Forget the lack of rebels roaming villages or how many fewer women now face sexual violence, the best sign that Sierra Leone is moving past its brutal civil war is the fact that a trash truck now plies the streets of Freetown.

At a Monitor breakfast with reporters, the Republican governor from Minnesota points proudly to his roots from working-class St. Paul. As a potential presidential candidate, he breaks the GOP stereotype. Biography matters in politics. But America's in a crunch, and solutions matter more.

WikiLeaks documents saying that the US military believes Pakistan's spy agency supports the Taliban jibes with what Afghanistan's leaders have complained about for a long time.

AP - The monumental leak of classified Afghan war documents threatened Monday to create new conflict with Pakistan, whose spy agency was a focus of much of the material, and raised questions about Washington's own ability to protect military secrets. The White House called the disclosures "alarming" and scrambled to assess the damage.

AP - A prosecutor wrapped up his closing arguments in Rod Blagojevich's corruption trial Monday after focusing on shooting down the former Illinois governor's defense, saying that Blagojevich need have made no money or gotten a high-profile job in order for his alleged schemes to be illegal.

AP - Two car bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims during a religious festival in the holy city of Karbala killed 25 people on Monday, Iraqi police and hospital officials said. Sunni extremists are suspected.