New York Times Top Online Stories: Tue 11/09/10

The New York Times lead headline online early Tuesday morning says "Tax Cut Timing Is Proving Problematic for Democrats." The paper says with the Bush tax cuts due to expire Dec. 31, the much-delayed debate on what to do about them finally begins next week in a lame-duck session.

It says hundreds of vacated houses in Florida are being claimed by strangers citing a law from the 1800s, a practice that pleases some home seekers but has authorities claiming fraud.

The paper says after a trip of six and a half years, NASA’s Messenger spacecraft will finally pull into orbit around Mercury, and a rover is expected to land on Mars. Above, work proceeds on the International Space Station.

The Times says some policy experts are trying to use a highly successful international treaty that was ratified more than 20 years ago as a tool to curb climate change.

And the most popular story says ven the poorest families in Afghanistan have matches and cooking fuel. The combination usually sustains life. But it says it also can be the makings of a horrifying escape: from poverty, from forced marriages, from the abuse and despondency that can be the fate of Afghan women.