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Under the law creating it, the 9/11 Commission was supposed to build its investigation upon the record of the Congressional Joint Inquiry. Graham was encouraged by the creation of an independent, bipartisan commission, and was hopeful that it would get to the bottom of what had gone on with the Saudis in San Diego—which his Congressional Inquiry had been unable to do, because of pressure and stonewalling by the White House and the FBI.

Twelve years ago next month—on Sept. 11, 2001—four teams of hijackers commandeered large passenger jetliners on coast-to-coast flights, and flew three of those planes into targets in New York and Washington, D.C., killing almost 3,000 perons. Of the 19 men that made up the hijacking teams, 15 were Saudi Arabian. Many of them, particularly the pilots, had been living in the United States for a year or longer, and had been taking flying lessons at well-known flight schools.

Were there a real President occupying the White House, the United States would bring to bear the full power of its capabilities to battle the Ebola epidemic raging in West Africa. He or she would treat the emergency “as if we were being invaded by a foreign foe,” as President Franklin D. Roosevelt said during his first inaugural speech in March 1933 with regard to the economic emergency. Roosevelt did, indeed, fully mobilize the nation to, first, meet the economic emergency, and then the war emergency that followed in the late 1930s. The first task was to determine what physically needed to be done to respond to the emergency, and then to mobilize the productive capabilities of the nation to meet those requirements, in concert with allied nations, where possible.

British and U.S. soldiers have formally marked the end of combat operations in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province by handing control of the country's largest military base to Afghan forces.

The October plenary saw the new European Commission led byJean-Claude Juncker receive the Parliament's approval to start its five-year term, while outgoing president José Manuel Barroso gave his farewell speech to MEPs. The Parliament also voted against cuts proposed by EU governments to the EU's budget for next year, as MEPs want to preserve spending for growth and jobs. Meanwhile Denis Mukwege, who helps the victims of sexual violence, was announced as the 2014 Sakharov prize laureate.

Tunisians are voting Sunday in parliamentary elections seen as pivotal to establishing democracy in the cradle of the Arab Spring uprisings.

Brigadier Rob Thomson, Deputy Commander of Regional Command South West, embraces a senior Afghan official during the End of Operations Ceremony.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Egypt has declared a state of emergency in the northern Sinai after a terrorist attack Friday that killed at least 30 army soldiers. President Abdel Fattah al Sisi declared in a broadcast speech that Egypt is fighting a mortal battle against terrorists, and that the war will be long.

A Ukrainian mother poses with her daughter and a young friend in the room where she lives with her family in a centre for displaced people in Slavyansk.