also help spot potentially dangerous passengers whether they're released accidentally or a part of terrorist attack. The initiatives will help laboratories in low-income countries so they're better able to monitor and hopefully contain the emerging disease outbreaks and other potential bio-hazards. Jason Beaubien, NPR News. 

 

Evacuation is under way in Indonesia on a densely populated isle after a volcano there began erupting. Officials say the upward 200,000 people living in 36 villages were deemed the dangerous zone for the volcano which is the isle of Java. In 1990, the same volcano Mount Kelud erupted with serious flame and lava that killed more than 30 people and injured a number of others.