The Taliban have begun waging a campaign of intimidation in Marjah that some local Afghan leaders worry has jeopardized the success of a US-led offensive there meant as an early test of a revised military approach in Afghanistan.

The Taliban tactics have included at least one beheading in a broader effort to terrorize residents and undermine what military officials have said is the most important aim of the offensive - the attempt to establish a strong local government that can restore services. The offensive ousted the Taliban from control of their last population center in southern Helmand province, but maintaining control over such territory has proved elusive in the past.

Though Marjah has an occupation force numbering more than one coalition soldier or police officer for every eight residents, Taliban agitators have been able to wage an underground campaign of subversion, which residents say has intensified in the past two weeks.

“After dark the city is like the kingdom of the Taliban,” said a tribal elder living in Marjah, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of the Taliban. “The government and international forces cannot defend anyone even one kilometer from their bases.”

The new governor of Marjah, Haji Abdul Zahir, said the militants were now holding meetings in randomly selected homes roughly every other night, gathering residents together and demanding that they turn over the names of anyone cooperating with the authorities.

Zahir said the Taliban also regularly issued “night letters,” posted at mosques or on utility poles, warning against such collaboration, and often intimidated residents into providing them with shelter and food, even in densely populated neighborhoods of the city, which has a population of 80,000.

“They are threatening and intimidating these people who are cooperating,” he said in a telephone interview. “They have been involved in the area for a long time and they know how to intimidate people. They threaten them with beheadings, cutting off hands and feet, all the things they did when they were the government.”

More than 6,000 US soldiers, Marines and British soldiers fought their way into Marjah beginning February 13, along with thousands of Afghan troops and police officers. Many others have reinforced the occupation since to protect an influx of Afghan officials and Western experts to build an effective government in Marjah. That effort to win over the local populace is at the heart of the US and Afghan government strategy, and NATO officials have said it is proceeding well.

Journalists have still not been allowed to visit Marjah independently, however; they must be embedded with the US military. Marjah is meant to be a template for a similar campaign aimed for spring in neighboring Kandahar province, the Taliban’s heartland.

NATO and Marine Corps spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the situation in Marjah.

Zahir said it was difficult for the authorities to counter the Taliban’s campaign because the militants were mostly moving around without guns, relying on fear rather than threats. “If they are detained, they claim they are just ordinary citizens,” he said. “At the same time, they still have a lot of sympathy among the people.” He said it was impossible to estimate how many Taliban fighters remained in the city. “It’s like an ant hole,” he said. “When you look into an ant hole, who knows how many ants there are?”

The tribal elder declared that in his area, called Block 5, the Taliban had complete freedom of movement after dark. He said he believed that was true in many other parts of the city as well. He and the governor were among five community leaders in Marjah who expressed similar concerns about the Taliban intimidation campaign.

On March 10, the elder said, a resident of the same area named Nissar Ahmad, 25, was abducted from his home and beheaded, and his body was dumped at night next to the main local school, where residents would be certain to see it in the morning.

“I saw his body myself,” the elder said, adding that he had heard of other beheadings. Ahmad had previously been a Taliban supporter but had switched allegiance after the city fell, the elder said.

Zahir dismissed reports of beheadings as rumors. Ahmad, he maintained, was killed as the result of a personal dispute. However, he said there had been Taliban beatings, including a teacher at a new school who was severely beaten on Tuesday.

Walid Jan Sabir, the Afghan member of Parliament for Marjah and the surrounding Nad Ali District, said he had heard reports from Marjah elders visiting his office in Kabul this week of two other beheadings of other pro-government elders, both members of the government’s Community Development Council.

Sabir scoffed at Zahir’s denial of beheadings, saying, “He is not from the area and he is only staying in his office so he doesn’t know what is happening.” Zahir lived for many years in Germany, where court officials said he was jailed for stabbing a stepson. Zahir has denied that.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Zemarai Bashary, said the police in Marjah had been told to investigate the beheading reports.

“We don’t know if it’s one person or many cases and many persons, but we are investigating and we will soon have an answer,” he said.

The Marjah elder also said there were many accounts of the Taliban’s forcing residents to attend night meetings where they threatened retaliation against anyone cooperating with the government or NATO and warned that anyone who took even a low-paying government job would have his earnings confiscated. Zahir said there were many accounts of such confiscations from new employees in government work programs.

The elder said most people in Marjah supported the government’s efforts to restore control, but most were also afraid to challenge the Taliban.

“I’m not saying the Taliban will win this war,” he said. “If the government strengthens their positions and creates small bases all over town close to one another and then permanently patrols between these bases, they can get rid of the Taliban.”

Sabir was critical of US and Afghan forces for surrendering the night. “At night the local people are the hostages of the Taliban,” he said. Since many tribal leaders had fled out of fear, and many of the Afghan officials coming in now were not from Marjah, it was difficult for them to know who the Taliban activists were.

“The Taliban and the Marjah residents all have beards and turbans so it’s impossible to distinguish them,” he said. “If it goes on like this I’m sure the situation will deteriorate and we’ll find it’s chaos there again.”

For months now, Sarah Brown has been the most important public relations person in Team Brown. Introducing him at two Labour party conferences, she has tried to humanise the deeply disliked, rather gruff and dour Gordon. She says her husband is her hero.

With his personal ratings shrinking, David Cameron decided it was time to recruit his stylish wife to help him out. She obliged, saying her husband had never let her down in the 18 years she had known him.

“Sam Cameron comes from an extremely posh background. Sarah Brown comes from a comfortable background. Not quite the same thing. Sarah Brown is quite a cerebral.  Samantha is an arts graduate who sees herself as much of a party girl in upbringing. Both the wives trying to say, we know you don’t trust our husband but we do and we are normal women like you,” said Gary Gibbon, Political Editor, ITV.

In the battle of the wives, every little move, word and of course their attire is closely scrutinised. With Samantha Cameron trying to tone down her posh image, Mrs Brown keeping it middle class, hoping to highlight the difference in backgrounds as a key difference between Labour and the Tories.

While this closely fought political battle for the control of the House of Commons pits Mrs Brown against Mrs Cameron, the two women actually have a lot in common as well. Both are highly successful professionals. Sarah Brown is a polished PR executive, while Samantha is creative director in a luxury stationery company. They’ve shown total devotion as mothers and wives with both having to go through the personal trauma of losing a child each.

This trend is quite new to British politics. Even the image conscious Tony Blair didn’t get his wife to campaign for him.

Televised debates, wives becoming a very public part of the election campaign are all evidence of a shift in Britain towards the image driven US style presidential election.

The Red River at Fargo, North Dakota, reached “major flood stage” early Wednesday as the National Guard and a small army of volunteers filled sandbags to keep the waters at bay.

“Everybody is just focused on battling it once again, and they’re doing it with smiles on their faces,” said Staff Sgt. Amy Wieser Willson of the North Dakota National Guard.

The river rose to a record 40.8 feet at Fargo in 2009. As of about 7 a.m. Wednesday, the river stood at 30.34 feet, 12 feet above the flood stage and past major flood stage. Floodwaters are forecast to peak at 38 feet this weekend.

“Major flood stage” is a term the National Weather Service uses to describe flooding causing “extensive inundation of structures and roads” and possibly the “significant evacuations of people and the transfer of property to higher elevations.”warm weather and rain melted snow south of Fargo and adjacent Moorhead, Minnesota, causing the Red River to swell. Upstream, snow and ice have yet to melt, causing water to gather around the two cities.

“[It's] very stressful for a lot of people, especially after seeing how much damage and how long the flood fight went on last year,” Willson said. About 300 people were helping on the sandbag lines as the community raced to fill 1 million bags.

Meanwhile, along the Eastern Seaboard, utility crews made steady progress restoring electricity after a powerful nor’easter whipped the region over the weekend.

About 125,000 customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut remained without power early Wednesday.

“We know how difficult this is for our customers, and we appreciate their patience,” said John Miksad of Con Edison. “With each reconnection, we focus on restoring the greatest numbers of customers possible.”

The outages were due mostly to power lines downed by Saturday’s hurricane-force winds, which knocked over trees and utility poles. At least seven deaths were attributed to the storm, five caused by falling trees, authorities said.

Five young Americans held in Pakistan on suspicion of plotting attacks have been indicted on terrorism charges, their lawyer has said.

The five men, aged 18 to 25, denied the charges at a court in a jail in the eastern city of Sargodha.

They were arrested in the city in December on suspicion of trying to contact al-Qaeda-linked groups.

The five face life imprisonment if found guilty. Pakistan earlier barred their deportation to the US.

The men have claimed they were tortured in custody, and that US officials directed the abuse, but prison officials have denied the accusations.

The US embassy in Islamabad, which has also dismissed the allegations, confirmed that an American consular official attended Wednesday’s hearing.

Journalists were not allowed in, but afterwards defence lawyer Shahid Kamal told journalists: “Charges have been laid against all the accused,” reports AFP news agency.

“All these charges are terrorism related. The offences are punishable by life imprisonment. All the accused unanimously rejected them.”

The five young Muslims disappeared from the US state of Virginia in November.

Their families reported them missing after finding a farewell video message, which is said to have shown scenes of war and calls for Muslims to be defended.

Prosecutors and police have alleged the men were plotting attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan and had sought links with extremists.

Officials say the men were planning to travel to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban.

But the accused have denied any links to al-Qaeda and insist they wanted to go to Afghanistan for charity work.

Two of them are Pakistani-Americans, while the remaining three are said to be of Eritrean, Ethiopian and Egyptian origin. All of them have US passports.

The next hearing is scheduled for 31 March, when prosecutors are expected to produce evidence.

Red-shirted protesters hurled plastic bags filled with gallons (liters) of their own blood into the residence of the Thai prime minister on Wednesday, hoping their shock tactics will bring down his government.

Seeking new ways to dramatize their cause, a small group of protesters were allowed by police to approach the walled compound in a ritzy Bangkok neighborhood and then unleashed a barrage that smeared the walls, roof and grounds with red.

Earlier, a standoff ensued with riot police in full gear blocking all approaches to the home of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who the “Red Shirts” hope to topple by calling for new elections.

After negotiations, three dozen demonstrators were allowed to squeeze through the police cordon in a heavy rainfall. They carried about six, 1.3-gallon (5-liter) plastic water bottles filled with blood, which was later poured into small plastic bags.

The incident in the Sukhumvit Road area, home to many wealthy Thais and expatriates, followed similar “blood sacrifices” Tuesday at Abhisit’s office and the headquarters of his Democrat Party. The dramatic acts grabbed attention but put the “Red Shirt” protest movement no closer to its goal of forcing new elections.

The protesters’ march and police cordons halted traffic in one direction on Sukhumvit Road, a major thoroughfare, paralyzing parts of the neighborhood. Restaurants closed their doors and residents of luxury condos were prevented from driving out of the area of Abhisit’s house.

Abhisit himself has been sleeping at an army headquarters and taking trips out of the city since the demonstrations began.

“We heard they were coming so I stayed in. Sure enough we’re blocked in now,” said John Bujnosh, a Texas oil driller who lives on the same street as Abhisit.

More than 100,000 demonstrators from all over the country gathered in Bangkok on Sunday, vowing to continue their protest until victory. But Abhisit has rejected their demands to dissolve Parliament, saying only that he will listen to the protesters’ point of view and leaving the situation in a stalemate.

Reporters asked one of the protest leaders, Veera Musikapong, what their next move would be, and he replied, “I want to know that myself.” He said the group maps strategy on a day-by-day basis.

The protesters consist of supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption, and pro-democracy activists who opposed the army takeover. They believe Abhisit came to power illegitimately with the connivance of the military and other parts of the traditional ruling class who were alarmed by Thaksin’s popularity, particularly among the poor.

On Tuesday, thousands of Red Shirts formed long lines to have their blood drawn by nurses to spill at Government House, the prime minister’s office. Leaders claimed to have collected 80 gallons (300,000 cubic centimeters).

A few teaspoons of blood were drawn from each volunteer and then transferred into dozens of large plastic water jugs that were passed overhead through the crowd of cheering protesters before being delivered to Government House.

The Red Shirts say that if the people are willing to sacrifice their blood, Abhisit should show similar spirit by relinquishing power.

Riot police allowed protest leaders to approach the front gate and pour out the blood, which oozed under the gate as national television broadcast the images live. A purported Brahmin priest in ceremonial robes performed an unorthodox black magic ritual on the Red Shirts’ behalf.

“The blood of the common people is mixing together to fight for democracy,” another Red Shirt leader, Natthawut Saikua, told cheering supporters. “When Abhisit works in his office, he will be reminded that he is sitting on the people’s blood.” Abhisit has not entered his office at Government House since preliminary protests started on Friday.

Minutes afterward, a government medical cleanup team in white coats, face masks and rubber gloves hosed down the site. Health authorities had warned that the protest risked spreading disease if infected blood splashed bystanders.

Hundreds of protesters then marched and rode pickup trucks and motorcycles to the nearby ruling Democrat Party headquarters and splashed several more jugs of blood on the pavement outside.

Surat Horachaikul, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said he believed the protest organizers lacked plans for their next step and that the protests might end in a few days.

“If nothing comes out of this rally, the government is likely going to become more stable,” he said.

Despite continued anxiety over possible violence, the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Thai baht currency have remained stable.

Many Bangkok residents, even those sympathetic to the Red Shirt cause, say they are simply tired of the years of turmoil that have hurt the economy.

“I want the protest to stop as soon as possible. My business would be better, I hope,” said Suwan Pana-ngham, a downtown food vendor.

All weekend, Cornell University’s residential advisers knocked on dorm rooms to inquire how students were coping.

On Monday and Tuesday, the start of a stressful exam week before spring break, professors interrupted classes to tell students they cared for them not just academically, but personally. Both days, the university president, Dr. David Skorton, took out a full-page ad in the campus paper, The Cornell Daily Sun, saying: “Your well-being is the foundation on which your success is built. If you learn anything at Cornell, please learn to ask for help.”

The university is on high alert about the mental health of its students after the apparent suicides of three of them in less than a month in the deep gorges rending the campus. The deaths, two on successive days last week, have cast a pall over the university and revived talk of Cornell’s reputation - unsupported, say officials - as a high-stress “suicide school.”

“I think everybody’s kind of shaken. I know I am,” said Nicole Wagner, a 19-year-old freshman from Newport Beach, Calif. “I wanted to go home.”

She was crossing the Thurston Avenue Bridge, which was strewn with red carnations and affixed with fresh stickers for a suicide-prevention telephone line.

Last Thursday, the body of a sophomore engineering student, William Sinclair, of Chevy Chase, Md., was recovered from the rugged gorge more than 70 feet below the bridge, where the fierce waters of Fall Creek sluice through a narrow corridor. The body of Bradley Ginsburg, a freshman from Boca Raton, Fla., was found in the same vicinity on Feb. 17.

Then on Friday, Matthew Zika, a junior engineering student from Lafayette, Ind., died when he dropped from a suspension foot bridge a short distance downstream, according to the university. Rescue workers have yet to recover his body in the rain-swollen creek.

The Ithaca Police Department is investigating both of last week’s deaths, but the university is responding as if they were suicides. Besides aggressive mental-health outreach, Cornell has stationed guards on the bridges through the end of the week.

“While we know that our gorges are beautiful features of our campus, they can be scary places at times like this,” Susan Murphy, the vice president for student and academic services, said in a video message posted on a new Web site, caringcommunity.cornell.edu.

As disturbing as the recent deaths are, they are just the latest of 10 by enrolled students this academic year, including deaths from illness, accident and no fewer than six ruled as suicides by the county medical examiner or still under investigation, according to campus officials.

Last Thursday, e-mail blasts went out to 35,000 students and faculty and staff members acknowledging Sinclair’s death, followed by a message to parents and one from the college president.

“Unbelievably, shockingly, we had to do the same thing the next day,” said Thomas Bruce, the vice president of communications.

Despite the half-dozen known or suspected suicides this year, Timothy Marchell, a clinical psychologist in Cornell’s campus health services whose specialties include suicide, said that, historically, Cornell suicides have not been higher than what national statistics predict for a university population of 20,000 students: about  two per year.

Between 2000 and 2005, there were 10 confirmed suicides, Marchell said, and from the beginning of 2006 through the beginning of this academic year, there were none.

Marchell said he was “well acquainted with the perception of Cornell as a suicide school,” having grown up in Ithaca and graduated from Cornell. But it is an urban legend, he said, largely fueled by the fact that suicides there are often shockingly public.

“When someone dies by suicide in a gorge, it’s a very visible public act,” he said.

Cornell’s mental-health outreach in recent years, which has attracted national attention, is intended to bring students who are at risk, and who might not seek help, into counseling. Custodians are trained to look for signs of emotional trouble when cleaning out dorms; therapists hold open-door hours at 10 campus locations; and a faculty handbook advises professors about how to spot students’ distress in its many contemporary forms, from disturbing artwork to clothes that disguise self-mutilation.

Despite these efforts, Skorton said in an interview, “We are not getting the job done,” adding that suicide among young people is a national health crisis and is not specific to one campus. Administrators at Cornell have been “very intensively reassessing” existing programs in recent weeks, he said.

Around campus, students and staff wondered whether some combination of familiar stresses - the long upstate New York winter, classroom demands of an Ivy League university - and new factors, like the evaporation of internships and jobs for graduates during a bleak recession, had provoked the recent deaths.

Marchell cautioned that it is almost impossible to link broad causes to suicide rates, that “the psychology of suicide can be very individual.”

He and others, however, are concerned that students’ deaths may lower barriers for others who are contemplating it. “We have to be thinking about the potential influence on the collective psychology,” he said.

Zika, the most recent to die, was remembered by friends not as lonely and stressed-out, but as quick to laugh and a caring friend - he drove for hours during the recent winter break from New York to Indiana visiting friends, recalled Deirdre Mulligan, one of those he dropped in on.

Zika, who had been a star baseball player in high school, played Ultimate Frisbee with Cornell friends, wrote poetry on his Facebook page and had a tattoo with a lyric from the rock band Incubus: “If the wind blew me in the right direction, would I even care? I would.”

Nicole Huynh, a junior who began dating Zika last semester, said in an e-mail message: “During this current semester, some who knew him more than others could see he was having a rough time. He’d talk, but it wasn’t as much. He slept more than usual. Didn’t feel motivated about some things. Tried distancing himself, little by little.”

She does not think the stress of studies pushed him to the edge, but rather troubles he carried from early in life. She suspected he was having suicidal thoughts, and both she and Mulligan said close friends urged him to seek counseling, but they do not know if he did. The university declined to comment, citing privacy laws.

“Many people listened and cared a lot about him,” Huynh said. “But no matter how great his support system was, his mind was set, and he was going to do whatever he wanted to do.”