forces anthe taliban have recently me statents saying the aim is to protect civilians. the ise of civilian caalties caused by 4 is this is one of the reasons for change of adership in afgnistan -- caused by u.s.orces is one of the reasons for ange. meanwhil this week, it emerged that the tiban had issued a new code of conduct,hich calls for minimum of cilian casualties bbc news, kabul. >> the u.s. presidenbarack obam says today's latest econic figures are an important sign that th u.s.s headed inan important direion. it sho th the economy contracted inhe second quarter by the equivalent of 1% per ar. analysts had been expecting a much bigger fall. the obama administration says thr actions over the last six months helped to put the brakes on t recession. the prime minter of spain has attended theuneral service fo two service members lled. security forcehave been on maximum alert to prevent further attacks by eta on this the 50th anniversary ofheir founding. the ace shuttle endeavour has since returned to earthafter a successful work at the international space stion. they