President Barack Obama, in a widely anticipated speech tonight, announced a brisk drawdown of 33,000 U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the end of next summer, and called more broadly for the U.S. to assume a more pragmatic approach to international interventions in order to focus on economic recovery and nation-building at home.

"We are a nation whose strength abroad has been anchored in opportunity for our citizens at home," Obama said in the brief twelve minute speech from the White House East Room. "Over the last decade, we have spent a trillion dollars on war, at a time of rising debt and hard economic times. Now, we must invest in America's greatest resource — our people."

"America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home," he said.

The United States had achieved significant progress in the counterterrorism goals Obama outlined when he ordered the surge of U.S. forces to Afghanistan in a speech at West Point in December 2009, he said. Among those goals: reversing Taliban gains in Afghanistan, degrading Al Qaeda's capabilities and eliminating several of its commanders in Pakistan, and building up the Afghan security forces to eventually be able to secure their own country.

But responding to growing American public impatience with the almost ten year old war and the continued economic crisis in the United States, Obama said the United States had to turn its focus now to nation building at home. Full Story »

In a widely anticipated White House speech tonight, President Obama announced his decision to withdraw 33,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 2012--10,000 of them to leave Afghanistan by the end of this year.

The number of troops scheduled for withdrawal over the next 15 months represents the contingent of troops ordered "surged" to Afghanistan in a December 2009 speech at West Point. That action brought the number of U.S. forces in  Afghanistan to about 100,000. Other NATO coalition partners have committed some 60,000 troops to Afghanistan.

The drawdown of the "West Point surge" will leave about 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan by the end of next summer; the phased drawdown of U.S forces is scheduled to be completed by 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said Afghan national security forces can take over responsibility for securing their country by that time.

Obama had been weighing whether to withdraw all of the surged forces by next summer as he considered conferred with his national security team on future war plans, according to officials familiar with the discussion. Still, the surge-scale drawdown wasn't reportedly the first choice of some U.S. military commanders, including the top U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus; those officials advocated a more gradual withdrawal of forces. Petraeus, who Obama has nominated to head the CIA, is due to leave Afghanistan in July.

The more rapid drawdown pace comes as new polls show for first time that a majority of Americans want U.S. forces to be brought home from Afghanistan--and as lawmakers in both parties are expressing growing impatience with the expense of the war. Full Story »

An hour outside of Amsterdam in Dordrecht, Netherlands, a ship is under construction. But this ain't your typical sailboat, bub. Johan Huibers is building a full-scale replica of Noah's ark.

Yes, that Noah's ark. And Johan, an expert builder, isn't skimping on the details. The ship, which he's been constructing for the past three years, is built to biblical specs. Johan culled information on the ark's size and shape directly from the good book. In the end, the ship is four stories high and the length of a football field. And yes, it's seaworthy.

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James Risen, the author and former New York Times reporter who vowed to fight the subpoena federal prosecutors slapped him with last month in a CIA leak case, filed a 22-page affidavit on Tuesday, claiming that the government has been trying to get him to divulge his sources for years.

"The Bush administration eventually singled me out as a target for political harassment," Risen wrote in the filing.

He cites a 2006 ABC News investigative report claiming that the Bush administration began a harassment campaign against Risen and journalists at ABC and the Washington Post. Under the program, ABC reported, Bush officials tracked the phone numbers that reporters at both news organizations called in an attempt to uncover their confidential sources--part of what the report termed a "widespread" CIA leak investigation.

Risen claims the Bush White House was embarrassed by the leaks that wound up in the New York Times and, later, "The State of War," Risen's 2006 book about the CIA's botched plan to feed the Iranians misinformation regarding its nuclear weapons program and at the center of the latest federal case.

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Patricia Kluge was once known as "the wealthiest divorcee in history." Those days are over. Kluge, who had formerly been married to the late billionaire Paul Kluge, recently filed for bankruptcy protection, citing debts somewhere between $10 million and $50 million and assets between $1 million and $10 million.

News of Kluge's fall from financial grace stirred up a frenzy of Web searches. Over the course of an hour, online lookups for "patrica kluge" spiked as did interest in "patricia kluge bankruptcy" and "patricia kluge broke." A lawyer for Kluge and her husband, William Moses, remarked that the couple is "getting on with their lives, trying to discharge their debts and start over."

We doubt the couple will be out on the street selling pencils anytime soon. Still, Patricia Kluge's present straits represent  a remarkable reversal for a woman who, at one time, was one of America's richest and most extravagant socialites. A buzzy article from the AP explains that the Kluges once hosted parties for "royalty, corporate chieftains, celebrities, and literary figures." She lived in a 23,500-square-foot mansion, owned a winery and, by all accounts, lived the good life.

A little too good, as it turned out. Her financial troubles began to pile up during the economic downturn and creditors started seizing her assets in earnest earlier this year. Kluge and her husband had attempted to renegotiate their loans with various banks, but failed. In April, Donald Trump bought most of Kluge's winery and vineyard from Farm Credit Bank for $6.21 million.

Of course, Kluge is hardly the first one-time millionaire to fall on tough times. Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth fortune, married many men, including actor Cary Grant. Thanks to a life of bad investments, extreme generosity, and terrible financial advice, Hutton lost nearly all of her fortune. She died in 1979 at the age of 66, with approximately $3,500 to her name.

In 2010, Johnson and Johnson heiress Casey Johnson died cut off from the famliy fortune and owing more than $100,000 to debtors. And history is full of athletes and entertainers who had millions only to lose it all to bad investments. M.C. Hammer, anyone?

As for Kluge, all is not lost. According to The Hook, she still has a job at the winery she built. She's not the owner anymore, but at least she's employed.

Former Vice President Al Gore took to the pages of Rolling Stone to let loose on President Obama for what Gore argues is a failure to act on climate change.

"President Obama has thus far failed to use the bully pulpit to make the case for bold action on climate change," Gore wrote in an essay that went live online Wednesday. The print version of the article will appear in the magazine's July 7 issue.

"The real power of any president, as [political scientist and presidential expert] Richard Neustadt wrote, is 'the power to persuade,'" Gore wrote. "Yet President Obama has never presented to the American people the magnitude of the climate crisis."

Gore, who lost to George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential race and has earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his climate change efforts, conceded that President Obama faced major challenges related to the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when he took office in January 2009. But Gore contended that even when Obama did seek to engage with climate issues, his efforts were weak and didn't pan out.

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• A record number of Americans (56 percent) now favor removing U.S. troops from Afghanistan. (Pew)

• The cost of war is a major factor as U.S. weighs Afghanistan troop levels. (New York Times)

• Few Taliban agree so far to switch sides. (New York Times)

• Obama to propose Chicago host a NATO summit on Afghanistan in May 2012. (Atlantic Council)

• China releases artist, activist Ai Weiwei on bail. (AP) Full Story »

When the Guardian newspaper announced last week that it would pursue a "digital-first" strategy, editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger assured his staff that it "doesn't mean getting out of print." He did, however, caution that the new digital push "does require a greater focus of attention, imagination and resources on the various forms that digital future is likely to take."

It will also require "significant" layoffs, Rusbridger said on Wednesday.

"Yes, we will need to lose some people and will try to do it in a voluntary way," Rusbridger told BBC Radio. "We will need to lose significant numbers but we don't need to do it tomorrow. We can do it over the next couple of years and have a civilized conversation about that."

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Is Sarah Palin already finished with her national bus tour?

While the Alaska governor hadn't publicly announced additional stops beyond her East Coast jaunt earlier this month, Palin aides had hinted she'd take her bus tour to key primary states such as Iowa and South Carolina.

But according to Real Clear Politics' Scott Conroy, those plans are now in "limbo," as Palin has opted to stay in Alaska, where "skies are currently alight for over 19 hours a day and the Bristol Bay salmon fishing season is nearing its peak."

A spokesman for Palin did not respond to a request for comment.  But the report has set off a fresh new round of speculation about what exactly Palin is up to. Is she thinking about making a bid for the GOP nomination? Or is this a sign that she's no longer entertaining a 2012 run?

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For the most part, First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters have been a hit in South Africa on the first leg of their goodwill trip to Africa. They've read Dr. Seuss to local children, taken part in a community dance performance and met with Nelson Mandela.

Still, there was one outbreak of controversy during the junket: The UK Telegraph and other news outlets report that South Africa's President Jacob Zuma snubbed the First Lady by sending his prison minister to greet her at the airport. Zuma has also failed to schedule a direct meeting with the First Lady her during her stay.

Zuma's office has rejected the media's characterization of the incident as a "snub" noting the First Lady is not a head of state. Meanwhile, the Telegraph and other news organizations have noted that the First Lady rejected a 9 am meeting with Zuma Wednesday because of her own scheduling conflict. She did meet with one of Zuma's wives Tuesday.

But the trip, which caused some controversy before it even began, has mostly been a warm affair. The trip will wind down on Friday, when Obama and her family head to Botswana.

Below, we round up some of the highlights of the First Lady's Africa trip to promote leadership, education and HIV/AIDS awareness thus far:

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