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Successful launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully launched this morning after 4 years of inactivity. Liftoff, from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center occurred at 15:14:55 GMT, with the spacecraft reaching orbit about 8 1/2 minutes later. Michael Schumacher wins Italian Grand Prix, announces plans to retire Michael Schumacher won the FIA Formula-1 Italian Grand Prix on the on the Autodromo Nazionale Monza racing track and announced that he will retire from racing.

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Experts: obesity is a bigger threat than AIDS or bird flu According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 billion people in the world today are overweight, and 300 million of those are obese. Obesity and overweightness cause many health problems, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer

Wikipedia Current Events
George W. Bush states that the war against terrorism is "the calling of our generation" and urged Americans to put aside differences and fight to victory. Tropical Storm Gordon forms in the open Atlantic Ocean with 45 mph winds and is expected to head towards Bermuda. U.S. & New York leaders, along with families and friends of those who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks, remember the 5th anniversary of the attacks with speeches and moments of silence. On the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, a new video broadcast shows Al-Qaeda deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, issuing a warning about possible future attacks in Israel and the Persian Gulf.

Al Qaeda releases 9/11 message
Al Queda released a 9/11 message to the American public today, and with it comes a threat for the American people. It calls on fellow Muslims to step up their resistance to the American people.

"Your leaders are hiding from you the true extent of the disaster," the fugitive deputy to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden says in the video, which appeared on Islamist Web sites late Sunday. "And the days are pregnant and giving birth to new events, with Allah's permission and guidance."

It appeared just moments before the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The tape appears to be recorded recently, with many references to the Israel and Lebanon conflict, including the recent bombardment of Lebanon by Israel.

Al-Zawahiri says that attacks on the West should be considered fair, because "...the reality of international politics is the humiliation and repression of the Muslim at the hands of the idol-kings who dominate this world."

The video, which is an hour and 16 minutes long, and subtitled in English, presents a threat to Britain, who currently controls NATO troops in Afghanistan, that "Dr. Brydon won't be returning this time," which is a reference to the sole survivor of a British army massacred in 1842.

"We tell you not to concern yourselves with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, these are doomed," he said. "You should worry about your presence in the Gulf and the second place they should worry about, is in Israel," Al-Zawahiri said.

CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said Sunday that the al Qaeda group was certain to make some sort of statement on Monday's anniversary.

"It would be very, very weird, in my view, if we didn't hear from either or both of them in the next few days, because this is something they want to remind Americans and their followers about -- the dreadful attacks on 9/11," Bergen said.

Wrong way yacht race postponed
Due to a failure to secure appropriate sponsorship, the Global Challenge Round the World Yacht Race will not be being held this year.

The unusual race features ordinary people competing as opposed to major yachting sportspeople. For a final twist, the race is the "wrong way", namely against the prevailing winds. This leads the UK's newspaper, The Guardian to describe it as "the world's toughest yacht race".

King of Tonga dies
According to an official news release on the Tongan Royal Palace website, His Majesty King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV passed away peacefully at 11.34pm local time (2334 UTC), on Sunday, 10th September at Mercy Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand aged 88.

King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV was the ruler of Tonga following the death of his mother, Queen Sālote Tupou III, in 1965. His wife was Queen Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe, born in 1926. The couple had four children.

"The sun has set in the Kingdom of Tonga," said an official government statement from the royal palace.

His death ends 41 years of his reign.

The capital, Nukua'alofa, was draped in black and purple, the official colours of mourning.

His state funeral is expected to be held on September 19. An official month of mourning was declared.

His body will be flown home on Wednesday, September 13.

The Kingdom of Tonga was stricken into mourning earlier this year, when in July, Prince Tu'ipelehake and his wife Princess Kaimana, along with their driver Vinisia Hefa, were killed when their vehicle was stuck by a speeding car on a San Francisco, California, USA highway.

King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV was once known as being the World's heaviest monarch (his weight exceeded 200 kg then), as well as later being the victim of a number of money-making schemes.

Crown Prince Taufa'ahau Tupou V, the King's eldest son, was sworn in on Monday, September 11 as the next king but his formal coronation is likely to be next year . He and his sister, Princess Pilolevu have represented the monarch during his lengthy absences due to failing health.

German police seize Tor anonymity servers
Seven ISPs and individuals were raided and six confirmed computers seized by German police -- but not purely for operating as anonymity proxy servers using the Tor network protocol.

The premise of the seizures was that the servers showed up in a server log of a child pornography site. According to German civil liberties advocates in Germany who talked to the police, there are dozens if not hundreds of computers, in addition to the Tor nodes, that were also seized.

Tor executive director, Shava Nerad, expects all the computers to be returned to the server operators, none of whom have been charged with any crime, after the servers have been cleared from any involvement in the sting. However, Nerad also cautioned, "I don't believe German police have a deep understanding of how an anonymizing system works and none of these routers have logs." According to one of the Tor operators whose server was confiscated, no criminal charge has yet been filed against him.

All efforts are being made by the Tor community to preserve the privacy and civil liberties of all involved, but according to Nerad the situation is not so dire as has been reported elsewhere in the blogosphere. Civil rights advocates and cypherpunks claim that child pornography has become a carte blanche rationale for police suppression of disruptive technologies protecting privacy.

Online privacy rights in the EU are more strict than in the US. PRIME, the EU's Privacy and Identity Management for Europe project, says: "The concept of a user-controlled identity management system implements the EU Directives 95/46/EC and 2002/58/EC, whose purpose is to safeguard individuals’ fundamental rights and freedom, including the right to privacy. The technology will enable PRIME platforms to comply with European legislation. The platform applies the EU Directive’s data protection principles. It supports and facilitates anonymity and pseudonymity to minimise the processing of personal information, whenever possible."

Wikinews Shorts: September 11, 2006
Queensland: Beattie's labor government returned to power

The Queensland state election has been won by the Peter Beattie led labor government. After a colourful campaign featuring disunity between the liberal-national coalition and a forecasted protest vote that failed to eventuate against labor, Beattie maintained his considerable margin in the 89 seat legislative assembly winning a predicted 60 seats with approximately 70% of votes counted. The nationals and liberals are predicted to pick up 16 and nine seats respectively.

Paes and Damm win men’s doubles title

Leander Paes and Martin Damm crowned their first year as a pair on Saturday as they beat Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 to win the men's doubles title at the 2006 U.S. Open tennis tournament.

Paes and Damm had lost the first set and their serve broken in the second set managed to win their first title of the year.

Paes said communication had been the key to his success with Damm. "I don't think there are enough words to express how much fun and how much learning I've actually had playing with Martin, because we're actually opposites on the court," Paes said. "Martin is strong and plays more solid. I'm more flashy and a bit more quick. We really complement each other. "It's been a fantastic year playing with him. I've really enjoyed it. I'd like to thank him for a wonderful year."

Malegaon blasts: ATS arrives to probe blasts

The situation in Malegaon is calm, two days after multiple blasts killed 38 people and left 200 others injured. The police are investigating cautiously and are yet to find definite clues or detain suspects. A special ten-member team of Mahrasthra’s Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) is in Malegaon to probe blasts. National Security Guards (NSG) is inspecting the site as well. Investigators admit that cracking the Malegaon mystery will be tough one and so for there have been no arrests or detentions.

Aerobatics champ dies in tragedy at Aero GP season opener

A mid-air collision has taken the life of Swedish aerobatics champion Gabon Varga. Shortly after the in-flight tangle, the two planes crashed into the sea as co-competitor Eddie Goggins of Ireland parachuted into the sea where Maltese Armed Forces rescued him.

The incident comes only days after Aero GP announced a sponsorship deal with Betfair, giving the Malta Aero GP the official title, Aero GP Betfair Grand Prix of Malta.

The competition in the Aero GP involves a variety of skill tests for the pilots, testing their racing, dogfighting and target-bombing abilities.

Strong earthquake in Gulf of Mexico causes rare tremor in Florida

An earthquake struck in the Gulf of Mexico with a magnitude of 6.0, a strength very rare for that region of the world, at 10:56am EDT (14:56 UTC) on September 10. Although no damage has been reported, it has been reported that tremors were felt in Orlando and Ocala in the state of Florida.

According to the U.S. Geographical Survey, the quake's epicenter was 260 miles (418 km) WSW (240°) of Clearwater, Florida, and 329 miles (529 km) southeast (145°) of New Orleans, Louisiana, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km).

USGS officials stated that the quake was not strong enough to trigger a tsunami. Tremor intensities as high as Force IV on the Modified Mercalli scale were felt throughout Florida.

Today in History
1683 - Great Turkish war: Polish troops led by Jan III Sobieski joined forces with a Habsburg army to defeat the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna.

1933 - Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.

1942 - The Laconia incident: A U-boat sank RMS Laconia with a torpedo off the coast of West Africa and attempted to rescue the passengers, which included some 80 civilians, 160 Polish and 268 British soldiers and about 1800 Italian POWs.

1977 - South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko was killed in police custody.

1992 - Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Peruvian Maoist guerrilla organization Shining Path, was captured in Lima.

September 12 is National Day in Cape Verde

Quote of the Day

"When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either.
~ Jesse Owens

Word of the Day

pontificate; v

To to speak at length or be unnecessarily wordy, often in a patronizing or pompous manner.

To express one's position as if it is absolutely right.

To preside, as at a religious ceremony.

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