led forces in Farah province Wednesday the U

The Commission, competition watchdog of the 27-nationEuropean Union, said in a statement that it had carried out dawnraids in October 2008 at the premises of several smart cardchips producers in several member states It did not identify the raided companies. The chips are used for the production of smart cards, suchas telephone SIM cards, bank cards and identity cards. "The Commission has reason to believe that the companiesconcerned may have violated ... It said it had no strict deadline to complete itsinvestigation. (Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski in Brussels, Harroten Wolde in Amsterdam and Sachi Izumi in Tokyo, editing by DaleHudson and Will Waterman) Stocks Regulatory News Global Markets. Optimism. After Wisconsin's win over Duke Wednesday night, maybe one of the biggest victories in program history, optimism is the word of the day in Mad-town.In terms of actual significance for the Badgers' season, this win isn't as important as say winning the Big Ten title...but it's pretty close.The win not only makes up for the Badgers' embarrassing loss at Duke two years ago, but it also gave the Big Ten its first-ever win in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.However, let's turn back to our word of the day.

This win gave Badger fans, coaches, and players the confidence and optimism they will need to turn an average squad into a Big Ten contender.Let's not kid ourselves about anything. Wisconsin has nowhere near the talent to compete for a Big Ten title. Michigan State, Purdue, and Ohio State are all way ahead of the Badgers in terms of talent.Trevon Hughes has emerged as the Badgers go-to this year in the point guard position (or sometimes shooting guard) and Jon Leuer has been solid as well. KABUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition forces killed 32 insurgents in fighting that erupted in a village in eastern Afghanistan following a raid on a hideout of bomb makers, the U.S military said Wednesday.

WorldThe Taliban who lead the insurgency against the foreign troops and the Afghan government, said 15 civilians were killed in the U.S.-led assault.Violence has surged in recent years in Afghanistan since the Taliban, ousted in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, regrouped in 2005 for driving out the foreign troops and to topple the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.Tuesday's operation was in a village of Laghman province and targeted a Taliban roadside bomb cell responsible for numerous attacks throughout the region, the U.S. military said in a statement."During the operation, as many as 75 armed militants exited their compounds and attempted to converge on the force. Shooting from rooftops and alleyways, the militants engaged Coalition forces with small-arms fire in the village," it said."Coalition forces killed 32 armed insurgents including one female, detained one suspected militant, and destroyed two large caches of weapons, explosives and roadside bomb materials during an operation," it added.It did not mention any troop or civilian casualties in the operation.The Taliban confirmed the U.S.-led operation, but said 15 civilians were killed in the coalition's raid. The group did not say any thing about its reported losses.Provincial officials were not immediately available and Reuters could not independently verify either account.Separately, 11 civilians were killed by a heavy arms fire during a joint operation by NATO and Afghan forces against militants in an area of southern Uruzgan province this week, the interior ministry said Wednesday.Nine more civilians were wounded in the fire, it added.A spokesman for NATO-led force in Kabul said he would check the report which put the militants deaths to 12.In another development, six militants were killed in an operation involving Afghan soldiers and U.S.-led forces in Farah province Wednesday, the U.S. military said.It said one Afghan and one coalition soldier were wounded during the clash,Some 5,000 people, nearly 2,000 of them civilians, were killed in violence across Afghanistan last year.