September 15, 2007

SHORT LOVE STORY

SHORT LOVE STORY:
 
There was a Blind Girl
 WhO Hate Herself
 cOz Of being Blind.
 She Hate every1
 Except her Boy friend..
 1 day de Girl said
 that if She can
 Only see the wOrld
 she will marry her bOyfriend,
 One day sOme1
 dOnated eyes On her
 & then she saw Every thing
 including her bOyfriend ,
 her bOyfriend ask her,
 "nOw that u can see ,
 will u Marry Me?",
 the girl was shOcked when
 she saw her bOyfriend
 is alsO Blind,
 & she refuse tO Marry him.
 Her bOyfriend walk away
 with Tears & said,
 " just take care Of
 my eyes dear."


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Download mp3 songs of Om shanti om (2007) - bollywood hindi film

Download mp3 songs of Om shanti om (2007) - bollywood hindi film


Click here to download free mp3 songs


01. Ajab Si - K.K


02. Dard-E-Disco - Sukhwinder Singh, Marianne, Nisha, Caralisa


03. Deewangi Deewangi - Shaan, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan,

Rahul Saxena


04. Main Agar Kahoon - Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal


05. Jag Soona Soona Lage - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Richa Sharma


06. Dhoom Taana - Shreya Ghoshal, Abhijeet


07. Dastaan-E-Om Shanti Om - Shaan


08. Dard-E-Disco [Remix] - Sukhwinder Singh, Marianne, Nisha, Caralisa,

Remix by DJ Aqeel


09. Deewangi [Rainbow Mix] - Shaan, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan,

Rahul Saxena, Remix by DJ Kiran and DJ G


10. Om Shanti Om [Medley Mix] - Remix by Jackie V


11. Dastan [The Dark Side Mix] - Shaan, Remix by Zoheb, DJ Nikhil Chinappa, DJ Nawed


12. Om Shanti Om [Theme Music] - Instrumental


 

September 13, 2007

A Story of 19 Horses

 
 
 One rich man owned 19 horses when he died. In his last will and teastament he had written that upon his death, half the horses he owned should go to his only son; one fourth to the village temple and one fifth to the faithful servant. The village elders could not stop scratching their heads. How can they give half of the 19 horses to the son? You cannot cut up a horse. They puzzled over this dilemma for more than two weeks and then decided to send for a wise man who was living in a neighbouring village.
 
 The wise man came riding on his horse and asked the villagers if he can be of any help to them. The village elders told him about the rich man's last will and testament which stated that half of the (19) horses must be given to his only son, one fourth must go to the temple and one fifth to the faithful servant.
 
 The wise man said he will immediately solve their problem without any delay whatsoever. He had the 19 horses placed in a row standing next to one another. Then he added his own horse as the 20 th horse. Now he went about giving half of the 20 horses รข€" that is ten horses to the son. One fourth of 20- that is 5 horses were given to the temple committee. One fifth of twenty- that is 4 horses were given to the faithful servant. Ten plus five plus four made 19 horses. The remaining 20 th horse was his own which he promptly mounted, spoke a few inspiring words, and rode back home.
 
 The villagers were simply dumfounded, full of disbelief and filled with admiration. And the parting words of the wise man were inscribed in their hearts and minds which they greatly cherished and passed on to their succeeding generations till today.
 
 The wise man said: In our daily lives, in our daily affairs, simply add God's name and then go about facing the day's happenings. Ever come across problems in life that are seemingly insurmountable? (Like the villagers, do we feel that such problems cannot be solved?).
 
 The wise man continued: Add the God Principle in our daily lives and the problems will become lighter and eventually will disappear. In the manner of the ice which, with the addition of the heat principle will turn into water, and that will eventually evaporate as steam and disappear. And how do we add God's name  in our daily lives? Through prayers, filled with true love and devotion with sincerity of purpose and dedication that only total faith can bring about. Meditation is a powerful means of directing the mind Godward.
 
 But without true love and devotion entering into it, it remains like a boat without water. It is not difficult to push a boat that is floating in water, but extremely hard to drag the same boat on dry land. 
 
  In the same way, if our life's boat floats on the waters of true love and devotion, we can sail easily in it. The principle of love of God and devotion with total faith, (like water) makes easy the voyage of our lives.   When the mind is pure and the heart full of simplicity and holiness, such a devotee becomes an instrument in the service of the Lord.

 


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animation wOrld

Abe's resignation stuns political world

TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's abrupt announcement Wednesday that he will step down sent shock waves through the nation's political circles, even among lawmakers of his Liberal Democratic Party. Opposition executives criticized the decision by saying it shows Abe lacks a sense of responsibility, as the announcement came shortly after he attended a key summit abroad and only two days after he presented policies to pursue in a policy speech delivered at the Diet.

Ichiro Ozawa, president of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters that during his career as a politician he has "never heard" of a prime minister stepping down immediately after delivering a policy speech at the Diet. LDP Diet Affairs Committee chief Tadamori Oshima told a meeting of party lawmakers, "It's regrettable the prime minister has decided to resign. I offered my opinions to him but he said he would not change his mind."

An executive of an LDP faction loyal to education minister Bummei Ibuki said, "That's ridiculous. I can't understand why he decided to resign at this period of time." One former Cabinet minister termed Abe's resignation as a reflection of "his immaturity because of his youth."

September 12, 2007

Shinzo Abe, prime minister of Japan..

Shinzo Abe, Political Leader

Born: 21 September 1954
Birthplace: Nagato, Honshu, Japan
Best Known As: Prime Minister of Japan, 2006-present
Shinzo Abe became Japan's prime minister on 26 September 2006. Abe (pronounced "ah-bay") was something of a born politician: his father and paternal grandfather were both high-ranking members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and his mother's father was Nobusuki Kishi, Japan's prime minister from 1957 to 1960. Abe studied politics at Seikei University and the University of Southern California and went to work for Kobe Steel in 1979. Abe soon entered government work, getting a leg up from his dad, Shintaro Abe. In 1993 he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first of five times and began moving up the party ranks. He served as the deputy chief cabinet secretary for prime ministers Yoshiro Mori and Junichiro Koizumi from 2000 to 2003, and made a name for himself when he stood up to North Korea's Kim Jong Il over the North Korean abductions of Japanese nationals. In 2003 he became the secretary general for the LDP, the ruling party in Japan for most of the last 50 years. Abe was named Chief Cabinet Secretary for Koizumi In October of 2005, and the next September he succeeded Koizumi as prime minister. Abe advocates a strong national defense and a foreign policy that strengthens ties to the United States as a counterweight to future threats from China and North Korea.

Typhoon hits Honshu, leaving 2 dead

TOKYO — Typhoon Fitow left two people dead, one person missing and more than 50 injured while disrupting transportation services as it made landfall near Tokyo early Friday and swept northward through the Kanto and Tohoku areas on Japan's main island of Honshu.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of strong wind and rainfall in areas along the typhoon's anticipated course as it is expected to move further north to make landfall again on Hokkaido on Saturday morning.

In Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, Tsuneo Yanagisawa, 76, died after being hit by a tree around 11 p.m. Thursday, police said. He was clearing trees felled by strong winds from the typhoon, they said.

A construction worker died and another sustained injuries to the right leg after being trapped in a landslide which hit a dam construction site in Ono, Fukui Prefecture, firefighters said.

Many rivers in Tokyo and its vicinity swelled to near flood levels. From banks along the Tama River on the Tokyo-Kanagawa border, 29 people, mainly homeless persons living there, were stranded and rescued Friday.

Near the river, a 52-year-old company employee in Kawasaki also went missing after he left home Thursday night, police said. As he told his wife he was going out to take a look at the swollen river, the police are searching for him suspecting he could have been washed away.

Authorities temporarily urged some 20,000 households to evacuate for fear of possible flooding in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Similar evacuation advice was issued Friday in areas including Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, and Gunma and Yamagata prefectures.

In Tokyo Bay off Yokohama, two cargo ships collided after dragging their anchors around 2 a.m. Friday, the Japan Coast Guard said. But none of 36 crew members on the 15,888-ton African Oryx registered in the Bahamas or the 1,995-ton Tian Dao registered in China was hurt.

At 1 p.m. Friday, the typhoon was moving north at 45 kilometers per hour near Shinjo City in Yamagata Prefecture, northeastern Japan, whipping up winds of up to 144 kph near its center with an atmospheric pressure of 985 hectopascals, according to the agency.

Power blackouts have occurred at more than 100,000 households in eight prefectures since Thursday morning, with nearly 300,000 households still out of power Friday morning, Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tohoku Electric Power Co said.

At least 53 people were injured in nine prefectures affected by the typhoon, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

East Japan Railway Co and other railway operators suspended many morning commuter trains including expresses and subway trains in the metropolitan area affecting some 220,000 people.

Some bullet trains on the Tokaido, Nagano, Tohoku-Akita and Yamagata Shinkansen lines were also suspended.

But the Joetsu Shinkansen trains and Narita Express trains between the metropolitan area and Narita airport, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, ran normally, the operators said.

At Narita airport near Tokyo, eight international flights and one domestic flight were canceled Friday morning due to strong winds, according to Narita International Airport Corp officials.

Elsewhere, a total of 225 domestic flights, mainly those arriving at and leaving Tokyo's Haneda airport and Miyagi Prefecture's Sendai airport, were canceled Friday morning.

Winds clocking 160.9 kph were logged at Cape Irozaki in Shizuoka Prefecture on Friday while the wind velocity reached 137.9 kph in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture, the agency said.

In the 24-hour period to noon Saturday, up to 300 millimeters of rainfall is likely in areas on the Pacific in the northeastern Japanese region of Tohoku, up to 250 mm in areas on the Pacific side of the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the agency said.

In Yugashima, Shizuoka Prefecture, rainfall exceeded 620 mm in a 24-hour period, topping the area's average rainfall for the month of September which stands at 354.7 mm.

LDP to hold presidential election Sept 19 to choose Abe's successor

TOKYO — The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is arranging for a presidential election on Sept 19 to choose the successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced his resignation Wednesday, a senior LDP member said.

Abe said he was resigning to take responsibility for causing political uncertainty, saying it would be difficult for him to regain public trust and secure an extension of Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.

"I determined today to step down," a visibly weary Abe said at a hastily arranged press conference. "I reshuffled the cabinet in order to push forward with reforms but under the current situation it has become difficult for me to secure the people's support and trust to vigorously implement policies."

Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano said at a news conference later that Abe's health was also a reason behind his resignation, saying the premier has been distressed trying to balance his duties and his physical condition.

LDP Secretary General Taro Aso told party executives that the new leader must be chosen "urgently to avoid creating a political vacuum."

Wednesday's announcement, made after Abe abruptly canceled a question-and-answer session in parliament with opposition lawmakers, came as a surprise as Abe had just reiterated his determination to pursue his duties and political goals in a policy address Monday when the extraordinary Diet session convened.

The timing of his decision also puzzled many in both the ruling and opposition camps, given the fact that Abe had until now refused to resign on various other occasions despite strong pressure, such as the ruling coalition's heavy defeat in the House of Councillors election in July, a spate of resignations of Cabinet ministers, and endless money scandals involving key members of his administration.

Abe, who took office only a year ago, said it is better if he steps down and a new prime minister pursues a new law for the extension as well as other policy matters, adding he hopes that with his resignation the ruling LDP can generate new energy to deal with the political gridlock with the opposition.

"I think that having a new prime minister attend the upcoming U.N. General Assembly will perhaps bring about change," he said, referring to the gathering of world leaders in New York later this month.

Abe also cited a rejection by opposition Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa to hold a meeting on the extension issue. Ozawa has repeatedly said he is against an extension and the opposition plans to block the bill in the upper house where it holds a majority.

"I made up my mind that I must bring change to the current situation by stepping down, because unfortunately today a meeting with the opposition leader could not be realized," the premier said, pausing three times along the way as he spoke.

"With this, I decided that I cannot fulfill my promises and that perhaps my being prime minister has become an obstacle" to winning an extension in parliament, he said.

Meanwhile, Ozawa stressed at a separate news conference that the DPJ's opposition to the extension remains unchanged, saying, "There is no way that our thinking will change because of a change in the Liberal Democratic Party."

Abe's decision to resign comes after he indicated over the weekend that he was ready to step down if he failed to get the Diet to extend the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission to support U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and near Afghanistan beyond the Nov 1 deadline.

Meanwhile, Yosano, the top government spokesman, declined to discuss the specifics of Abe's health problem but said the premier's condition had deteriorated, especially after his three-nation Asia visit in late August. But Yosano noted that it was not a psychological issue.

"I have spoken with the premier many times since Monday and I felt that he wanted to convey something to me. But as we always focused on how to get the antiterrorism special measures law passed, I wasn't able to catch the subtle signals," Yosano said. "I remember all the scenes and now that I think about it, those were indeed the signals."

Asked to elaborate, Yosano cited one episode when he proposed to Abe how to proceed with extending the antiterrorism support mission, and the premier replied, "But even so, the circumstances are extremely difficult."

The LDP's Aso said that Abe told him Monday of his intention to step down but that he encouraged him then to stay on.

Since the July election defeat when the ruling bloc lost its majority in the upper house, Abe had refused to step down and clung to power. He eventually reshuffled his scandal-tainted cabinet and LDP leadership on Aug. 27 and vowed to "start anew."

But he continued to face difficulties with more scandals surfacing immediately after the reshuffle, notably one involving the misuse of farm subsidies that led to the resignation of the newly named agriculture minister.

Other scandals involving ministers' political funds also came to light, providing fuel for the opposition camp to pursue Abe's responsibility and to plan a censure motion against Abe at the just-convened parliament session.

Abe took office on Sept 26 last year with his major political goals being to revise the pacifist Constitution and revamp the education system to instill more patriotism into children under his slogan of freeing Japan from its "postwar regime."

Within weeks of becoming prime minister, Abe succeeded in mending fences with China and South Korea by visiting both countries, warming ties that had chilled for years under his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi.

However, money scandals and various gaffes soon plagued his administration, with the first minister resigning in December. Another committed suicide in May, and three others have resigned since then.

Abe faced strong criticism for his handling of the government's massive record-keeping blunder with public pension accounts and the lack of concrete policies to revitalize local economies and improve social disparities.

His administration's failure to attend to the public's concerns over daily livelihoods instead of political ideals was seen as a major factor in the July election, in which the LDP suffered a historic defeat.

Bodies of 4 babies found in Saitama apartment

SAITAMA — The bodies of four babies were found Saturday in the closet of an apartment in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture, police said. A 53-year-old woman who lived in the apartment died Wednesday and her 44-year-old sister found the bodies at around 10:30 a.m. while cleaning the apartment, they said.


The bodies are believed to be those of newborn babies but are so decomposed that their gender and when they died are not clear, they said. The bodies were found in a plastic box that was inside a cardboard box in the closet.

Australia thrashes Japan 91-3 in rugby World Cup

LYON, France — Flanker Rocky Elsom scored three tries as Australia opened its World Cup campaign with a 91-3 mauling of Japan here on Saturday. The Australians led 23-3 at halftime after three first-half tries to put the Japanese to the sword in the second term with 10 more tries in a powerful and at times free-flowing start to the tournament.

The Wallabies scored 13 tries, 10 conversions and two penalty goals to Japan's lone penalty goal.

The Wallabies had the luxury of cotton-balling their playmaking fly-half Stephen Larkham 13 minutes after halftime, giving youngster Berrick Barnes his first international cap.

Barnes scored with his first touch backing up a George Gregan break to score in the 57th minute as Stirling Mortlock raised Australia's half-century with the conversion. It became a procession to the try-line as replacement Drew Mitchell (twice), flanker George Smith, Barnes, Latham and replacement hooker Adam Freier scoring tries as the Japanese surrendered.

Japan now has only one victory in 17 encounters at the World Cup beating hapless Zimbabwe 52-8 in 1991.

New Zealand 76, Italy 14

Meanwhile, the All Blacks hammered Italy to open their latest bid to end a run of failures at the Rugby World Cup. Doug Howlett scored three tries as the All Blacks touched down 11 times at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille. Captain Richie McCaw, Jerry Collins and Sitiveni Sivivatu got two apiece. Fly- half Daniel Carter kicked seven conversions and a penalty.

"We were looking forward to playing this game for a long time," McCaw told reporters. "We capitalized on every opportunity we had."

The All Blacks, who have won 38 of their 43 Tests since losing in the 2003 semifinals, next play tournament debutant Portugal on Sept 15 in Lyon.

England 28, U.S. 10

Olly Barkley scored 18 points to lead England to a 28-10 win over the United States in a Group A match in the Rugby World Cup on Saturday.

After scoring two first-half tries at Felix Bollaert stadium, a lackluster England could only add one more after the interval to tie the second half 7-7 with the Eagles in a disappointing performance for the world champions.

JAL mechanic busted for paying minor for sex

TOKYO — A 49-year-old mechanic for Japan Airlines at Haneda airport was arrested for paying a 17-year-old girl for sexual favors, police said Tuesday. The man, identified as Takeharu Goto, allegedly gave 25,000 yen to the unemployed girl for sexual favors at a hotel in Ikebukuro in July, police said.


The two met through a telephone voice-mail dating service and have met twice for sex since May. "The girl was my type, so I paid her to have sex with me," Goto was quoted as saying.

New York marks 6th anniversary of 9/11

NEW YORK — New York marked the sixth anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in somber ceremonies at Ground Zero on Tuesday morning. The ceremony began at 8:40 a.m. at a park near Ground Zero, just minutes before the time the first hijacked plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center, eventually killing 2,750 people.

In addition to the New York ceremony where several thousand people attended, people across the country offered their prayers to the victims of the terror attacks which claimed 2,974 lives in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania — 2,750 at the World Trade Center, 40 in Pennsylvania and 184 at the Pentagon.

U.S. President George W Bush attended a private 7:30 a.m. prayer service at St John's Episcopal Church and held a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House.

At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told grieving family members the military will continue to pursue and defeat America's enemies, especially terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida, which instigated the attacks.

"Today the entire nation joins with you," Gates said. "You have never been and never will be alone in your sorrow."

In New York, presidential hopefuls, Republican Rudolph Giuliani and Democratic Sen Hillary Clinton joined the victims' families.

In an overcast New York, families of the 2,749 people killed when two planes plowed into the World Trade Center twin towers paid their respects near the site as rescue workers read the names of the dead, in what has now become an annual ritual.

With heads bowed, holding photographs of the dead and fighting to hold back the tears, relatives listened as the grim roll call was read out.

"We come together again as New Yorkers and as Americans to share a loss that can't be measured and to remember the names of those who can't be replaced," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, opening the commemorations.

The day of the attacks six years ago was "a day that tore across our history and our hearts," he said.

In Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where hijackers brought down United Airlines Flight 93 in a field after a passenger uprising, tributes were held to honor the 40 passengers and crew killed there.

The centerpiece of the commemorations in New York was more muted than in past years. For the first time, most of the New York commemorations were being held at a park near Ground Zero, the area where the Twin Towers once stood, and not on the site itself, where several new buildings are under construction.

The reading of the names paused for four moments of silence to mark the exact times that the planes hit the towers and when the massive buildings collapsed into piles of rubble and choking dust.

"We love you and we miss you," said one woman, mourning the loss of her brother. "You're still the best, Salvatore," added another, paying tribute to his fallen firefighter brother.

"We miss her and love her more than ever," three children said of their mother, a worker in one of the collapsed towers. "Michael you are our angel," added another of a firefighter friend. "God bless you."

Relatives of those killed then descended a ramp into the World Trade Center site, where they laid flowers and photographs in a small pool. The blustery and rainy weather contrasted to the clear blue skies on the day of the attacks.

The decision not to hold the ceremony at Ground Zero was a controversial one, but Bloomberg said Tuesday that people needed to accept change.

"The place where we used to hold this ceremony is now a construction site. This is probably the last year people will be able to walk down the ramp into the pit," dubbed Ground Zero Bloomberg told CNN ahead of the ceremony.

Giuliani's presence at the ceremony had sparked criticism from some of the families of those killed, given his presidential ambitions.

Giuliani has made much of his role as mayor in the aftermath of the attacks, but firefighters especially have criticized the city's response to the disaster and have accused Giuliani of making political capital out of the attacks.

In the evening, a "Tribute in Light" was to project two massive beams of light into the night sky above Ground Zero to symbolize the collapsed towers.

Bin Laden taunts U.S. on 9/11 anniversary

NEW YORK — Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden eulogized one of the September 11 hijackers in a video released on Tuesday's sixth anniversary of the attacks that still traumatize the United States.

As Americans remembered the almost 3,000 people killed, attempted bomb attacks and security alerts kept the world on terrorist alert. A powerful bomb was disarmed in Ankara and German police launched a major operation at a U.S. military base after receiving threats.

The al-Qaida leader was seen in a still image on the new video in which he gives a commentary praising hijacker Walid al-Shehri, according to IntelCenter, a U.S.-based monitoring group that obtained an early copy of the video.

In the audio, bin Laden describes Al-Shehri as "a young man who personally penetrated the most extreme degrees of danger and is a rarity among men: one of the 19 champions (may Allah have mercy on them all)," according to IntelCenter.

There were 19 hijackers on four planes. Al-Shehri was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first jet to crash into the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.

IntelCenter said the video, which lasts 47 minutes, is titled: "The Wills of the Heroes of the Raids on New York and Washington, The Will of the Martyr (As We See Him) Abu Mus'ab Walid al-Shehri, With a Foreword by Sheikh Osama bin Laden."

In a tape released on Friday, bin Laden mocked the United States as "weak" and threatened to escalate the war in Iraq.

News of the latest video emerged before the United States was to hold ceremonies to remember the dead from New York's Twin Towers, the U.S. Defense Department headquarters in Washington and a hijacked plane that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

Also on the anniversary, Turkish police defused a powerful bomb hidden under a bus in central Ankara where a link to September 11 was immediately made.

The Turkish capital's governor, Kemal Onal, said the bomb was hidden under a bus in a car park. "The meticulous work of the police averted a possible catastrophe," he told journalists.

German police launched a major operation at the Spangdahlem U.S. military airport after U.S. forces received threats by telephone, police said.

The base received an anonymous call on Monday but a police spokesman said it was possible it was a hoax.

Air Force admits bomber mistakenly flew nukes across U.S.

WASHINGTON — A B-52 bomber mistakenly carried six nuclear warheads on air-launched cruise missiles on a flight from North Dakota to Louisiana last week, prompting a major investigation, U.S. media reported Wednesday.

The plane was carrying Advanced Cruise Missiles from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, on Aug 30, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a Defense Department policy not to confirm information about nuclear weapons.

The Air Force has relieved the munition squadron commander at Minot Air Base and launched an intensive investigation into the incident, a Pentagon spokesman said.

"At no time was there a threat to public safety," said Lieutenant Colonel Ed Thomas.

"It is important to note that munitions were safe, secure and under military control at all times."

The Pentagon would not provide specifics, citing secrecy rules, but an expert said the incident was unprecedented, and pointed to a disturbing lapse in the air force's command and control system.

"It seems so fantastic that so many points, checks can dysfunction," he said Hans Kristensen, an expert on U.S. nuclear forces.

"We have so many points and checks specifically so we don't have these kinds of incidents," he said.

The breach originally was reported by the Military Times newspaper Wednesday and was confirmed by the Pentagon later in the day.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates was notified early Friday of the incident by Air Force chief of staff General Michael "Buzz" Moseley, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

"I can also tell you that it was important enough that President Bush was notified of it," Morrell said.

Gates has been getting daily briefings from Moseley on the incident, and expects a report by the end of next week, he said.

"The munitions squadron commander has been relieved of his duties, and final action is pending the outcome of the investigation," he said.

"In addition, other airmen were decertified from their duties involving munitions."

Kristensen said he knew of no other publicly acknowledged case of live nuclear weapons being flown on bombers since the late 1960s.

The nuclear weapons expert said the air force keeps a computerized command and control system that traces any movement of a nuclear weapon so that they have a complete picture of where they are at any given time.

He said there would be checks and detailed procedures at various points from the time they are moved out of bunkers until they are loaded onto planes, and flown away.

"That's perhaps what is most worrisome about this particular incident — that apparently an individual who had command authority about moving these weapons around decided to do so," he said.

"It's a command and control issue and it's one that calls into question the system, because if one individual can do that who knows what can happen," he said.

Nuclear weapons are normally transferred on cargo planes, never on the wings of bombers, Kristensen said. Bomber flights with live nuclear weapons were ended in the late 1960s after accidents in Spain in 1966 and in Greenland in 1968.

The weapons were among 400 advanced cruise missiles that the Defense Department quietly decided to retire in March over the course of this year.

The advanced cruise missile is a stealthy, longer range version of the air launched cruise missile first deployed in the early 1980s.

They carry W-80 warheads of up to 150 kilotons, ten times the destructive force of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Germany foils 'massive' attack on U.S. citizens

KARLSRUHE, Germany — Germany said Wednesday it had arrested three Islamic extremists preparing a massive bombing campaign targeting Americans and U.S. installations in the country.

"They were planning massive attacks," Federal Prosecutor Monika Harms said.

"As possible targets ... the suspects named discotheques and pubs and airports frequented by Americans with a view to detonating explosives loaded in cars and killing or injuring many people," Harms told a press conference.

The men, two Germans and a Turk, had stockpiled more than 700 kilograms of hydrogen peroxide, the same chemical used by suicide bombers in the 2005 attacks on London's transport system which killed 56 people, Harms said.

Drums containing the chemicals were moved recently to a holiday home in the Sauerland area near Frankfurt which had been rented under a false name.

The men, in their 20s, had met up on Sunday to begin producing bombs, Harms said, but were arrested on Tuesday.

They are suspected members of Islamic Jihad Union, a group with roots in Uzbekistan that has ties to al-Qaida, and attended a training camp in Pakistan in 2006.

According to federal police chief Joerg Ziercke, they had been under surveillance since December, when one of the three was briefly detained on suspicion of spying on a U.S. military base in Hanau near Frankfurt.

The men were "driven by a hatred of U.S. citizens," Ziercke said.

About 64,000 U.S. military personnel are based in Germany, according to Pentagon figures.

German officials did not confirm radio reports that the men had been targeting Frankfurt international airport, one of Europe's busiest, and the giant U.S. military base in Ramstein.

"There were no concrete targets," Deputy Interior Minister August Hanning told journalists in Berlin. "But the German police are speculating that Frankfurt airport was one of these targets."

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the men were "very dangerous terrorists" who had planned their attacks on the orders of "an international network."

Schaeuble said one of the suspects had links to the Islamist scene in Neu-Ulm in southern Germany. Investigators have suspected for several years that a mosque in Neu-Ulm is used as a base for extremists planning attacks.

"The danger that international terrorism represents is a reality not only for the soldiers, police and personnel charged with the reconstruction in Afghanistan... but also inside our own country," he said later.

Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed the arrests, saying: "They show that the dangers of terrorism in Germany are not abstract, they are real."

The White House said U.S. President George W Bush had been informed of the arrests Tuesday, while the State Department confirmed it worked in "very close cooperation with the German government" on the investigation.

Some officials suggested the plot had been hatched to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung would only say that the threat had been "imminent."

The anti-terrorist operation in Germany came after police in Denmark said Tuesday they had foiled a terrorist attack after arresting eight men they said had links to al-Qaida.

Germany, which has about 3,000 soldiers serving in Afghanistan, has been on high alert for several months.

Islamist groups warned Germany earlier this year that it faced attacks unless it withdrew its troops from Afghanistan.

The U.S. embassy in Germany said in April it was increasing security at U.S. facilities in the country in response to "a heightened threat situation."

U.S. counter-terrorism officials revealed subsequently that authorities had intelligence suggesting Islamic extremists were planning to attack U.S. targets in Germany with bombs and small arms.

German federal prosecutors in June charged a Lebanese man with masterminding a failed plot to bomb two passenger trains using bombs packed in suitcases last year which failed to explode because of faulty detonators.

Six Lebanese men are currently standing trial in Lebanon over the plot, which targeted trains in western Germany.

U.S. strikes in Baghdad kill 14 civilians

BAGHDAD — U.S. combat helicopters and tanks bombarded a Baghdad neighborhood in pre-dawn strikes on Thursday, killing 14 sleeping civilians and destroying houses, angry residents and Iraqi officials said.

The U.S. military, which has deployed thousands of extra troops in the Iraqi capital to try to stem rampant violence, said the operation was aimed at Shiite extremists and the houses destroyed were "enemy strongholds."

Iraqi defence and interior ministry officials said U.S. helicopters fired on houses in the Al-Washash neighborhood of Mansour district in west Baghdad between 2 and 3 a.m.

Abu Ali Saad, a resident of the mainly Shiite enclave, said U.S. military vehicles had arrived in large numbers in Al-Washash during the night.

"There were tanks and armoured vehicles and many troops," 35-year-old Saad said while surveying the rubble of his neighbor's house.

"The tanks started firing then the helicopters came. Missiles were fired from the air. Houses were destroyed. A family of five were killed in this house," he said, referring to his neighbors.

"We are a peaceful neighborhood. There are no militia here. There were no exchanges of fire. We were all sleeping."

A U.S. military statement said Iraqi and U.S. forces had engaged Shiite extremist militants who were part of a "terrorist cell" operating in Al-Washash.

When Iraqi and U.S. forces entered the area they came under fire from "more than a dozen extremists firing from the rooftops of surrounding buildings," the statement said.

The fire was returned and air strikes were carried out against "positively identified armed gunmen directing small arms fires on to the assault force."

"A total of four buildings were damaged, including two enemy strongholds that sustained major damage and two surrounding buildings that sustained moderate damage," the statement said.

It did not detail the number of people killed in the operation but said the Iraqi and U.S. forces suffered no casualties.

Washington has deployed an extra 28,500 troops as part of a "surge" in Baghdad and surrounding areas aimed at quelling sectarian violence that has killed thousands of Iraqis since it erupted 18 months ago.

In other violence, a bomb exploded near a line of workers seeking daily employment in Baghdad's southeastern Zafaraniya district, killing one worker and wounding five, a defense ministry official said.

In Tikrit, 130 kilometers north of Baghdad, a car bomb aimed at a police patrol killed two civilians and wounded 17, police said.

In Hawra Haajab village on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, meanwhile, two suspected members of al-Qaida were killed and two captured during an operation launched early Thursday by a U.S. cavlary unit, according to Captain Chad Klascius who is leading the assault.

"We've moved into the town and are taking it back. We are trying to push al-Qaida out," Klascius said. "We are shooting machine guns and they are returning fire as well as shooting mortar rounds.

Thompson declares candidacy for U.S. president

DES MOINES, Iowa — Fred Thompson, a veteran actor and former Republican senator, launched his bid for the presidency Hollywood style on Wednesday night. "I'm running for president of the United States," Thompson told Jay Leno in a taped appearance on NBC's "Tonight Show" airing Wednesday night.

Thompson, 65, called opponents former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov Mitt Romney formidable but added: "I think I will be, too" as he rejected the notion that he was getting into the race too late, only four months before voting begins.

"I don't think people are going to say, 'You know, that guy would make a very good president but he just didn't get in soon enough,'" Thompson said as the studio audience laughed. Poking at his rivals who have been running since the year began, he added: "If you can't get your message out in a few months, you're probably not every going to get it out."

Thompson also called attention to his candidacy with a 30-second ad broadcast during a Republican debate in New Hampshire that he did not participate in. He explained the rationale for his candidacy during a 15-minute Webcast on his campaign Internet site just after midnight.

"On the next president's watch, our country will make decisions that will affect our lives and our families far into the future. We can't allow ourselves to become a weaker, less prosperous and more divided nation," Thompson says in the ad that will air on Fox News Channel.

Thompson quit his role as a prosecutor on the hit NBC show "Law & Order" and formed a committee in his home state of Tennessee at the beginning of June to test the waters for a potential bid.

But the formal announcement has been pushed back repeatedly amid staff shake-ups and questions about his work as a lobbyist, his slow fund-raising and the influence of his second wife in the campaign.

Meanwhile, Republican presidential contenders welcomed Thompson to the race Wednesday night with humor and pointed advice that he will have to fight them for the nomination.

"There's nothing like getting to know the folks in New Hampshire and Iowa," said Romney in the opening moments of a debate.

"This is a nomination you have to earn," said Giuliani. "Nobody's going to give it to you. Nobody's going to grant it to you."

"I was scheduled to be on Jay Leno tonight, but I gave up my spot to somebody else because I'd rather be here in New Hampshire," joked Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.

Thompson thus managed to upstage the eight men on the debate stage, even though they have been campaigning for months in pursuit of their party's presidential nomination.

The debate was the fifth of the campaign, and came as the pace quickened in the presidential race.

Two contenders, Jim Gilmore and Tommy Thompson, have abandoned their bids since the last debate. Romney won a big victory in the Iowa straw poll after Giuliani and Arizona Sen John McCain decided not to compete.

Huckabee edged out Kansas Sen Sam Brownback for second place, hoping to position himself as the true conservative in the race.

Romney also maintains a lead in the polls in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Bin Laden to issue video message on 9/11 anniversary

WASHINGTON — Osama Bin Laden plans to issue a video message addressing the American people on the sixth anniversary of the attacks on Sept 11, U.S.-based monitoring service SITE said on Thursday.

"The SITE Intelligence Group has learned that a new video message is forthcoming from the head of al-Qaida" on the 9/11 anniversary, said the group, which monitors extremist websites and publications.

SITE, which is based in Alexandria, Va, said the video was expected within the next 72 hours, or by Sunday. That would come before the sixth anniversary next Tuesday of the World Trade Center attack. The last bin Laden video was in October 2004, shortly before the U.S. presidential elections.

Rita Katz, director of SITE, said bin Laden's beard appeared to have been dyed, which she said is a popular practice in the Middle East.

"I think it works for their benefit that he looks young, he looks healthy," Katz said of the new image.

U.S. prepares for 9/11 anniversary

NEW YORK — America marks the sixth anniversary of the Sept11 attacks on Tuesday with more low key commemorations than in the past and in the face of mounting concern over the U.S.-led "war on terror."

In New York, where more than 2,700 people were killed when two hijacked planes plowed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, rescue workers are to read out the names of the dead in a solemn ceremony on Tuesday.

As in previous years, al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden released a taped message ahead of the commemorations, mocking the United States as "weak" and threatening to escalate the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq.

Unlike past commemorations, most of Tuesday's ceremony will be held at a park near Ground Zero, the area where the Twin Towers once stood, and not in the site itself, where work is under way on new skyscrapers and a memorial.

In what has become an annual ritual, the reading of the names will pause for four moments of silence to mark the exact times that the planes hit the towers and when the massive office blocks collapsed.

Church bells are to toll at 8:46 a.m. to mark the exact moment that the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, crashed into the North Tower.

Relatives of those killed will then be able to descend a long ramp into the World Trade Center site to lay flowers and pause momentarily.

The ceremony is a lower profile event than the commemorations last year to mark the fifth anniversary of the attacks, when President George W Bush laid a wreath at the site and later made a televised address to the nation.

Bush, who this year called for Americans to mark the attacks with memorial services and candlelight vigils, was to attend a remembrance service in Washington and later observe a moment of silence at the White House.

"The main problem is to fight extremism, to recognize that history has called us into action," Bush said last month, maintaining a line he has held since the attacks.

"By fighting extremists and radicals, we help people realize dreams. And helping people realize dreams helps promote peace," he added.

At Ground Zero, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is to lead the ceremony, at which his predecessor, Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani, will also deliver a reading.

Some of the relatives of those killed in the attacks have criticized Giuliani's attendance, especially given his presidential ambitions.

Giuliani has made much of his role as mayor in the aftermath of the attacks, but firefighters especially have criticized the city's response to the disaster and accused Giuliani of making political capital out of the attacks.

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, a New York senator, is also due to take part in the ceremony, at which she will help read the names of the dead.

In the evening, a "Tribute in Light" is to project two massive beams of light into the night sky above Ground Zero to symbolize the collapsed towers.

In Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where hijackers brought down United Airlines Flight 93 in a remote field, tributes were to be held Tuesday to honor the 40 passengers and crew killed.

In Washington, where 184 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 flew into the Pentagon, the Defense Department was organizing a Freedom Walk on Sunday to honor the dead and show support for U.S. troops serving abroad.

More than 4,100 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since Bush declared a "war on terror" in the aftermath of the attacks.

His popularity has plummeted since he stood in the ruins of the World Trade Center with a bullhorn six years ago to rally the American people.

Other controversies still lingering six years after the attacks include the slow pace of reconstruction at Ground Zero, where only one office tower has so far been completed to replace the several buildings destroyed in the attacks.

A memorial complex known as "Reflecting Absence" is due to open in 2009 featuring two square voids in the footprint of the original Twin Towers.

The largest part of the reconstruction plan being overseen by architect Daniel Libeskind is the Freedom Tower, due to be completed in early 2011. Construction on the skyscraper began last year after a series of delays.

But perhaps the most troubling legacy of the attacks for New Yorkers is the health of the rescue and recovery workers, who six years on are suffering high rates of respiratory complaints and post traumatic stress disorder.

Petraeus says surge in Iraq working

WASHINGTON — Gen David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said Monday the U.S. military is meeting its objectives in Iraq and troops can be reduced to pre-surge levels of about 130,000 by next summer.

"The military objectives of the surge are, in large measure, being met," he said at a joint hearing of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees.

Petraeus, battling repeated interruptions by anti-war protestors, rejected Democratic claims that President George W Bush's war plan was a failure, in the most eagerly awaited congressional hearing in years.

Using graphs and colored charts, the general, accompanied by U.S. ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker, warned "a premature drawdown of our forces would likely have devastating consequences."

The rare joint hearing of the House Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees opened a landmark week for U.S. Iraq policy in a four-year war which has killed more than 3,700 US troops and tens of thousands of civilians.

Democrats launched an outspoken assault on Petraeus's claims, and argued that the surge of 28,500 U.S. troops had failed in its prime goal of driving political reconciliation in Iraq.

Petraeus recommended the withdrawal of 4,000 troops in Iraq by December, with troop numbers gradually reaching pre-surge levels of around 130,000 soldiers by mid next year.

But angering Democrats, he said further decisions on troop numbers could not be made until next March at the earliest.

"In my professional judgment, it would be premature to make recommendations on the pace of such reductions at this time," Petraeus said.

He said civilian deaths had "declined significantly", as have attacks using improvised explosive devices, or roadside bombs; car bombings and suicide attacks.

A U.S. official auditor last week however questioned the way the military had calculated the statistics on sectarian violence.

Petraeus also warned that Iran was using its special forces to fight a "proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq."

Crocker added that "Iran would be a winner" if the U.S. abandoned Iraq, and argued that a a "secure, stable, democratic Iraq at peace with its neighbors is, in my view, attainable."

"The trajectory of political, economic, and diplomat developments in Iraq is upwards, although the slope of that line is not steep," he said.

The general also hailed the decision by Sunni tribes in Anbar province to join the fight against al-Qaida as "the most significant development in the past six months."

Police, swamping the hearing with a heavy presence, threw nine anti-war protestors, some from the "Code Pink" organization, out of the hearing after repeated interruptions.

One woman screamed "No, No, No, No," as she was dragged out.

Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton said Petraeus, who entered the room to an explosion of flash-bulbs and cries from protestors of "Tell the truth, General," was the right man for the job in Iraq.

"But he's the right person three years too late and 250,000 troops short," Skelton said.

As political tensions hit boiling point, Foreign Affairs committee chairman Tom Lantos told Petraeus he didn't "buy" claims that victory was at hand.

"The current escalation in our military presence in Iraq may have produced some tactical successes. But strategically, the escalation has failed," he said accusing Iraqi leaders of squandering an opportunity for political reform.

"We need to get out of Iraq, for that country's sake and for our own. It is time to go — and to go now."

Pent-up political fury over the war spilled over even before Petraeus and Crocker appeared, with Republicans accusing Democrats of embracing "character assassination" tactics designed to discredit the General's testimony.

The flare-up was sparked by a full-page advertisement in The New York Times placed by anti-war liberal campaign group MoveOn.org, reading "General Petraeus or General Betray US? Cooking the Books for the White House."

White House spokesman Tony Snow called the ad "boorish and childish." He also said the Crocker and Petraeus's testimony had not been shaped by the White House.

The general and ambassador were also due to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees on Tuesday.

Bush, bound by law to provide a report on the progress of the war by Saturday, was expected to make a televised address to the American people later in the week.

Bin Laden to issue video message on 9/11 anniversary

WASHINGTON — Osama Bin Laden plans to issue a video message addressing the American people on the sixth anniversary of the attacks on Sept 11, U.S.-based monitoring service SITE said on Thursday.

"The SITE Intelligence Group has learned that a new video message is forthcoming from the head of al-Qaida" on the 9/11 anniversary, said the group, which monitors extremist websites and publications.

SITE, which is based in Alexandria, Va, said the video was expected within the next 72 hours, or by Sunday. That would come before the sixth anniversary next Tuesday of the World Trade Center attack. The last bin Laden video was in October 2004, shortly before the U.S. presidential elections.


Rita Katz, director of SITE, said bin Laden's beard appeared to have been dyed, which she said is a popular practice in the Middle East.


"I think it works for their benefit that he looks young, he looks healthy," Katz said of the new image.



LDP to hold presidential election Sept 19 to choose Abe's successor

TOKYO — The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is arranging for a presidential election on Sept 19 to choose the successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced his resignation Wednesday, a senior LDP member said.



Abe said he was resigning to take responsibility for causing political uncertainty, saying it would be difficult for him to regain public trust and secure an extension of Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.

"I determined today to step down," a visibly weary Abe said at a hastily arranged press conference. "I reshuffled the cabinet in order to push forward with reforms but under the current situation it has become difficult for me to secure the people's support and trust to vigorously implement policies."


Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano said at a news conference later that Abe's health was also a reason behind his resignation, saying the premier has been distressed trying to balance his duties and his physical condition.


LDP Secretary General Taro Aso told party executives that the new leader must be chosen "urgently to avoid creating a political vacuum."


Wednesday's announcement, made after Abe abruptly canceled a question-and-answer session in parliament with opposition lawmakers, came as a surprise as Abe had just reiterated his determination to pursue his duties and political goals in a policy address Monday when the extraordinary Diet session convened.


The timing of his decision also puzzled many in both the ruling and opposition camps, given the fact that Abe had until now refused to resign on various other occasions despite strong pressure, such as the ruling coalition's heavy defeat in the House of Councillors election in July, a spate of resignations of Cabinet ministers, and endless money scandals involving key members of his administration.


Abe, who took office only a year ago, said it is better if he steps down and a new prime minister pursues a new law for the extension as well as other policy matters, adding he hopes that with his resignation the ruling LDP can generate new energy to deal with the political gridlock with the opposition.


"I think that having a new prime minister attend the upcoming U.N. General Assembly will perhaps bring about change," he said, referring to the gathering of world leaders in New York later this month.


Abe also cited a rejection by opposition Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa to hold a meeting on the extension issue. Ozawa has repeatedly said he is against an extension and the opposition plans to block the bill in the upper house where it holds a majority.


"I made up my mind that I must bring change to the current situation by stepping down, because unfortunately today a meeting with the opposition leader could not be realized," the premier said, pausing three times along the way as he spoke.


"With this, I decided that I cannot fulfill my promises and that perhaps my being prime minister has become an obstacle" to winning an extension in parliament, he said.


Meanwhile, Ozawa stressed at a separate news conference that the DPJ's opposition to the extension remains unchanged, saying, "There is no way that our thinking will change because of a change in the Liberal Democratic Party."


Abe's decision to resign comes after he indicated over the weekend that he was ready to step down if he failed to get the Diet to extend the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission to support U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and near Afghanistan beyond the Nov 1 deadline.


Meanwhile, Yosano, the top government spokesman, declined to discuss the specifics of Abe's health problem but said the premier's condition had deteriorated, especially after his three-nation Asia visit in late August. But Yosano noted that it was not a psychological issue.


"I have spoken with the premier many times since Monday and I felt that he wanted to convey something to me. But as we always focused on how to get the antiterrorism special measures law passed, I wasn't able to catch the subtle signals," Yosano said. "I remember all the scenes and now that I think about it, those were indeed the signals."


Asked to elaborate, Yosano cited one episode when he proposed to Abe how to proceed with extending the antiterrorism support mission, and the premier replied, "But even so, the circumstances are extremely difficult."


The LDP's Aso said that Abe told him Monday of his intention to step down but that he encouraged him then to stay on.


Since the July election defeat when the ruling bloc lost its majority in the upper house, Abe had refused to step down and clung to power. He eventually reshuffled his scandal-tainted cabinet and LDP leadership on Aug. 27 and vowed to "start anew."


But he continued to face difficulties with more scandals surfacing immediately after the reshuffle, notably one involving the misuse of farm subsidies that led to the resignation of the newly named agriculture minister.


Other scandals involving ministers' political funds also came to light, providing fuel for the opposition camp to pursue Abe's responsibility and to plan a censure motion against Abe at the just-convened parliament session.


Abe took office on Sept 26 last year with his major political goals being to revise the pacifist Constitution and revamp the education system to instill more patriotism into children under his slogan of freeing Japan from its "postwar regime."


Within weeks of becoming prime minister, Abe succeeded in mending fences with China and South Korea by visiting both countries, warming ties that had chilled for years under his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi.


However, money scandals and various gaffes soon plagued his administration, with the first minister resigning in December. Another committed suicide in May, and three others have resigned since then.


Abe faced strong criticism for his handling of the government's massive record-keeping blunder with public pension accounts and the lack of concrete policies to revitalize local economies and improve social disparities.


His administration's failure to attend to the public's concerns over daily livelihoods instead of political ideals was seen as a major factor in the July election, in which the LDP suffered a historic defeat.





Bin Laden urges Americans to convert to Islam

CAIRO, Egypt — Osama bin Laden appeared for the first time in three years in a video Friday released ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks, telling Americans they should convert to Islam if they want the war in Iraq to end.

American officials said the U.S. government had obtained a copy even though the video had not been posted yet by al-Qaida — and intelligence agencies were studying the video to determine whether it was authentic and looking for clues about bin Laden's health.

Bin Laden also made comments and references to the anniversary events this August of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as to the French and British government leaders installed in May and June.

A U.S. official said an analysis of the videotape showed that it was bin Laden who was on the tape. This was the first video footage showing him since the one in the fall of 2004 in which he admitted to the terrorist attacks on the United States.

The release of the latest video is apparently intended to demonstrate bin Laden is alive and well ahead of the sixth anniversary of Sept 11 this year.

U.S. President George W Bush told reporters in Sydney, "The tape is a reminder of the dangerous world in which we live and it is a reminder that we must work together to protect our people."

The video footage, obtained by ABC and other major news outlets, runs for around 30 minutes.

According to ABC, bin Laden on the tape says, "...just a few days ago, the Japanese observed the 62nd anniversary of the annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by your nuclear weapons." The anniversary is Aug 6 for Hiroshima and Aug 9 for Nagasaki.

He also referred to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who assumed their posts in May and June respectively.

Referring to the American people, he also said, "You permitted Bush to complete his first term, and stranger still, chose him for a second term, which gave him a clear mandate from you — with your full knowledge and consent — to continue to murder our people in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The footage gives a rare look at the al-Qaida leader, who has likely avoided appearing in videos as a security measure. His emergence comes at a time when terrorism experts believe his terror network is regrouping in the lawless Pakistan-Afghanistan border region — and it underlines the U.S. failure to catch him.

In the video, a short excerpt of which was broadcast to the Arab world by Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden wears a white robe, a white circular cap and a beige cloak seated behind a table while reading an address to the American people from papers in front of him.

His trimmed beard is shorter than in his last video, in 2004, and is fully black — apparently dyed, since in past videos it was mostly gray. He speaks softly, as he usually does, and has dark bags under his eyes, but his appearance dispelled rumors that he had died.

In the video, bin Laden makes no overt threats and does not directly call for attacks.

Instead, he addresses Americans, lecturing them on the failures of their leaders to stop the war in Iraq despite growing public opposition in the U.S.

He says there were two solutions to stopping the Iraq war. "One is from our side, and it is to escalate the fighting and killing against you. This is our duty, and our brothers are carrying it out," bin Laden said.

"The second solution is from your side. ... I invite you to embrace Islam," he said.

One result of that, bin Laden said, would be an end to the Iraq war. He said "warmongering owners of the major corporations" would rush to appease voters who showed they are looking for an alternative, "and this alternative is Islam."

He derided Bush, saying events in Iraq have gotten "out of control" and the American leader "is like the one who plows and sows the sea: He harvests nothing but failure."

Bin Laden frequently criticized capitalism, calling its leaders the real terrorists and threats to human freedom.

"This is why I tell you: as you liberated yourselves before from the slavery of monks, kings and feudalism, you should liberate yourselves from the deception, shackles and attrition of the capitalist system," he said.

Bin Laden also showed a grasp of current events, dropping mentions of global warming and saying Americans are "reeling under the burdens" of a mortgage crisis.

And he praises author Noam Chomsky, an early critic of the Iraq war, as well as Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, who has said poor U.S. leadership was losing the war against terrorist groups.

Bin Laden "knows Bush has low approval ratings, knows the significance of a growing awareness of global warming," said Thomas Sanderson, deputy director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "He's trying to capitalize on what he sees as a shift back to the middle in American politics."

Views of different people...

I had a chance to read the text to Osama's latest video. And I have to say the world's most wanted terrorist seems to have undergone a bit of a change. I was disappointed not to find the usual fire and brimstone, revenge and divine purpose in this year's message. Instead it seems that Bin Laden has become a hippie.

Perhaps somewhere in the hills of Western Pakistan his little clan have captured a hippie back packer from Berkeley who lost his way on the road to Nepal. And instead of killing this poor backpacker, it seems perhaps their captive has converted brother Osama and his gang to a new way of thinking. And perhaps some new ways of smoking too.

This year's message sounded like a combination of Michael Moore, WTO protesters, California new age hippies, stoner drummers from Yoyogi park and radical Islamist fundamentalist terrorists all tossed into a pot infused blend of neo-hippie extremism. Next thing he'll be suggesting we all hang out together, meditate, do a bit of yoga and all come into the divine light of Islamic hippie-ism to see the error of our corrupt ways. Or at least have an afternoon being baked together and work things out over some light snak food.

Maybe Osama is spending much too much time in the hills these days. Getting old and mellow and maybe regretting that whole 911 thing. Maybe those prior suggestions that a college speaking tour would have been a better avenue for change than getting his dudes to fly jets into things made sense after all.

Check out the transcript online and see for yourselves. The world's greatest terrorist seems to have become a politically correct hippie. Or was at least very baked when he wrote this latest speech. Reality is indeed stranger than fiction.

"His basic idea: We (al qaeda) played the neocons like a fiddle, and continue to do so."

Seems to me he is playing the Democrats like a fiddle. In case you missed it, his latest production is a standard lineup of Democrat arguments; might as well have been written my Michael Moore.

(Which is not to say that the Republicans have a clue; the idea that Iraq would spontaneously turn into a democracy was patently ludicrious.)

But OBL in his latest tape is clearly talking to the Democrat base. One has to be blind not to see that.

Unlike all the liberal posters here at JT, it will be a cold day in hell before I lay out a rug to pray on.

Perhaps the only relevant thing this poster has ever gibberd.

Here's why:

Rodeney King enjoined us to all get along. How do we? OBL wants Americans to embrace Islam. Fat chance. Americans will tolerate Islam, but never embrace it.

Now, turn it around. GWB has wanted Iraqis to embrace democracy... And how's that been working for us? Not well. The US simply does not possess the power to refashion Iraq in her image. US failure in Iraq thus far is a result of the lunatic Right inability to accept this. But that don't deter the Americans from the conceit that we should continue along this Democracy Rah Rah line with Iran, with DPRK. And with China.

And it will be a cold day in hell before Iran embraces democracy. Though its pure fantasy to think so. It aint gonna happen. The US simply does not possess the power to refashion Iranian society. But that dont stop the Right. Soon, the US will lack the power to even push around the nuclear armed Iran. Thank you W.

And so with China. Chinese leader will not wake up tommorrow, slap their foreheads and proclaim: "What on earth were we thinking?!? All men are created equal. Of course!! Lets model our society on Western Principles, and refasion our entire domestic structure. That's the ticket!!"

Aint gonna happen. Just as tommorrow W and Cheyney, Obama and Bill Gates aint gonna wake up tommorrow, slap their forheads, and proclaim: "What were we thinking!?! This Liberal Democratic Capitalism thing is all wrong. Or course!! Lets totally refashion our country on Chinese Priciples...blah blah blah"

Aint gonna happen. We live in an increasingly interdependant, but non-convergent world. The US may be the lone super power, but she does not possess the power to refashion the entire globe in her image. We just do not have the power. And we will have to learn to deal with other civilizations on their terms as well as ours.

Most the world does not want to be like us. Those that possess the power to resists will. They are motivated by same nationalism of RR's " It will be a cold day in hell..."

And that is what the ideologues of all flavors just dont get. I dare say, that is what Americans on the whole do not want to get.


now turn it back around. Bin Ladin and his fellow radical believers (and that includes the governments of Saudi and Iran) want to re-fashion the whole world in the image or radical islam.
And unlike the US, they don`t have any democratic and constitutional limits on what they can do. Remember, the jihad is ordained by god and forever.
Now what do you think you should worry about?


Next time I hear *anybody* beating the drums for war in Iran, we will all know they are (1) either extremely foolishly misled by the simplest of Al Quaida plans, or (2) they are in fact happy devout followers of Al Quaida.

Your conclusions are simply wrong. Think man! Let's see. A wants B to Attack C. You are saying then that if B does in fact think about attacking C, the only conclusions you can see are that either B is fooled by A, or is in fact a follower of A? Sorry for using As and Bs but I'm trying to make this simple.

Think about it for a while. There are in fact other possibilities... If you still can't understand that your conclusions are not necessarily true, then I will come up with some real world scenarios for you later.

Amazing. Ahaaaaaa Chibu Holmes has found a secret document on the internet!! So, I suppose if you send this precious document to the CIA and they ignore it, then you will conclude that the CIA are Al Quaida disciples. Did you go to school?

Catherine Zeta Jones lands a role in Nine


 








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Zeta-Jones will join Spaniards Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in the film.


Actress Catherine Zeta Jones has clinched a role in Chicago director Rob Marshall’s new musical Nine. The European actress was among many top stars in the running for the role in the big screen adaptation, and now Marshall has confirmed his cast for the project.

Zeta-Jones will join Spaniards Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in the film. Italian screen siren Sophia Loren will also appear in the film, which will be directed, produced and choreographed by Marshall.

Nine revolves around fictional filmmaker Guido Contini, who re-examines his past romances in the midst of a nervous breakdown. This is the second musical role for Zeta Jones who starred alongside Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere in Chicago, a role which won her an Oscar for best Supporting Actress.

Mischa Barton shocks guests


Actress Mischa Barton insists that her tabloid persona is so different from what she actually is. The actress is adamant that she is not part of the 'fake young Hollywood' set that the media makes her out to be, for in real life, she is "low key and chilled". In the pic, Mischa arrives for the Elle Style Awards at the Atlantis Gallery in London.



I'm so low-key and chilled. But the media has created a fake 'young Hollywood'. It couldn't be further from the truth. I feel so, so different from those girls," Contactmusic quoted her, as saying. In the pic, Mischa arrives at the 57th annual Director's Guild Awards in California.



The Brit star added that when she was new to LA she knew nothing about the industry, and that she had to make mistakes to learn a few things. In the pic, Barton poses at the annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.



Mischa further added, " I'm a private person, you won't find more than four or five true friends around me, ever," In the pic, Mischa arrives at the BAFTA awards in London.








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Mischa was wearing a sparkly dress and one of her breasts was blatantly showing,’ an onlooker said.


Mischa Barton shocked guests at a children’s charity event by accidentally flashing one of her breasts. The actress experienced her wardrobe malfunction at a charity event at New York’s Lincoln Centre, where guests included former US President George Bush Sr.

One onlooker said, “Mischa was wearing a sparkly dress and one of her breasts was blatantly showing! It was so not appropriate for the event.” A representative for the 21-year-old actress denies she bared her breast, saying, “It didn’t happen, because if it did, there would be a photo.”

Mischa — who is about to appear as a sexy schoolgirl in new movie St Trinian’s — recently revealed she is desperate to play a Bond girl in the next 007 outing, tentatively titled Bond 22.

Sean Penn






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According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Gus Van Sant directed movie will see Penn playing Milk while Damon plays his assassin Dan White, reports the BBC.


Sean Penn and Matt Damon have signed up to star in a biopic on gay 1970s San Francisco politician Harvey Milk.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Gus Van Sant directed movie will see Penn playing Milk while Damon plays his assassin Dan White, reports the BBC.

Milk, who was assassinated in 1978, was the first openly gay city supervisor of San Francisco.

Van Sant hops to start filming the pic as soon as a distribution deal is finalised. However, the uncertain date may put a hitch in Damon’s plan to star as White.

The director has been in line to helm the biopic that is based on based on the Randy Shilts 1982 biography, ‘The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk’ for over a decade now, though Bryan Singer also expressed an interest in turning the biography into a movie two years ago.

With an aim at this, Warner Bros art-house arm, Warner Independent Pictures, brought in Singer's ‘Usual Suspects’ writer Chris McQuarrie to work on a new draft of the script.

However as McQuarrie is currently working on the Tom Cruise drama Valkyrie, production on the Singer helmed pic is not likely to start before the director begins work on his Superman sequel.

Kevin Federline ‘loving the acting thing’






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Britney Spears’ ex hubby Kevin Federline is loving acting now that he’s got a chance to show off his skills in TV show ‘One Tree Hill’.



The failed rapper is guest-starring in two episodes of the hit CW show, and is thrilled with every moment he gets to spend in front of the camera.




The failed rapper is guest-starring in two episodes of the hit CW show, and is thrilled with every moment he gets to spend in front of the camera.

"I'm really into the acting thing. I'm loving it!" People quoted Federline, as telling Extra.

K-Fed is playing the part of a self-obsessed wannabe rock star and will be seen sporting a Mohawk when the episodes air.

"I kind of play this self-obsessed wannabe rock star. You know, a guy that really takes himself too seriously," he said.

Ferderline also admitted that he was ‘more focused’ on his acting career than cutting another album.

he said. "[I'm] definitely more focused on the acting thing,"

Susan's daughter follows Jolie






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Saved star Amurri, 22, recently visited Namibia to meet children attending schools funded by the United Nation's HERO initiative.

Susan Sarandon's actress daughter, Eva Amurri, has become the latest celebrity goodwill ambassador for the UN. She will oversee fund-raising for "vulnerable children" living in HIV and AIDS-affected communities in Africa.

Saved star Amurri, 22, recently visited Namibia to meet children attending schools funded by the United Nation's HERO initiative.

During her visit, the actor worked alongside local partners, community members and the United Nations Association's HERO Youth Ambassadors.

Amurri participated in an after school camp, where she taught arts, crafts and recreational activities. She also hosted a celebration with the San community, which is considered the world's oldest cultural group.

She said, “Being in Namibia and working with the kids has been such an enlightening experience and I'm looking forward to returning in the future

Christina’s pregnant now a days.


Singer/songwriter Christina Aguilera is reportedly a three months expectant mum. According to a Page Six source, the 'Stripped' singer has been announcing the arrival of her baby to friends. In the pic: attends the Clive Davis pre-Grammy party in Beverly Hills, California on February 10, 2007.



"She's been telling friends, she has to be three months now, because she's announcing it," New York Post quoted a source, as saying. Until now, the 26-year-old has been fuelling her pregnancy rumours by keeping mum about her expected motherhood. Seen here performing at the Clive Davis pre-Grammy party in Beverly Hills, California on February 10, 2007.



Aguilera is supposedly pregnant with hubby Jordan Bratman's child, and the reports came out when the couple visited New York's Maternal Fetal Medicine Association, which is known for its state-of-the-art ultrasounds and expertise in high-risk pregnancies. Seen here at the Cannes festival palace to attend the NRJ Music Awards, in Cannes.



The 'Dirty' singer also looked to be donning a small bump while shopping in Soho. The singer married marketing manager Bratman in November 2005 after dating for three years, and this will be the couple's first child. However, neither Aguilera nor Hennessy's reps have confirmed the reports. In the pic: performing during the Fashion Rocks show at Radio City Music Hall in New York on September 7, 2006.








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Christina Aguilera’s pregnancy has been confirmed by socialite Paris Hilton, who revealed her friend is expecting to a packed crowd at LAX nightclub in Las Vegas.



“Congratulations to the most beautiful pregnant woman in the world,” says Hilton.


The pair were partying on Saturday night, when Hilton grabbed a microphone and paid tribute to Aguilera, as she and husband Jordan Bratman looked on in shock.

Hilton said, “Congratulations to the most beautiful pregnant woman in the world. You’re gorgeous.” Aguilera, whose bump was visible through her dress, has not confirmed her pregnancy and appeared shocked with the unexpected announcement.

As the secret was revealed, Aguilera sank her head into Jordan’s shoulder. The couple soon recovered and started laughing while Adrien Grenier, Melanie Brown, Cris Angel and cast members from The Hills, erupted in applause.

Janet Jackson’s ‘Nipplegate’ reaches court of appeal



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An indecency case resulting from the fleeting exposure of Janet Jackson’s right nipple to 90 million Super Bowl viewers made it to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia yesterday, three years after the event.

In what many regard as one of the more absurd legal cases in recent US history, the court will decide whether “Nipplegate” was an intentional act of broadcasting indecency or merely, as Jackson contends, an accidental “wardrobe malfunction”.

CBS, the television network that broadcast the show, is challenging the $550,000 (£270,000) fine imposed by the broadcasting watchdog, claiming that “fleeting, isolated or unintended” images should not automatically be considered indecent.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) argues that “even relatively fleeting references may be found indecent where other factors contribute”. Eric Miller, the lawyer representing the FCC in court, said: “The idea of an exception for fleeting nudity flies in the face of common sense.”

In its appeal, CBS said that it “did not know about [Nipplegate] in advance; did not sanction it; and took steps to prevent anything at odds with broadcast standards”.

The glimpse of Jackson’s nipple — complete with sun-shaped nipple ring — came during the 2004 half-time Super Bowl show, when another performer, Justin Timberlake, pulled off part of Jackson’s bustier, prompting a reported 540,000 complaints to the FCC. A later Associated Press poll suggested that only 18 per cent of Americans supported the FCC’s subsequent investigation of the network.

Nipplegate has become something of a test of the federal Government’s ability to regulate broadcast indecency, especially after the FCC was found by a court in New York to have acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” by attempting to penalise the Fox Network over strong language used by Cher and Nicole Richie at the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards respectively. Fox is owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times.

“The FCC’s new zero-tolerance policy has already had a chilling effect on the broadcast industry, particularly television,” Robert Corn-Revere, a lawyer for CBS, said last night.

Although the case was rejected on technical grounds, the court says it was sceptical that the FCC could overcome free speech arguments to support its policy on “fleeting expletives”. The FCC is considering an appeal to the Supreme Court. A Senate committee is working on legislation to back up the FCC and has approved the Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act, which would require the FCC “to maintain a policy that a single word or image may be considered indecent”.