Wall Street Journal Top Online Stories: Fri 9/10/10

The Wall Street Journal lead headline online early Friday morning says "Karzai Alienates Afghans Over Taliban." The paper says President Karzai's attempts to placate the Taliban haven't made him many new friends among the insurgents. But they have alienated the country's ethnic minorities, who have been a linchpin of his government.

The paper says a federal judge in California rejected the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy as unconstitutional.

It says a Florida preacher appeared to back away from plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11 after Secretary of Defense Gates phoned him, continuing days of drama in which his plans sowed anger among Muslims and concern at the Pentagon.

The paper says Nomura Holdings has hired a team of natural-resource bankers and is opening offices in Houston and Toronto this month, its latest moves to expand in North America.

It says Nokia said CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo will step down, as the world's largest handset maker looks to move out from under the shadow of recent profit warnings. Stephen Elop will succeed him.

And the paper says the SEC is looking into whether firms that collect fees for funneling investors into hedge funds are properly overseeing client money and dealing with potential conflicts of interest.

And the most read story says President Barack Obama capped a rollout of new economic policies with a combative speech Wednesday that tipped the Democratic plan for the fall campaign: attack the Republicans' policies and try to monopolize the economic message until Election Day.