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CIA plans to step up drone use in Pakistan

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The CIA's use of drones to fire missiles at suspected al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan has been expanded, The New York Times reported.

The greater use of unmanned drones is tied to President Obama's plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, officials told the newspaper. The administration has told Pakistan it would like to expand the program from Waziristan to Baluchistan.

The drones firing missiles in Pakistan are controlled by CIA officers in the United States. They can remain over a target for hours, sending information to their controllers, which officials said makes them less likely to kill civilians than manned air strikes.

The Obama administration hopes to push militants from both sides, closing down refuges along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The use of drones has increased since Obama became president in January.

The U.S. Air Force uses drones in Afghanistan.

While the drones are high-tech, estimates of their success at killing their targets and of civilian deaths vary.

Report: U.S. anti-drug aid to Mexico slow

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The United States has spent only $24 million of the $1.3 billion appropriated to help Mexico stem the flow of drugs, a government report said Thursday.

The General Accounting Office found only 2 percent of the assistance guaranteed in the Merida Initiative has been delivered, The Washington Post said. Former President George W. Bush and President Felipe Calderon of Mexico signed the agreement in 2007.

Officials with the U.S. State Department "could not tell us when they planned to deliver the majority of Merida goods and services," the GAO said.

Carlos Pascual, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said more aid has been provided than the GAO reported because of delays in contractors' submitting invoices. He cited a federal police academy staffed with U.S. instructors that has produced more than 3,000 graduates but has not yet shown up on the books.

Jeffrey Davidow, a former ambassador who now heads the Institute of the Americas in San Diego, said the slow pace does not prove the policy is a failure.

"It is better to take the time and get it right," he said.

Three Somali ministers dead in bombing

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Three cabinet ministers were among the more than 20 people killed Thursday in the suicide bombing of a graduation in Mogadishu, officials said.

The bomber, a man, penetrated the ceremony wearing women's clothing, CNN reported.

The government and media outlets said three government ministers, two journalists, nine students and two doctors died in the explosion at the Hotel Shamo in the southern area of the capital, CNN reported.

Dr, Osman Mohamoud Dufle, a professor at Banadir University, told Voice of America the suicide bomber set off his explosive vest shortly after he rose from his seat to speak at the graduation. Dufle said the bomb exploded in the row where he had been sitting and "bodies of the dead ... were scattered throughout the hall."

"Most of the people who were sitting in the row of seats I myself was sitting in were killed," he added.

Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed blamed the Islamic group al-Shabaab for the attack, CNN reported a Radio Mogadishu journalist as saying.

The government identified the three slain ministers as Education Minister Abdullahi Wayel, Health Minister Qamar Aden and Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Adow. Sports Minister Suleman Olad Roble was initially was reported has having died in the blast, but his relatives said he was hospitalized in critical condition.

During a news conference, Ahmed displayed a body he said was the bomber, the remains of the suicide belt and shreds of a hijab, a loose, dress-like garment, CNN reported.

The bomber struck during a graduation ceremony for Banadir University's medical school, the African Union said.

The African Union condemned the attack, saying it would "spare no efforts to ensure that perpetrators of this act and such heinous crimes against humanity being carried out in Somalia" would be arrested and tried.

Senate to debate healthcare on Sunday

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Healthcare reform debate will eat into the weekend as Majority Leader Harry Reid said the U.S. Senate would be in session at noon Sunday.

Reid said the upper chamber would be in session Sunday, but not until the afternoon, The Hill reported. He was responding to a question by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who wanted to know if members would have a chance to attend church Sunday morning.

"I think it's very likely that we wouldn't come in until noon or somewhere around noon on Sunday," Reid said from the Senate floor.

Democrats threatened to work through most weekends in December to push through the healthcare legislation in hopes of passing some form of the bill by the end of the year. Debate began on Monday, and the first amendment was taken up Thursday.

Amanda Knox trial coming to close

PERUGIA, Italy, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The Italian student charged with killing a young British woman in Perugia in 2007 denied Thursday that he was present when Meredith Kercher died.

Raffaele Sollecito, 25, an engineering student from Bari, Italy, denied any role in the killing, CNN reported.

Sollecito and his former girlfriend, Amanda Knox, 22, of Seattle, are charged with the murder of Kercher during a drug-fueled sex game at the house Knox and Kercher shared. Kercher, 21, a University of Leeds student from a London suburb, and Knox were studying in Perugia.

"I am not a violent person," Sollecito said. "I've not killed Meredith. I was not at the scene of the crime. Every day I hope that the guilty one confesses. I ask you to give me back my life."

Attorneys completed final arguments Thursday with the jury scheduled to get the case Friday morning. A verdict was seen as possible by Friday night, the Italian news agency ANSA said. The prosecution is seeking life in prison for Knox.

Rudy Guede, 30, an immigrant from the Ivory Coast, has already been convicted and sentenced to 30 years. Knox and Sollecito face life sentences if they are found guilty.

Knox was described by the prosecution as "wound up like a spring" because of Kercher's complaints and "unleashed" her anger "in a drug-filled rage."

Knox was fed up with Kercher moaning about her bringing boys into the house and having to clean up after her, prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said in his final arguments.

Kercher was found dead in her room with a knife wound to the throat on Nov. 2, 2007.