Washignton – Terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden is slated to launch a new video around the 9/11 anniversary according to an ad posted by al Qaeda’s media production company, As Sahab.
“Soon, God willing, video message by the Lion Sheik Osama bin laden, may God protect him,” the ad read.
IntelCenter, a terrosts watch group, said the new video will likely be released within 72 hours.
Sources say that in the ad picture, Bin Laden looks young and healthy.
“I think it works for [al Qaeda's] benefit that he looks young, he looks healthy,” said Rita Katz, director of SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entities) Intelligence Group. (more…)
Washington – The Iraqi police force is so corrupt it should be completely dismantled, according to a new independent report.
The report by Marine General James Jones, the former top US commander in Europe, is the latest in a series of criticisms on the war.
The Bush Administration has been training Iraq forces so that they can some day control the country alone, without any U.S. military involvement.
The 20 member commission, led by Jones, found that Iraqi military forces were improving, “but not at a rate sufficient to meet their essential security responsibilities.”
The report also harshly criticized the Iraq police force and the interior ministry under which it operates, accusing them of being “a ministry in name only”.
“The national police have proven operationally ineffective,” the report said.
“Sectarianism in its units undermines its ability to provide security; the force is not viable in its current form.
“The national police should be disbanded and reorganised.”
According to BBC, the Interior minister acknowledges the problems and says they are being addressed and the does not agree with the new report.
“We admit there were some problems before due to sectarian loyalties but this involved just a few people,” ministry spokesman Brig-Gen Abdul-Kareem Khalaf told Reuters.
“It was not widespread… it does not reach the level of disbanding the police.”
The Jones report did find that the Iraqi military has improved significantly and will likely be able to handle the countries security over time.
However, the Iraqi military still heavily relies on the U.S. to maintain order.
“The commission assesses that in the next 12 to 18 months there will be continued improvement in their readiness and capability, but not the capability to operate independently,” the report said.
“With regard to external dangers, the evidence indicates that the Iraqi Security Forces will not be able to secure Iraqi borders against conventional military threats in the near term.”
The success of Iraq forces is seen as a major step toward a secure Iraq.
Washington – A new report finds that the suicide rate among preteen and teengage girls has increased significantly.
The report from the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC), found that the suicide rate has increased to the highest point in 15 years among young people.
The suicide rate for girls ages 10-14 rose 76 percent from 2003 to 2004, the report said. There were 56 reported suicides of girls in that age group in 2003 and 94 in 2004.
In 2004, suicide was the third leading cause of death for young people accounting for 4,599 deaths, CNN reported.
“We don’t yet know if this is a short-lived increase or if it’s the beginning of a trend,” said Dr. Ileana Arias, director of CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. “Either way, it’s a harsh reminder that suicide and suicide attempts are affecting too many youth and young adults.”
“This is the biggest annual increase that we’ve seen in 15 years,” added Dr. Arias.
The study also found that the preferred method of suicide changed. In 1990, guns accounted for over half of all suicides among young females. In 2004, hanging and suffocation became the most common methods.
The report did not say what caused the sudden increase, but the rise in suicides does coincide with fewer young people taking antidepressants after the FDA issued a warning that the use of antidepressant drugs could increase the chances of suicidal thoughts or actions in children and teenagers. The warnings were added in a “black box” on the medications in October, 2004.
The CDC is asking for more suicide-prevention programs for girls ages 10-19 and boys 15-19
Tal al-Abiad – Syria has fired on Israeli war planes which flew into Syrian airspace early Thursday morning, according to media reports.
The official Syrian news agency, SANA is reporting that the Israeli planes dropped ammunitions over the desert areas of Syria before being shot at.
“Enemy Israeli planes penetrated Syrian airspace from the Mediterranean Sea heading towards the northeast, breaking the sound barrier,” a Syrian army spokesman told the official SANA news agency.
“Our air defences repulsed them and forced them to leave…after the Israeli planes dropped munitions, without causing human or material loss,” he said, without giving further information on what exactly was dropped.
The agency says that the shots were fired without any loss of human life or property loss.
Reuters is reporting that an unarmed Israeli army source says that no air attack took place. (more…)
SUSANVILLE – The pall of smoke that drifted over the Bay Area Wednesday was from a distant fire burning in the Plumas National Forest northeast of Quincy.
The Moonlight fire has tripled in size since it began on Monday, growing to 15,000 acres and burning just southeast of Lake Almanor, about 6 miles from Greenville, off Highway 89. It is five percent contained.
According to Cal Fire, the fire was moving in a northeasterly direction along the south ridgeline bordering the Plumas and Lassen National Forests.
No injuries had been reported, and no communities were believed to be threatened.
Smoke drifting into the Bay Area triggered an increase of 911 calls from people who smelled smoke, fire district spokeswoman Emily Hopkins said.
The current wind pattern that brought the smoky conditions to Northern California is expected to continue through Thursday.
Hollywood (EON) – It was a tense day in the Phil Spector murder trial as the prosecution attacked the defense in their closing arguments.
On Wednesday the dead Lana Clarkson was shown on a video screen in the court. She was shown dancing, smiling, and laughing away.
Clarkson made the video which was shown as evidence by the defense. They showed the beautiful side of the actress.
Prosecutor Alan Jackson stated “This is Lana Clarkson.”
Jackson stated that the actress had career plans and wanted to live on. This goes against the defense claim that she shot herself. Jackson showed five women on the TV as witnesses. They spoke of past incidents of terror. One stated that she saw Spector come out of his mansion with a gun stating “I think I killed somebody.”
The 67-year-old music producer Phil Spector has been on trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson. The closing arguments were a direct attack at the defense and the arguments made by them. We will have to see how this concludes in the coming days.
Hollywood (EON) – The View managed to get its second-best premiere rating ever with 3.4 million viewers on Tuesday for the debut of Whoopi Goldberg.
The only problem though for the 10-year-old show is that the best season premiere rating ever was last year when Rosie O’Donnell made her debut. She has since left the show leaving Whoopi Goldberg to fill in her position.
The premiere with O’Donnell beat out the premiere with Whoopi as Rosie managed to pull in a very nice 3.6 million viewers compared to 3.4 million for Whoopi Goldberg.
Rosie O’Donnell left the view back in May after one full season.
Another co-host to fill in the spot of Star Jones is also expected to be named on Monday. Actress Sherri Shepherd it seems is going to be filling in thsi role as she is expected to be announced as a new cast member on The View by Barbara Walters next week.
Hollywood (EON) – Spiderman is married apparently as Tobey Maguire secretly tied the knot to his fiancee Jennifer Meyer.
Meyer is a jewelery designer and the mother of their nine-month old daughter Ruby.
The wedding was held in a private location in Hawaii and was made public just today.
They got married on Monday according to reports with the location being Maui island on Hawaii. The two have been dating for four years now and announced that they were engaged back in 2006 over the summer.
They announced the engagement right around the time that Jennifer Meyer became pregnant.
The 29-year-old Meyer is the daughter of the head of Universal Studios Ron Meyer.
There is no news on who attended the wedding or how many people were there. More news is sure to come out though in the coming days. Spiderman always manages to keep things quiet.
Boston (EON) – Brad Pitt has been very open recently as he has began to talk about getting older, turning 40, and being a dad to his children.
Details magazine featured the interview with Brad Pitt in their October issue which had the information which follows.
He talked about his kids stating that “Well, I had one kids, then two kids, then three kids. Two and a half years or so. Listen, I’ve always embraced extremes, so it doesn’t feel odd to me. There’s a couple week so finding your balance, and then its in stone.”
He also talked about getting older stating that “I liked it, man. Maybe I had a crisis earlier or something. Maybe I had it in my thirties. You know, it’s…One thing suchs, your face kind of goes. Your body’s not quite working the same. But you earned it. You earned that, things falling apart.”
He stated in regards to his family that “You just look at them and go, my daughter’s from Ethiopia, two sons from Asia, a daughter who’s born in Namibia-and they are brother and sister, They have the same dynamics I had growing up, and I…It pleases me so much. I get so warm. I don’t even see in that, anymore, what their lives could have been. I have to intellectually think about that. They are a bond, they are a family. And I want to see those bonds and that family grow. And that right there, sitting in our kitchen, is how I want to see the world. It’s how I want the world to be.â€
It was a very interesting interview and is highly recommended that you pick up the full interview in Details magazine.
Hollywood (EON) – It seems that gamers who are getting ready to pick up Rock Band on the PS3, Xbox 360, or PS2 better enjoy the Grateful Dead.
It has been confirmed that there will be 18 Grateful Dead songs in Rock Band which will release this November and be the ultimate virtual band experience with drums, guitar, bass, and microphone making a full band.
The Grateful Dead songs will include, Truckin, Uncle John’s Band, Touch of Grey, Sugar Magnolia, and Casey Jones, as well as others.
All of the songs are going to be original master recordings.
MTV’s Paul DeGooyer stated that “With an enormous legion of fans all over the world, “Rock Band” will give players a chance to interact with the music of these beloved rock pioneers and experience what Grateful Dead did best — jam from the depths of their souls.”
MTV Games and Harmonix who created Guitar Hero have been working on this game day and night to get it ready for release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this November 20th. A $200 package will ship with the game, guitar, drums, and microphone. Of you can purchase the game separately for $60.