Washington Post Top Online Stories: Thu 11/11/10

The Washington Post lead headline online early Thursday morning says "Sources: Pentagon group finds there is minimal risk to lifting gay ban during war." The paper says a Pentagon study group has concluded that the military can lift the ban on gays serving openly in uniform with only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts, according to two people familiar with a draft of the report, which is due to President Obama on Dec. 1.

The paper says if you cast a ballot for the incumbent senator from Alaska last week, you might have written in Murkowsky, Morkowski, Mirkowsky, Murkrowsky or Marcouski.

It says Iraq's political leaders reached a tentative deal late Wednesday to form a new government, apparently breaking the eight-month political stalemate that has plagued the country and giving a second term to Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The paper says a pending agreement among world leaders in Seoul will mark what U.S. officials hope is a turning point in efforts to better balance trade and capital flows, and in particular come to terms with China over core principles of global economic policy.

It says one of the two package bombs intercepted late last month would have exploded over a largely unpopulated area of Canada if it had detonated, according to flight data and new information released Wednesday by the British police.

And the most popular story says the leaders of President Obama's deficit commission sparked criticism from both sides of the political aisle Wednesday for proposing broad cuts to federal programs.