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Al-Qaeda says another bin Laden tape to be released According to al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden will release yet another video which is said to contain a will and testament from one of the September 11, 2001 hijackers, Abu Musab Waleed al-Shehri. New doubt over Shakespeare's authorship A debate has been launched by almost 300 people of the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition, who seek further research into William Shakespeare and the many masterpieces attributed to him.

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Cassini space probe to flyby Saturn's moon Iapetus The Cassini space probe will make a close flyby of Saturn's third largest moon Iapetus. For reasons that are not well-understood, one side of Iapetus is much darker than the other side.

Wikipedia Current Events
The Award winning business woman Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, died suddenly of a major brain haemorrhage. The Supreme Court of Indonesia orders TIME magazine to pay $ 106 million in damages to former President of Indonesia Suharto. The magazine had reported in 1999 that the former President and his family had accumulated $73 billion dollars fraudulently during his time in office. The case had previously been rejected by two lower courts. Sabotage is suspected as a series of six explosions tear apart Pemex natural gas pipelines in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Former Republic of the Congo rebel leader Pastor Ntumi returns to Brazzaville to take up a post as a junior minister. Peter Beattie resigns as the Premier of Queensland effective from Thursday with Anna Bligh tipped to replace him in the position. CNN reports that former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif has arrived in Pakistan after seven years in exile. Commandos enter the aircraft and surround Sharif who refuses to surrender his passport. The standoff ends with Sharif leaving the plane after a two hour standoff and him being taken into custody. Sharif is put on a special plane and deported to Jeddah. He is brought back to the airport via helicopter, while heading towards the Mianwali Jail in Punjab province. General David Petraeus will give evidence to the United States Congress about the effectiveness of the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. Diego Leon Montoya Sanchez, leader of Colombian Norte del Valle cartel and one of FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, is captured by Colombian authorities.

Elections Canada stands by decision, Muslims not required to remove veils at polls
The Canadian government is in heated debate regarding a law which allows Muslims to wear veils on election days. It has been decided, amid concerns from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, that the law will not change.

PM Harper says a ruling which Elections Canada made in July to allow veils was wrong. Over the past week politicians from all three federal party's are agreeing with Harper's stance on the issue.

"I have to say that it concerns me greatly, because the role of Elections Canada is not to make its own laws. It's to put into place the laws that Parliament has passed, so I hope they will reconsider this decision," Harper said in Australia after the APEC sumit officially ended. "But in the meantime, if that doesn't happen, Parliament will have to consider what actions it's going to take to make sure its intentions are put into place...We just adopted this past sitting in the spring, Bill C-31, a law designed to have the visual identification of voters. It's the purpose of the law … and I think this decision goes in an entirely different direction."

By disallowing the wearing of veils Elections Canada can determine if a voter is voting twice on the same day. But about eighty-thousand Canadians voted by mail during the 2006 general election, which makes the problem even more complexed.

"It's primarily because no (Muslim) groups came forward requesting special treatment," said NDP leader Jack Layton.

"We would ask Elections Canada to reconsider its decision, and to require veiled women to unveil their faces to confirm their identities," Liberal leader Stephane Dion said in a statement on September 7.

The Bloc Québécois proposed a bill asking people with veils to take them off on federal elections. They wrote a letter to Elections Quebec asking that Muslim voters be required to unveil in three upcoming by-elections next Monday. The decision ended allowing Muslims to wear their veils. "In the case of a niqab or burka during the federal byelection that'll take place Sept. 17, the [chief electoral officer] has made the identification of electors impossible," said lawmaker Michel Guimond.

"We designed the bill to improve the possibility of identification of the voters...It's not a question of numbers. When you go to a polling station, you must show your face," Guimond said at a press conference in Ottawa earlier on Monday, before the final decision was made.

If Muslims don't want to unveil and if they don't have ID with them they can just make an oath verifying their identity and provide an address before voting, says Marc Mayrand, Chief Electoral Officer with Elections Canada. Elections Canada volunteers at the voting stations can also ask for the unveiling of a voter. Or another person, who lives in the same riding, can verify their identity. If the voter only brings one piece of information then they may be asked to unveil (but are not required), although a picture (or unveiling) is not required if two ID's are presented. However, voters are always asked to use the election cards that were mailed to them. It is the safest and most effective way to vote.

"The prime minister has indicated that he feels I may have misinterpreted the act," Mayrand said. "I can only presume it's because it's been raised so actively in the media . . . probably people did not pay enough attention (before)."

"If it's not clear to the chief electoral officer, then as of this afternoon we'll make it clear," said Minister of Transport, Lawrence Cannon fought back.

But Sarah Elgazzar, a spokeswoman for the Canada Council on American-Islamic Relations, says that Muslims aren't afraid of unveiling: "If anybody had actually bothered to ask the women that are actually concerned, and we are talking about a very small minority of women, they would have told them that they always take it off to identify their faces," she said. "And they do it at the bank, they do it at border crossings, they do it at the airport."

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states:

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

– Section One of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association.

– Section Two of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, under the heading of "Fundamental Freedoms".

Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of the members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein.

– Section Three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Elections Quebec, in charge of voting in the province of Quebec, during the provincial elections in March, were forced by all three provincial party leaders to disallow the wearing of veils. There were many protests among the Muslim community and a few organisations.

Currently in Canada if a person does not have a voting card on election day they need, at least, two pieces of ID, and one must have their address, neither is required to have a photo. Just last year an American residing at a Toronto university voted at a polling station with ID and a bill showing his name and address. Elections Canada volunteers approved it, without knowing. It was later found out that he spoiled his ballot, meaning he drew over the circle.

"I invite Parliament to review, and if it wishes to do so, amend the provisions governing the conduct of the vote in light of the many comments voiced by politicians and the public," Mayrand said.

Layton and Dion both say that they accept the decision made my Mayrand. Guimond and the Bloc Québécois continue to disagree with the decision, saying they will "strike back" with another bill.

Jurors begin deliberation in the Phil Spector murder trial
The Jury in the Phil Spector murder trial have begun deliberation. Phil Spector is charged with murdering actress Lana Clarkson. Spector, 67, was charged with second-degree murder. If convinced he could receive 15 years to life in prison.

Lana Clarkson was found dead in foyer of Spector's Los Angeles area house on February 3, 2003 from a gunshot wound to the head. Prosecutors say the gun could have gone off accidentally after Spector shoved the gun into Clarkson's mouth as she tried to leave the mansion. Spector's defense claimed Clarkson was holding the gun herself when it fired and was committed suicide.

General Petraeus: 30,000 troops may be able to leave Iraq by next summer
Today on Capitol Hill, U.S. Army General David Petraeus presented a long awaited testimony. The number one U.S. commander in Iraq said 30,000 United States troops may be able to leave Iraq by the summer of 2008. The top U.S. diplomat in Iraq, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, also joined General Petraeus in the presentation to Congress.

General Petraeus firstly said that the President's troop escalation in January met its objectives "in large measure."

Petraeus said, "I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level ... by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains we have fought so hard to achieve."

However, Petraeus would not speak about troop withdrawals past the summer of 2008 until March, saying, "Our experience in Iraq has repeatedly shown that projecting too far into the future is not just difficult, it can be misleading and even hazardous."

The General recommends the government withdraw a Marine expeditionary team by the end of September 2007, and a brigade combat unit in December of 2007. Petraeus also said, "reduction of eight further brigade teams and the battalion combats in 2008 until we reach the pre-surge levels of 15 brigade combat teams by mid-July 2008."

Petraeus presented the congress with a number of charts and graphs showing a decline in violence overall in Iraq. "The level of security incidents has declined in eight of the past 12 weeks, with the level of incidents in the past two weeks the lowest since June of 2006," Petraeus testified.

Ambassador Crocker said that while he "cannot guarantee success" in Iraq, withdrawing completely now would result in failure.

President Bush reportedly will use Petraeus and Crocker's recommendations as a base for his report to Congress.

A senior administration official said it is "very likely" that President will speak in a prime-time address this week.

Blasts in Mexico rips gas and oil pipelines
Oil and gas pipelines in Mexico were attacked in six different places Monday, forcing the evacuation of approximately 12,000 residents. The six blasts were to reported to have happened at about 2:00 a.m on Monday morning.

The company who owns the piplines, Petroleos Mexicanos, shut down all lines after the attack.

No deaths as a result of the explosions were reported, however; the blasts were blamed for the death of two 70 year old women who died from heart attacks.

Mexican officials have called the blasts "premeditated" and at least one rebel group (most notably EPR) has claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Finland and Serbia draw 0-0 in Euro 2008 qualification match
Finland and Serbia have drawn 0-0 in a Euro 2008 qualification match.

Serbia was dominant in the first half, but both Dejan Stankovic and Danko Lazovic failed to score despite being presented with clear opportunities. A free kick against Finland, taken by Bosko Jankovic, was also saved from becoming a goal by Finnish goalkeeper Jussi Jasskelainen.

Finland also failed to convert opportunities into goals, with Jonatan Johansson's attempt blocked by Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic. Serbia also failed at one more opportunity in the second half.

Finland, second in Group A, have 18 points, but Serbia have only 15. "Not everything is lost," said Serbia striker Nikola Zigic. "Now we play Portugal and that is 'to be or not to be' match for us."

Altercation erupts between rock musicians at MTV Music Video Awards
Rock musicians Kid Rock and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee were involved in a minor altercation at the 2007 MTV Music Video Awards (VMA), held on Sunday night in Las Vegas.

Both Lee and Rock were former husbands of Pamela Anderson, who were present at the VMAs and delivered her lines from the top of a table. Eye witnesses claim the fight started when Kid Rock, who was sitting next to rapper Diddy, walked up to Lee and slapped him. Tommy Lee stood up to fight back and Rock punched him in the face. Lee was dragged off by security guards before he was able to fight back.

Rap Producer Rich Nice said Lee had been antagonizing Rock before the altercation. The incident inspired many jokes from hip hop and rap artist, such as MTV VJ Sway who was quoted saying "They say it's only rappers. I told you rockers fight too." Police cite Rock for misdemeanor battery.

Over 30 killed in Mexico dynamite truck explosion
More than 30 people have been killed and 140 people injured when a truck carrying dynamite exploded in Mexico shortly after being involved in a road traffic accident near Sacramento.

The lorry collided with another vehicle on a busy Northern Mexico highway, and the wreckage quickly drew a large crowd of onlookers. Shortly after the spectators arrived, the vehicles burst into flames, causing the dynamite to explode, engulfing nearby cars.

The explosives had orriginally been intended for delivery in Coquimatlan, Colima, for use in coal mining. The truck had just left an Orica explosives facility where the dynamite had been manufactured.

The explosion left a crater 10 feet by 40 feet, and was powerful enough to blast out the windows of a passenger bus a quarter of a mile away. There are conflicting reports of death and injury counts, with the Associated Press giving the toll as 34 dead and 150 injured, and BBC News Online as 37 dead and 'dozens' injured.

Most of those injured were onlookers and emergency response personel. The scene was attended by police, the military and other emergency services workers.

The fate of the driver is unclear, but some unconfirmed early reports say he fled the scene of the accident. The death toll is believed to include three local reporters who were covering the crash.

Stars "Schmooze" at Toronto International Film Festival party
The Toronto International Film Festival rages on in Canada, as various companies and celebrities host parties. One of the largest so far was eTalk Star! Schmooze hosted at the former CHUM-City Building in the Queen West neighbourhood of Toronto.

Wikinews sent freelance photographer Robin Wong to this star-studded event, which included the casts of many of the movies being played at the festival.

The second day of the festival didn't stop there.

Toronto's Design Exchange museum and education centre hosted a party for the movie "Michael Clayton", for which George Clooney was scheduled. Earlier in the day, Sienna and Savannah Miller launched their new twenty8twelve fashion label at the Holt Renfrew department store, a classy, upscale Canadian chain.

Tonight actress/singer Hilary Duff is scheduled to host a party at the club This is London. CTV will host an afterparty for Matt Damon's documentary Running the Sahara, and some of his Oceans co-stars are expected, including Clooney. Wyclef Jean and the African runners featured in the film are also on the guest list.

A One x One Benefit at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts will see Matt Damon, Richard Gere, and Shakira. Gere scrambled up to Toronto today after appearing live on Good Morning America and Live with Regis and Kelly.

A 2002 study by the Toronto International Film Festival Group found that the event brings CDN$67 million to the Toronto economy. With stars dropping CDN$5000 a night on a room at the Four Seasons Toronto, or $10K on a dinner at Bistro 990, the numbers quickly begin to explain themselves. Distributors spend $30 million on purchasing films for release at the fest, one of the top numbers worldwide.

Al-Qaeda says another bin Laden tape to be released
According to al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden will release yet another video which is said to contain a will and testament from one of the September 11, 2001 hijackers, Abu Musab Waleed al-Shehri.

The second tape was reportedly recorded from the same spot as the video that was released last week.

"Coming soon, God willing, from the testaments of the martyrs of the New York and Washington attacks: The testament of the martyr Abu Musab Waleed al-Shehri, presented by Sheik Osama bin Laden, God preserve him," said a banner that was posted by As-Sahab on an extremist website which is frequented by al-Qaeda and other extremists.

According to the United States based terrorist monitoring group, IntelCenter, the video will be released within the next 24 hours, but it is not known if bin Laden will actually appear in the video, or if an audio recording of his voice will just be present. Some reports suggest that the video will feature new images of bin Laden.

Bin Laden appeared for the first time in a video since 2004 when he released a video on September 7, 2007.

Cassini space probe to flyby Saturn's moon Iapetus
The Cassini space probe will make a close flyby of Saturn's third largest moon Iapetus. For reasons that are not well-understood, one side of Iapetus is much darker than the other side. Explanations for the dark side include meteorite deposition as well as possible debris from other moons of Saturn.

Also, the Cassini probe had previously discovered an equatorial ridge on Iapetus during a flyby in 2004 which compounds Iapetus' already non-spherical shape. The origin of the ridge is also not well understood and scientists have proposed a variety of explanations for its presence. This second flyby will be approximately 1,600 km from the surface and will be about 100 times closer than the previous flyby. Scientists hope that the detailed observation using radar and photography will provide insight into Iapetus's odd shape and coloring.

Iapetus was first discovered by Giovanni Cassini, for whom the probe is named, in 1671. He was also responsible for discovering that one side of Iapetus was substantially darker than the other.

This flyby will likely be the last close flyby of one of Saturn's moons by the Cassini probe.

Winners of 2007 Taiwan Sports Elite Awards named in Kaohsiung
With main topic of "Sports Elites Shining in Port City - Kaohsiung", winners of 2007 Taiwan Sports Elite Awards, organizing by Republic of China Sports Federation (ROCSF) and supervised by Sports Affairs Council, Executive Yuan of R.O.C., Taiwan (abbr. as SAC Taiwan), were announced and awarded at September 9 (Sports Day) in Kaohsiung Municipal Social Education Center.

Organizers and arena host "Kaohsiung Municipal Social Education Center" held a warming up event before main award ceremony starts in the evening, such as "One Million Star" entertainer Zap An and Stanley Hsu, and Taiwanese music band "Cherry Boom" showed at warming up event.

After the warming up event, organizers invited all of nominees and VIPs coming in the Auditorium for the Award Ceremony. Firstly, organizers invited the main host Lieh Yang soloed an English song "My Way" to show the expression for reaching a better achievement. After the solo, Frank Hsieh (former Premier of the Republic of China) awarded "Lifetime Achievement Award" for Chi-en Tseng with Tseng's contribution of Basic and Professional Baseball in Taiwan.

With the 10 years anniversary of SAC Taiwan, organizer invited former Commissioners of SAC Taiwan (Nancy Chao, Yi-hsiung Hs, Te-fu Lin, and Chuan-shou Chen) awarded awards for winners of Best Sportsmanship, Public Sports Promotion, Best Coach, Best Sports Team groups.

In the winners of 2007 Taiwan Sports Elite Awards, former Chinese Taipei Baseball National Team Coach Chih-hsien Yeh won Best Coach and Best Sports Team awards because of winning Gold Medal at 2006 Doha Asian Games, as Mr. Yeh knew that Tseng won "Lifetime Achievement Award" earlier and won two awards afterward, he prepared and gave a special signed baseball to Tseng to thank his contribution of Baseball in Taiwan.

After the Award Ceremony, the organizer held a closing event "Dreams come true as reaching far at 2008 Olympics" to cheer every sportsperson with chasing a better goal in the future.

6.8 earthquake strikes off coast of Colombia
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) a magnitude 6.8 struck just of the coast of Colombia at 01:49 (UTC) with a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). The epicenter was located 150 k.m. (95 miles) north, northeast of Tumaco, Colombia.

There are reports of power outages in some cities, but there are no reports of damage to buildings, deaths or injuries. The USGS says that some "moderate" damage may exist near the coastline of southwest Columbia.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has not issued a tsunami warning saying there is "no destructive widespread tsunami threat based on earthquake historical data," but that "small waves could be generated locally."

Vanessa Hudgens publicist makes apology about nude photo incident
Controversy erupted on September 6th, 2007 when a nude photo of High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens appeared on the internet. Hudgen apologised and said she was "embarrassed over the situation" and that she regretted "taking those photos".

Her publicist released a statement saying the photos were taken in private and it was "unfortunate" the pictures were leaked onto the internet.

Hudgen's role in High School Musical 3 has not changed because of the photos.

Today in History
1297 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Scots defeated English troops at the Battle of Stirling Bridge on the River Forth near Stirling.

1709 – An allied British-Dutch-Austrian force defeated the French at the Battle of Malplaquet, one of the bloodiest battles of the War of the Spanish Succession.

1857 – At Mountain Meadows, Utah Territory, USA, a local brigade of the Mormon militia led a massacre of about 120 California-bound pioneers from Arkansas.

1973 – A coup d'état in Chile led by General Augusto Pinochet overthrew the government of President Salvador Allende and established an anti-communist military dictatorship.

2001 – September 11 attacks: Terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners, intentionally crashing two of them into the World Trade Center in New York City and one plane into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C.; the fourth aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania. In total, almost 3,000 people were killed.

September 11 is New Year's Day in the Coptic and the Ethiopian calendars, National Day of Catalonia, Teacher's Day in parts of Latin America.

Quote of the Day

semiotics; n

The study of signs and symbols, especially as means of language or communication.

Word of the Day

Our best destiny, as planetary cohabitants, is the development of what has been called "species consciousness" — something over and above nationalisms, blocs, religions, ethnicities ... I have been trying to apply such a consciousness, and such a sensibility. Thinking of the victims, the perpetrators, and the near future, I felt species grief, then species shame, then species fear. ~ Martin Amis on the terrorist attacks of 11th September 2001

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