AFGHANISTAN: Marines buy 19,000 pairs of mountain boots.

The Pentagon issued a dire report about Afghanistan on Friday. U.S. commanders say more troops are needed.

Does that mean that Marines already there will have their deployments extended through the winter? Or does it mean other Marine units will be sent to Afghanistan to thwart the resurgent Taliban?

Nobody in the know is talking. But maybe a story in Footwear News last week carries a clue.

The Marine Corps has just placed a $3-million order for 19,000 pairs of Mountain Cold Weather Boots made by Portland, Ore.-based Danner. It's the biggest order the corps has placed since signing a contract two years ago with Danner's corporate parent, LaCrosse Footwear Inc.

The Marines want the order filled by year's end. The boots are said to be warm, snug and durable, perfect for terrain that is rocky, snowy and wintry cold, like the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan that serve as a sanctuary for the Taliban.

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photo: The Mountain Cold Weather Boot by Danner. Credit: Danner

IRAQ: Kurdish 'men of the night' ply dangerous trade with Iran

They are known as the “men of the night.”

A rugged group sits in front of a liquor store in the northern foothills of Iraq, swapping stories and glasses of whiskey as their horses feed nearby. As dusk approaches, they begin strapping heavy cartons onto their animals for the long journey ahead.

Their cargo: bottles of Absolut vodka, Johnnie Walker and Chivas Regal Scotch whiskey destined for Iran.

Photo: A smuggler loads his horse with a carton of liquor before the long and dangerous trip into Iran. Credit: Asso Ahmed/Los Angeles Times.

IRAQ: Marine receives Bronze Star for bravery.

In a ceremony Friday at Camp Pendleton, Marine Cpl. Francisco J. Valles received the Bronze Star for bravery and leadership during an attack by Iraqi insurgents Aug. 2.

When his patrol was ambushed, Valles helped pull a wounded Marine to safety, provided emergency aid to several others, and killed a suicide-bomber who was dashing toward the Marines.

''I shot him in the chest and he blew up," Valles said matter-of-factly.

On his wrist, Valles wears a bracelet with the name of his best friend, Lance Cpl. Christian Vasquez, who was killed in the attack. "He was with me that day, he'll always be with me," he said.

Valles, who grew up in Montebello, Calif., is set to redeploy to Iraq in August with the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. He said he hopes to use his experience to help younger, less seasoned troops.

"I want to go back so I can make sure all the Marines who go with me come back alive," he said.

Valles is 21 years old.

Tony Perry, at Camp Pendleton

Photo: Cpl. Francisco Valles. Credit: Tony Perry/Los Angeles Times

IRAQ: Two Marines in jail, others upset

It would be an understatement to say that there are Marines who are extremely upset that a federal judge in Riverside has jailed two of their colleagues for refusing to testify against a former Marine.

U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Larson has ordered Sgt. Ryan Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson jailed for refusing to answer questions before a grand jury investigating the actions of former Sgt. Jose Nazario. Nazario is charged with killing insurgent-prisoners during the battle for Fallouja in late 2004.

One thing that angers some Marines is that Weemer is not being paid while he's in jail, and Nelson will stop being paid once he runs out of leave. By law, the two could spend 18 months in jail, the duration of the grand jury.

Nazario is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act passed by Congress in 2000. The primary aim of the law is to give federal prosecutors the power to charge U.S. contractors, military dependents and federal government civilian employees for crimes allegedly committed in foreign locations.

The law also gives prosecutors the ability to charge personnel who have left military service and therefore are not subject to military law -- in this case Nazario, who was a probationary Riverside police officer when allegations surfaced about Fallouja.

The Nazario case, and the jailing of Weemer and Nelson, appear to be the first instances of any U.S. Attorney's Office using the 2000 law to charge a former soldier or Marine with a crime for actions taken during combat. The law was used to charge a former soldier with raping an Iraqi girl, but that action was in no way linked to combat, Marines supporting Weemer and Nelson point out.

Larson is apparently not unmindful of the Marines' concerns. In declaring Nelson in contempt of court this week, the jurist said that "there are few things that give me less pleasure."

"I have profound respect for his service to our country," Larson said. "Everyone in this courtroom is indebted to him."

Still, the law is the law, Larson said in approving the prosecutors' request to put Nelson in jail until he decides to testify.

-- Tony Perry

Photo: Marine dodging sniper bullets during the battle for Fallouja. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN: 'Sopranos' auction benefits the troops

Twenty-five outfits worn by actor James Gandolfini in his starring role in "The Sopranos" were auctioned this week in New York for $187,750, with proceeds going to the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps Marines and soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The auction, held at Christie's, was Gandolfini's idea. Last year his production company, Attaboy Films, did a well-received documentary for HBO about wounded military personnel and their struggles. Gandolfini was the interviewer.

Of the auction items, the polo shirt, tank top and black pants worn by Gandolfini in the episode in which he was shot by his demented uncle Junior fetched the most: $43,750. The bathrobe worn by the faux mobster as he brought in the morning newspaper went for $13,750.

The troops are big fans of "The Sopranos." At the Marine-Army base outside Ramadi, Iraq, the shack that served as an after-hours joint is called the Bada Bing. It's exactly like the one in the HBO series, except it has no strippers, no booze, no gambling and no smoking. The weapons are real though.

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photo: Actor James Gandolfini played Tony Soprano in the hit HBO series "The Sopranos." Credit: Associated Press

LEBANON: University team builds Arab world's first solar-powered car

A team of engineering students and their professor have built what they describe as the Arab world's  first solar-powered car, according to a news release.

It is named "Apollo's Chariot," in reference to the Greek god of the sun. The steel and fiberglass one-seater (pictured) is about 18 feet long and 6 feet wide and weighs about 1,500 pounds.

A bunch of engineering wizards led by  professor Daniel Asmar at the American University of Beirut designed the car over nine months at a cost of $25,000, paid for mostly by corporate sponsors.

"With its aerodynamic design, the futuristic-looking vehicle glides over the road quietly," the news release said.

Three dozen photovoltaic cells on the car's body produce about 1,000 watts of electricity, stored in batteries built into the car.

During a demonstration this week, engineering student Elie Maalouf, one of the designers, drove the vehicle for a few minutes. He took it forward, backward, along a curb and up a hill.

So far, the car has reached a top speed of about 18 mph. But its designers say it can go as fast as 40 mph on the highway.

"It looks like a rocket, but moves like a swan," said Amin Kanafani, another student on the design team.

The designers hope to represent Lebanon in next year's World Solar Challenge, a 2,000-mile Australian car rally for sun-powered vehicles.

-- Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Photo: Engineering student Elie Maalouf backs up the the solar-powered Arab-manufactured car on the American University of Beirut campus. Credit: AUB Press Office

EGYPT: Exams and suicide

The school exam season in Egypt has turned to scenes of suicide and privilege.

Worried that he bombed his math final, 16-year-old Hassan Mohamed Youssry recently hanged himself in Cairo. Mirhan Hany Salem, 18, jumped from a sixth-floor balcony in Port Said the morning she was to take her mechanics exam. Both students were poor, and their families claim the stress of exams overwhelmed them amid accusations that wealthy parents were buying leaked copies of tests to help their children cheat.

“He was a wreck the past few days,” Youssry’s mother told Al-Masry Al-Youm. “He told me that proctors at the exam hall told them that the exam was leaked [to students in the Menya region] because ‘they are rich people but you are poor.’ ”

The Egyptian Ministry of Education has denied that students in Menya were given an edge, but those accusations are circulating on a high school Internet forum. Corruption has long been a part of university placement exams, and the publicity around the Menya case and the suicides has further damaged the system's reputation.

“Why are they doing this to us?” reads a student's post from the Internet forum quoted by Daily News Egypt. “We study all year round and at the end we can’t answer any of the questions, while other people whose parents are important get the exam questions beforehand. They don’t even need the good grades to get into university because their parents will pay their way through it too.”

Exams have become a torment to students in a country where schools are under-funded. And many teachers, who earn as little as $40 a month, spend less energy in classrooms than they do making extra money tutoring in the evenings. Rich and poor families are forced to pay for tutoring or risk the likelihood their children will score low on the exams, known as Thanaweya Amma.

--Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Egyptian classroom. Credit: www.unv.org

IRAQ: U.S. military makes fresh water for Baghdad

Fuel shortages and power outages may soon be joined by yet another problem in Iraq – water shortages.

Deteriorating water systems compounded by a nationwide drought are threatening service breakdowns in some Baghdad neighborhoods, raising the possibility of cholera epidemics.

The drought had already curtailed last year’s grain crops when the government ordered farmers to plant less. (See Thursday's story, "First violence, now drought threatens Iraq farmers.")

Although there’s not a crisis yet in Baghdad, the U.S. military is working with the Iraqi government on quick fixes to prevent one while the large systems are being rebuilt.

The U.S. military spent $3.5 million in Baghdad alone last year on the water problem, partly by trucking water into the neighborhoods.

This year the military is taking a new approach by setting up temporary water purification units at three locations in eastern Baghdad at a cost of about $500,000.

ISRAEL: Gay pride parade in Jerusalem

Members of Jerusalem's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community and their supporters marched in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon, and ultra-Orthodox Jews staged a protest from a safe distance in what has become an annual test of strength.

The gay community sees itself as deprived of full recognition, equality and rights. Ultra-Orthodox Jews reject homosexuality as depravity.

Posters signed by critical rabbinical authorities, sanctimonious eye-rolling on both sides, the inevitable petition to the supreme court, as well as the expected ruling in favor — everyone knows the drill.

In part, the gay issue taps into existing tensions in Israel between religious and secular and right- vs. left-wing politics, and the whole thing is often perceived as a package deal. Not surprisingly, protesters against the parade included Itamar Ben-Gvir, a career activist whose name is in the notebook of any reporter who ever covered a right-wing demonstration in Israel.

Last year, the city suffered $100,000 in damages after thousands of religious protesters rioted, breaking street lamps, road signs and traffic lights and setting garbage dumpsters ablaze. A protester had stabbed several participants a few years ago and hugely disproportionate numbers of police had been deployed.

This year, tensions were lower. A religious demonstration called last week had a poor turnout, explained by some as reluctance to give the parade any free publicity.

Photo: Israeli participants hold up the multicolored Gay Pride flag and the national flag during the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem. Credit: Gali Tibbon / AFP/Getty Images

AFGHANISTAN: Marine casualty from Camp Pendleton

Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher D. Strickland, 25, of Labelle, Fla. died Wednesday while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan, the Defense Department announced.  He was assigned to 1st Marine Logistics Group, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.