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Global poll shows most people want US out of Iraq
Most people across the world think American troops should withdraw from Iraq within a year, according to a BBC poll published today. The BBC World Service survey, released just before Congress receives a landmark report on George Bush's "surge", underlined the unpopularity of the president's Iraq policy. In the poll, 39% of people in 22 countries said troops should leave now, and 28% backed a gradual withdrawal. Only 23% wanted them to stay until Iraq is safe. But the poll should provide some comfort to Mr Bush. While one in four Americans supported an immediate withdrawal, 32% wanted Iraq's security issues resolved before bringing the troops home.

Bin Laden 'to issue 9/11 video'
Osama Bin Laden is said to be preparing to release a video message to the American people to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The announcement was made on an Islamist website, where al-Qaeda's media arm frequently posts messages. US homeland security officials could not confirm the existence of a tape, and said there was 'no credible information of an imminent threat'. Al-Qaeda has put out similar statements in the past but no video has followed. Bin Laden has not been seen in a video since October 2004, when he threatened new attacks against the US on the eve of the presidential election. An audio tape was released in January 2006. Video and transcript

Zogby Poll: 51% of Americans Want new Probe into 9/11 Attacks
67% also fault 9/11 Commission for not investigating anomalous collapse of World Trade Center 7. As America nears the sixth anniversary of the world-churning events of September 11, 2001, a new Zogby International poll finds a majority of Americans still await a Congressional investigation of President Bush' and Vice President Cheney's actions before, during and after the 9/11 attacks. Over 30% also believe Bush and/or Cheney should be immediately impeached by the House of Representatives. The 911truth.org–sponsored poll also found that over two-thirds of Americans say the 9/11 Commission should have investigated the still unexplained collapse of the 47-story World Trade Center Building 7 at 5:20 p.m. on September 11, 2001. Over 30% Seek Immediate Impeachment.

Bush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction
On Sept. 18, 2002, CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam's inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail. Tenet never brought it up again. Nor was the intelligence included in the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002, which stated categorically that Iraq possessed WMD. No one in Congress was aware of the secret intelligence that Saddam had no WMD as the House of Representatives and the Senate voted, a week after the submission of the NIE, on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq. The information, moreover, was not circulated within the CIA among those agents involved in operations to prove whether Saddam had WMD.

Met chief is mauled by watchdog over de Menezes killing
Sir Ian Blair's position as head of the Metropolitan police was again in jeopardy last night after he received a sustained verbal mauling from his own watchdog authority over the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes. Those close to Sir Ian fear the issue will dog his remaining time of up to three years as Britain's top police officer. Yesterday members of the Metropolitan Police Authority criticised Sir Ian for not knowing 'where the truth lay' over the shooting dead on July 22 2005 of the 27-year-old innocent Brazilian, and said it was 'incomprehensible' that he was not aware on the day of the shooting of serious fears among his own officers that an innocent man had been gunned down. One senior Met source, classed as a loyalist to Sir Ian, said it was significant that no MPA member offered the commissioner unqualified support over two-and-half hours of questioning which led to Sir Ian admitting that 'appalling' errors were made.

Protest against Bush in Australia
Protests against the presence of George W. Bush in Australia continued in Sydney and are expected to continue to grow, leading up to the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in that city at the end of the week. The environmental organization Greenpeace participated in Wednesday’s demonstrations by erecting two ice sculptures of Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard, with the idea that they will melt in protest against the lack of action to counter global warming on the part of Australia and the United States. Environmentalists are criticizing the excessive utilization of fossil fuels by the industrialized countries, while Sydney and Washington refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on the reduction of greenhouse gases.

Princess Diana death dossier 'disappears'
Tens of thousands of legal documents and photographs detailing the circumstances surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, have gone missing, according to a French newspaper. Just weeks before the opening of the high-profile inquest into her death, Le Figaro reported that a Parisian lawyer had been told a dossier more than a metre high has disappeared. Jean-Louis Pelletier, who represents a French paparazzi photographer, said his request for access to the case files had been turned down by the French courts, as the entire dossier could not be found. 'It's the first time I've seen anything like this. There are certainly files that disappear from time to time, but, in this particular case, it's not normal,' he said. 'All the more so since the case is still ongoing.'

Christine Ebersole's 9/11 Truth: 2+2=4
Two time Tony award winning actress and singer Christine Ebersole spoke exclusively to the Alex Jones show yesterday concerning her upcoming appearance at 9/11 truth events in New York on the sixth anniversary of the attacks, and how her life has changed since she pledged allegiance to the movement. Ebersole went public with her concerns over the undisputable holes in the official version of events surrounding the 9/11 attacks last year on the GCN radio network. She was a frequent guest on talk show The View during Rosie O'Donnell's tenure as presenter and was the first to start broaching the subject of 9/11 Truth in broadcasts watched by millions of ABC viewers. 'I really truly agonized over it because you stand on a precipice of silence and action' Ebersole stated.

Israeli jets 'drop ammunition' in sortie over Syria
Syria was considering its response last night after an Israeli warplane violated Syrian air space and was accused of dropping ammunition inside the country. The incident, near the Turkish border on Wednesday, came just after midnight at a time when tensions are running high between the two neighbours. It prompted Syrian air defence units to open fire on the Israeli jets, Syrian officials said. The Israeli aircraft 'infiltrated Syrian air space through the northern border, coming from the direction of the Mediterranean, and headed towards northeastern territory, breaking the sound barrier,' said the official Syrian news agency, Sana. 'The Syrian Arab Republic warns the government of the Israeli enemy and reserves the right to respond according to what it sees fit.'

Libya to host Darfur peace talks
Rebels in Sudan and Darfur are to hold new peace talks with the Sudanese government, the UN and Khartoum have announced. The announcement came ahead of the expected deployment of a 26,000-strong peace force in Darfur as Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, finished a three day visit to Sudan. Ban said on Thursday the talks would be held on October 27 in Libya under the mediation of Jan Eliasson, the UN Darfur envoy, and Salim Ahmed Salim, his African Union counterpart. 'I urge and expect all parties to respect their commitments to cease all hostilities immediately,' Ban said. The joint statement said the United Nations 'expresses the hope that parties will co-operate fully' with UN and African Union (AU) mediators. Eight rebel groups are expected to be invited to the talks but there was no immediate word from as to whether they would attend.

U.S. Navy 'Top Gun' Pilot Questions 9/11
U.S. Navy ‘Top Gun’ pilot, Commander Ralph Kolstad, started questioning the official account of 9/11 within days of the event. “It just didn’t make any sense to me,” he said. And now 6 years after 9/11 he says, “When one starts using his own mind, and not what one was told, there is very little to believe in the official story.” Now retired, Commander Kolstad was a top-rated fighter pilot during his 20-year Navy career. Early in his career, he was accorded the honor of being selected to participate in the Navy’s ‘Top Gun’ air combat school, officially known as the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School. The Tom Cruise movie, “Top Gun” reflects the experience of the young Navy pilots at the school. Eleven years later, Commander Kolstad was further honored by being selected to become a ‘Top Gun’ adversary instructor. While in the Navy, he flew F-4 Phantoms, A-4 Skyhawks, and F-14 Tomcats and completed 250 aircraft carrier landings.

Switzerland: Europe's heart of darkness?
Switzerland is known as a haven of peace and neutrality. But today it is home to a new extremism that has alarmed the United Nations. Proposals for draconian new laws that target the country's immigrants have been condemned as unjust and racist. A poster campaign, the work of its leading political party, is decried as xenophobic. Has Switzerland become Europe's heart of darkness? At first sight, the poster looks like an innocent children's cartoon. Three white sheep stand beside a black sheep. The drawing makes it looks as though the animals are smiling. But then you notice that the three white beasts are standing on the Swiss flag. One of the white sheep is kicking the black one off the flag, with a crafty flick of its back legs.

Russia to buy Australian uranium
Australia has signed a deal with Russia to export uranium to fuel Russia's nuclear power stations. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, finalised the sale shortly after arriving in Australia on Friday – the first Russian leader ever to visit the country.
Putin says his country will use the uranium for peaceful purposes, but Australian opposition politicians say he cannot be trusted. They say that there is nothing to prevent Moscow from using the Australian uranium for nuclear weapons or selling it on to Iran. Kerry Nettle, a senator of the opposition Green party, said: 'There are a number of instances of Russia transferring nuclear fuel and nuclear technology to countries such as Iran.'

Groups pull out of nuclear debate
Green groups have pulled out of the debate over whether the UK should build new nuclear power stations. Organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are unhappy with the way the government has presented the arguments to the public. As a result the groups are withdrawing from the process, which includes public meetings across the UK on Saturday. Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton said he would be 'extremely disappointed' if the groups pulled out. John Sauven, from Greenpeace, told BBC News: 'It is up to the government to decide, is it going to carry out a proper public consultation or not? 'Their own advisers have told them that this consultation should last for nine months, it should put all the information before the public, and they have been very critical of the way it is currently being carried out.'

Black comedian cut short during n-word routine
When the black comedian and movie star Eddie Griffin, headlining an evening of stand-up routines, asked his 1,000-strong audience: 'Why are some black leaders telling us to stop using the n-word', he could not have expected what happened next. The microphone went dead. Griffin, of Date Movie and Undercover Brother fame, was 10 minutes into his act in Miami last Friday night, having liberally peppered his jokes with the word. But the organisers of the event, the magazine Black Enterprise, had had enough. Minutes after the stage fell silent, the magazine's publisher, Earl Graves, announced to a standing ovation that 'we will not allow our culture to go backwards. Black Enterprise stands for decency, black culture and dignity.' He added that Griffin would be paid his full fee but would not be allowed to finish his act.