Fashions News

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and double-amputee Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth place a wreath at a veterans memorial in Chicago Nov. 11, 2008. Duckworth is director of the department of veteran affairs for Illinois

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and double-amputee Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth walk together to place a wreath at a veterans memorial in Chicago Nov. 11, 2008. Duckworth is director of the department of veteran affairs for Illinois

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama hugs double-amputee Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth after they placed a wreath at a veterans memorial in Chicago Nov. 11, 2008. Duckworth is director of the department of veteran affairs for Illinois

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama hugs double-amputee Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth after they placed a wreath at a veterans memorial in Chicago Nov. 11, 2008. Duckworth is director of the department of veteran affairs for Illinois

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and paraplegic Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth place a wreath at a veterans memorial in Chicago Nov. 11, 2008. Duckworth is director of the department of veteran affairs for Illinois

However, Obama's aides also said no final decision has been made, as other people are also under serious consideration for the top Pentagon job.

Several prominent Democrats, including Richard Danzig, former President Bill Clinton's navy secretary and John Hamre, Clinton's former deputy defense secretary, are also being considered.

The decision on retaining Gates will be the clearest indication to date of the incoming administration's thinking about Iraq and Afghanistan.

Like the president-elect, Gates supports deploying more troops to Afghanistan.

But the defense secretary strongly opposes a firm timetable for withdrawing American forces from Iraq, therefore, some analysts said his appointment could mean that Obama was effectively shelving his campaign promise to remove most troops from Iraq by mid-2010.

Speculation that Gates would remain in the job increased over the weekend when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid endorsed the idea in a CNN interview.

"Why wouldn't we want to keep him?" Reid said. "He's never been a registered Republican."

Gates took over the Pentagon in late 2006 after Bush ousted then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over his management of the Iraq war.

U.S. commanders in Iraq had been unable to prevent the country from slipping into civil war, and American and Iraqi casualties were soaring.

As the new defense chief, Gates worked to repair the Pentagon's frayed ties with Capitol Hill.

He also reshaped the U.S. war effort in Iraq, appointing David Petraeus to lead the military campaign and overseeing the deployment of 30,000 additional combat troops as part of a shift to a new counterinsurgency approach there.

A canine club in Peru offered U.S. president-elect Barack Obama a Peruvian hairless dog, such as seen here, as a solution to his most pressing dilemmas: where to find a White House dog suitable for his allergic daughter.

DUONG TRUONG THIEN LY - MISS VIETNAM









Miss Vietnam - Miss World 2008

DUONG TRUONG THIEN LY - MISS VIETNAM









Miss Vietnam - Miss World 2008

Actress Nicole Kidman accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour Magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Jane Goodall accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year lifetime achievement award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Actress and model Tyra Banks accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Actress and model Tyra Banks accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year award from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Actress Debra Messing presents a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Actress America Ferrera presents a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Actress Nicole Kidman accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour Magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Jane Goodall accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year lifetime achievement award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Actress and model Tyra Banks accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Actress and model Tyra Banks accepts a Glamour Woman of the Year award from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Actress Debra Messing presents a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008

Actress America Ferrera presents a Glamour Woman of the Year award from Glamour magazine in New York Nov. 10, 2008