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Most of the rest are too dumb or have used too many drugs to qualify, the study shows.

The report says 35% of the 31 million Americans aged 17 to 24 are unqualified because of physical and medical issues.

“The major component of this is obesity,” Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon’s director of accessions, tells the Times. “We have an obesity crisis in the country. There’s no question about it.”

He also said young people, by and large, can’t do push-ups.

“And they can’t do pull-ups,” Gilroy says. ” And they can’t run.”

The Times says the Pentagon gets its data from the Centers for Disease Control, which has found that the percentage of youth 18 to 34 who are considered obese has jumped from 6% in 1987 to 23% now.

Here’s the Pentagon’s breakdown of the ineligible population, according to the Times:

* Medical/physical problems, 35%.
* Illegal drug use, 18%.
* Mental Category V (the lowest 10% of the population), 9%.
* Too many dependents under age 18, 6%.
* Criminal record, 5%.

Update at 1:06 p.m. ET: The Times reports that Education Secretary Arne Duncan and a group of retired military officers will issue a report on Thursday warning that the situation is so dire it amounts to a threat to national security.

The Americans were all tried in absentia because the United States refused to extradite them.

The U.S. State Department expressed its disappointment with the verdict, the first of its kind, but campaigners who have long complained that the renditions policy violated basic human rights said the ruling set an important precedent.

“This decision sends a clear message to all governments that even in the fight against terrorism you can’t forsake the basic rights of our democracies,” said prosecutor Armando Spataro.

Judge Oscar Magi handed down the convictions for the abduction of Egyptian-born cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, snatched off a Milan street in 2003 and flown to Egypt for interrogation.

The heaviest sentence — eight years in prison — was handed down to the former head of the CIA’s Milan station, Robert Seldon Lady, while 21 other former agents got five years each.

U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Romano was also sentenced to five years, despite a request from the Pentagon that the case should be tried by U.S. courts.

Magi dropped the case against three Americans, including a former CIA Rome station chief, because of diplomatic immunity.

Charges were also dropped against five Italians, including the former head of the Sismi military intelligence service, Nicolo Pollari, because evidence against them violated state secrecy rules.

However, the judge sentenced two more junior Sismi agents to three years in prison as accomplices, indicating Italian authorities were aware of the abduction.

“LIKE A SLAUGHTERED SHEEP”

The judge ruled that those convicted should pay 1 million euros in damages to Nasr, better known as Abu Omar, and 500,000 euros to his wife.

Abu Omar, under surveillance by Italian police at the time of his abduction on suspicion of recruiting militants for Iraq, was secretly flown from Aviano airbase in northeast Italy via Ramstein base in Germany to Egypt, where he says he was tortured and held until 2007 without charge.

America’s military, intelligence and law-enforcement agencies already devote thousands of people and billions of dollars to tracking down top terrorists and insurgents. But even the most successful of these efforts — like going after Iraqi militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — have been “ad hoc” efforts, with units cobbled together from different corners of the government. Report author and retired Lt. Col. George Crawford instead would like to see a permanent group with clear authority, training, doctrine and technology to go after these dangerous individuals. These “manhunting teams would be standing formations, trained to pursue their designated quarry relentlessly for as long as required to accomplish the mission,” he writes.

Sometimes, that will mean operating “in uncooperative countries.” In those cases, the teams must be prepared “to act unilaterally, with no support or coordination with local authorities, in a manner similar to that employed by Israel’s Avner team in response to the Munich Olympics massacre.” (That was the controversial unit, fictionalized in Steven Spielberg’s movie, that allegedly roamed the world, assassinating Palestinian militants in response to the 1972 Olympic attack.)

The hit squads would only be one part of the manhunting agency, according to the Joint Special Operations University monograph, uncovered by Inside Defense. “Dedicated teams must be assembled, able to respond ‘on-call’ in the event of a raid on a suspect site or to conduct independent ‘break-in and search’ operations without leaving evidence of their intrusion,” Crawford notes.

Manhunting will also “require personnel who are experts at conducting surveillance of particular facilities, personnel, or activities without arousing suspicion or being detected,” he adds. “Picture in your mind a typical city street scene, with a little old lady walking her dog, the phone repair crew descending into a manhole, two little old men playing an innocent game of checkers, or the homeless person sleeping on the park bench, and you are on the right track.”

Such a group wouldn’t just go after terrorists. “Human networks are behind narcotics trafficking, arms proliferation, piracy, hiding war criminals from authorities, human trafficking, or other smuggling activities,” Crawford writes. “Human networks also lie at the core of national governments, offering an increased potential to nonlethally influence state actors with precision. A robust manhunting capability would allow the United States to interdict these human networks.”

Centre for Cities said that graduates would find it harder to get work in the public sector, where up to 290,000 jobs were expected to be lost between 2009 and 2014. It said that unless more highly skilled jobs could be generated in the private sector, cities would continue to see graduate unemployment rise.

Dermot Finch, chief executive of Centre for Cities, said: “In a public spending squeeze UK graduates will continue to find it tough to take their first step on the employment ladder. The public sector will not drive graduate jobs growth over the next decade. This means more private sector job opportunities will be needed to bridge the gap.”

Analysts said the move is potentially bullish for gold, but it is by no means the start of a significant shift away from U.S dollar holdings.

The Reserve Bank of India said in a statement that the move was part of its foreign-exchange reserves management operations.

“I would have advised the governor of RBI to buy gold as our forex reserve is comfortable. The RBI has done just that. That doesn’t mean we don’t prefer dollar any more or like gold any better,” Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

“The purchase won’t trigger a substantial mismatch in asset holdings of the RBI. Dollar will continue to be a significant part of foreign-exchange holdings, as most of India’s external debt is in dollars. The gold buying, as of now, seems just an asset diversification strategy,” said Sonal Varma, an economist at Nomura Financial Advisory & Securities in Mumbai.

A senior finance ministry official said the central bank may seek to buy more gold from the IMF directly. “It makes sense to buy gold as it will appreciate more than the U.S. dollar,” he said.

The purchase of nearly half of the 403.3 metric tons of gold earmarked for sale by the IMF boosted spot gold in Asia, reminding investors that central bank reserve diversification will continue to fuel demand for the yellow metal in the open market.

The off-market deal also reinforced the view that little or none of the IMF gold may eventually reach the open market, limiting any bearish impact such a big sale may have had otherwise.

The RBI bought the gold over a two-week period between Oct. 19 and Oct. 30, an IMF statement said. The $6.7 billion proceeds from the sale indicate an average estimated price of $1,045 a troy ounce, far higher than IMF’s projection of $850/oz a few months ago, when its executive board approved the sale.

Sue Trinh, currency strategist at RBC Capital in Sydney, said the announcement supported the view that central banks are actively looking for ways to diversify their reserves away from the dollar.

The RBI is “still a buyer at current high-price levels, indicating gold is likely to move up further. This is positive for the market,” said Kunal Shah, an analyst at Nirmal Bang Commodities in Mumbai.

The IMF declined to comment on potential buyers for the remaining amount, but said it is still in “an initial period to sell gold directly to central banks and other official holders that may be interested in such sales.”

JUDITH But you’ve got the right to get it back, you’ve got the right to claim it, and the Police…

PAUL Yeah but then you’ve got a whole matter of procedure to go through because the cops have decided they suspect you got the property criminally.

JUDITH Well actually Police would lose all credibility if they went round doing that unnecessarily. They’ve got a lot of leads, they know exactly who they’re after, and they will be after them.

PAUL Search and Surveillance Bill – new powers for all enforcement officers, like Meat Board Inspectors, like the Overseas Investment Office, like the Civil Aviation Inspector, like the Pork Industry Board Inspector, like the Reserve Bank Inspector, the Dog Control Officer. When it comes to surveillance all of those people have the same powers now as the Police?

JUDITH It really is a terrible sounding list isn’t it Paul, and what is even more terrible is to know that those powers are already in legislation but they’re interested in a whole lot of different legislation, this bill has come in because of the work of the Law Commission looking at all the various powers and trying to put some rules around them.

PAUL The powers are extended. Look there’s two and a bit pages, I’ll read you a few. Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Inspector – Animal Products Inspector – Animal Welfare Inspector – Antarctic Marine Living Resources Inspector – Children Young Persons and their Families Inspector – the Extradition Act Inspector – Marine Mammals Protection Inspector. All of these people have the power to come into your premises, to command your IT provider to provide them with all their computer records, to detain you, to use reasonable force, to rub you down, pat you, search you – the Pork Industry Board Inspector.

JUDITH That sounds terrible doesn’t it? That’s one of the reasons why the Select Committee has actually said they’re not reporting back until May, they want to go through the whole bill and make sure they’ve got everything sorted out, but the Law Commission is very firm that these are existing powers but they often don’t have proper regulations around them. Look I’m like any other New Zealander, I want to know why would the Port Industry Inspector have those sorts of powers just like everyone else, and that’s why we’re certainly looking at them.

PAUL But at the moment what’s proposed in the bill, is that any of those people can break in premises, and to search everything, detain, use reasonable force, conduct a rub down search and command your IT provider to surrender your computer records, that’s what’s been proposed in the bill.

The transaction, which involved daily sales from Oct. 19-30 at market prices, is in the process of being settled, the IMF said in a statement yesterday. The average price in the sales to India was about $1,045 an ounce, an IMF official said on a conference call with reporters. Gold for immediate delivery rose in Asia, approaching a record $1,070.80 an ounce.

“The most important thing is that people want gold even at these prices,” said Ghee Peh, head of mining research, with UBS AG in Hong Kong. “There’s good support for prices for now” from the IMF’s disposal of bullion, he said.

The sale accounts for almost half the 403.3 tons that the Washington-based lender in September agreed to sell as part of a plan to shore up its finances and lend at reduced rates to low- income countries. Asian nations, which have amassed stockpiles of foreign currency reserves since the 1998 financial crisis, have shown increased interest in diversifying out of U.S. assets as the dollar loses value against other currencies.

The little girl told the Daily News, “My stomach was hurting, and I was itching,” and was taken to the hospital from her school, PS 335 in Brooklyn. According to the News, “When the nurse called for a student Thursday morning, Nikiyah’s teacher misunderstood and sent the wrong student, [Nikyah’s mother Naomi] Troy said. The error was compounded when the nurse didn’t check Nikiyah’s name before sticking her in the shoulder.”

When the nurse realized what happened, the school called Troy to appear—and the nurse asked her to sign the consent form even though the shot was already given to her daughter. Troy fumed to WCBS 2, “He knew he was in big trouble and he wanted to cover himself.”

The NSA is building the facility to provide intelligence and warnings related to cybersecurity threats, cybersecurity support to defense and civilian agency networks, and technical assistance to the Department of Homeland Security, according to a transcript of remarks by Glenn Gaffney, deputy director of national intelligence for collection, who is responsible for oversight of cyber intelligence activities in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“Our country must continue to advance its national security efforts and that includes improvements in cybersecurity,” Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, said in a statement. “As we rely more and more on our communications networks for business, government and everyday use, we must be vigilant and provide agencies with the necessary resources to protect our country from a cyber attack.”

The data center will be built at Camp Williams, a National Guard training center 26 miles south of Salt Lake City, which was chosen for its access to cheap power, communications infrastructure, and availability of space, Gaffney said. The complex will comprise up to 1.5 million square feet of building space on 120 to 200 acres, according to the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City.

According to a budget document for the project, the 30-megawatt data center will be cooled by chilled water and capable of Tier 3, or near carrier-grade, reliability. The design calls for the highest LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard within available resources.

The U.S. Army Corps of engineers will host a conference in Salt Lake City to provide further detail the data center building and acquisition plans. The project will require between 5,000 and 10,000 workers during construction, and the data center will eventually employ between 100 and 200 workers.