1+JANV

 **** __Judge Drops Charges From Blackwater Deaths in Iraq__ **** By CHARLIE SAVAGE A federal judge has dismissed all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a deadly Baghdad shooting.

**** __C.I.A. Takes On Expanded Role on Front Lines__ **** By MARK MAZZETTI The deaths of seven C.I.A. operatives in Afghanistan have highlighted the agency’s transformation into a paramilitary organization at the vanguard of America’s wars.

**** __Preservation Groups Find Bargains in Housing Bust__ **** By LESLIE KAUFMAN Conservation organizations have taken advantage of depressed property prices and foreclosures to protect open space. **** __Terror Attempt May Hinder Plans to Close Guantánamo__ **** By PETER BAKER and CHARLIE SAVAGE Lawmakers in both parties are calling on the administration to rethink its approach to shuttering the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

**** __Focus on Internet Imams as Recruiters for Al Qaeda__ **** By ERIC SCHMITT and ERIC LIPTON The attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack has cast a spotlight on charismatic clerics who use their Internet celebrity to indoctrinate and recruit young Muslims for Al Qaeda.

**** __Making a Little Fun of Russia’s Powerful__ **** By ELLEN BARRY Cartoon versions of Prime Minister Putin and President Dmitri A. Medvedev on a television show may be a sign that political humor is returning to Russia. **** __Terror Attempt May Hinder Plans to Close Guantánamo__ **** By PETER BAKER and CHARLIE SAVAGE Lawmakers in both parties are calling on the administration to rethink its approach to shuttering the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

**** __Focus on Internet Imams as Recruiters for Al Qaeda__ **** By ERIC SCHMITT and ERIC LIPTON The attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack has cast a spotlight on charismatic clerics who use their Internet celebrity to indoctrinate and recruit young Muslims for Al Qaeda.

**** __Obama Aide Gets Waiver to Investigate Airline Plot__ **** By PETER BAKER John O. Brennan, the deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism, received an ethics waiver from the White House to investigate the “systemic failures” before the failed airliner bombing on Christmas Day. **** __In Spain, a Soaring Jobless Rate for Young Workers__ **** By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ Many aged 16 to 24 who took jobs when the Spanish economy was healthy are now out of work as the unemployment rate for the group nears 43 percent.

**** __Neel Kashkari’s Quiet Path to Pimco__ **** By DEVIN LEONARD In joining Pimco, Neel Kashkari, the former Treasury bailout chief, settled on a financial company that didn’t need a government rescue but may be strengthening its federal ties.

**** __Time Warner and Fox Extend Talks Overnight__ **** By BRIAN STELTER Hours before a contract over retransmission rights for Fox stations was set to expire, the F.C.C. asked the companies to keep talking.