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TROPICAL STORM LAURA ADVISORY NUMBER 6 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL122008 1100 AM AST TUE SEP 30 2008 ...LAURA BECOMES TROPICAL...BUT NOT FOR LONG... AT 1100 AM AST...1500Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM LAURA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 41.2 NORTH...LONGITUDE 48.8 WEST OR ABOUT 435 MILES...700 KM...SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF CAPE RACE NEWFOUNDLAND. LAURA IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH NEAR 13 MPH...20 KM/HR. LAURA CONTINUES TO ACCELERATE...AND A TURN TO THE NORTH-NORTHEAST IS EXPECTED TONIGHT OR WEDNESDAY. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 60 MPH...95 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. GRADUAL WEAKENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...AND LAURA COULD LOSE TROPICAL...

Excerpt - ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: In a major reshuffle in the army’s top command, Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Monday brought in a new head of the all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), changed four of the nine corps commanders and appointed a new chief of general staff, besides giving key postings to a few others. The shake-up is the most wide-ranging since Gen Kayani took over as the COAS and perhaps even more significant since the former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf stepped down as the country’s controversial president. The move came within hours of the...

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he's asked the king of Saudi Arabia to help facilitate peace talks with the Taliban in order to bring an end to the Afghan conflict. Karzai says there has not yet been any negotiations only requests for help. But he says that Afghan officials have traveled to both Saudi Arabia and to Pakistan in hopes of ending the conflict. Karzai says his government is trying to encourage militants to lay down arms and join the government, and he underscored that he has reached out to Taliban leader Mullah Omar to ''come back to...

Today - September 30, 2008 - is Bill Clinton's last day on the job at InfoGROUP, the company that own's CNN's presidential polling partner, Opinion Research. After the company discovered the millions of dollars of corporate waste lost to the Clintons, his contract is not expected to be renewed. The information was learned from a court settlement filed with the SEC and the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware a few weeks ago, which revealed some term of his contract, including the ending date. There is no evidence that it will be renewed. It appears that Bill...

KHYBER AGENCY: The abducted Afghan ambassador designate to Pakistan, Abdul Khaliq Farahi Monday reached Peshawar after being released, official sources said. Earlier, the Afghan Embassy had also confirmed his release. The Afghan envoy was kidnapped on September 22 from Hayatabad area in Peshawar. His driver was killed by the kidnappers.

Excerpt - NAIROBI, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Rival Somali pirates arguing over what to do with a hijacked Ukrainian ship and its cargo of 33 tanks engaged in a shootout on board, killing three of their number, a maritime group said on Tuesday. ~ snip ~

More Relief for Homeowners Would Actually Stem Crisis More Effectively On Sept. 29, ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) President Maude Hurd released the following statement about the House of Representatives 205-228 vote in opposition to the Wall Street bailout package this afternoon: "ACORN welcomes the opportunity to renegotiate a package that will actually do something for homeowners on Main Street and not just bail out Wall Street. Ninety-five Democrats voted against the bailout bill because it did not do nearly enough for families struggling to pay the mortgage and who are teetering on the brink of...

Excerpt - NASHVILLE — Former Tennessee state Sen. John Ford has been sentenced to 14 years in prison on federal charges of wire fraud and failing to report more than $800,000 in payments from state contractors. ~ snip ~

Wall Street Bailout Largely Leaves Out Main Street Foreclosures September 28, 2008 On Sunday, Sept. 28, ACORN National President Maude Hurd released the following statement after Congressional leaders announced a $700 bailout plan for Wall Street: “Members of Congress worked tirelessly over the weekend to rid Wall Street of its toxic assets, which are responsible for the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. Unfortunately, families who fell victim to Wall's Street's toxic lending practices and now risk losing their homes were largely left out. ACORN members are extremely disappointed that the bailout package does little to assist these homeowners,...

Excerpt - CAIRO, Sept 29 (Reuters) - All 11 Western tourists and eight Egyptians taken hostage by gunmen in a remote border area of Egypt more than a week ago have been freed and are in good health, state-run Egyptian television said on Monday. ~ snip ~

SUBTROPICAL STORM LAURA DISCUSSION NUMBER 1 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL122008 500 AM EDT MON SEP 29 2008 DURING THE PAST 6 HOURS...CONVENTIONAL SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATES DEEP CONVECTION WITH CLOUD TOPS TO NEAR -70C HAS CONTINUED TO INCREASE AND HAS STARTED WRAPPING AROUND AND VERY NEAR THE CENTER OF THE LARGE NON-TROPICAL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LOCATED ABOUT 775 NMI WEST OF THE WESTERNMOST AZORES ISLANDS. THERE IS ENOUGH CONVECTION NEAR THE CENTER NOW FOR THIS SYSTEM TO BE CLASSIFIED AS A SUBTROPICAL STORM. THE 06Z SATELLITE CLASSIFICATION FROM TAFB WAS ST3.0/45 KT...BUT USING THE DVORAK TECHNIQUE FOR A...

Afghanistan: A warlord Hekmatyar claimed the ambush against the French KABUL - The Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the ambush in which ten French soldiers were killed near Kabul on August 18 and acknowledged the death of ten of its own fighters in this battle, in a video received Monday by a private news agency Afghan. The attack had previously been claimed by the Taliban, which form a separate group Hezb-e-Islami (Islamic party, HIG) to Hekmatyar. On 18 August, a French patrol fell into an ambush mounted by 140 to 170 well-armed insurgents in the valley Uzbeen...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON: The US Department of Defense has approved the sale of an unspecified number of Cobra helcopters to Pakistan. The choppers are refurbished AH-1F Cobra class helicopters with associated equipment. The Pentagon said the refurbishment would help Pakistan in its efforts to defeat Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in its tribal areas, used allegedly as bases to launch attacks against US troops in Afghanistan, and to conduct counterterrorism missions. ~ snip ~

Excerpt - The U.S. Army's European Command deployed an early-warning radar system in Israel last week along with a 120-member support team, the weekly Defense News reported. The move marks the first permanent presence in Israel of American military personnel. The high-powered radar system is meant to augment Israel's defenses against Iranian ground-to-ground missiles. According to Defense News, more than a dozen transport aircraft delivered the radar, its ancillary systems, equipment and technicians, as well as maintenance and security specialists to the Nevatim Air Force Base in the Negev. It has not yet been made operational. ~ snip ~

HURRICANE KYLE DISCUSSION NUMBER 10 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL112008 1100 PM EDT SAT SEP 27 2008 KYLE CONTINUES TO EXHIBIT A VERY ASYMMETRIC CLOUD PATTERN FOR A HURRICANE. THE CENTER OF THE CYCLONE IS LOCATED NEAR THE SOUTHWESTERN EDGE OF THE DEEP CONVECTION...DUE TO SOUTHWESTERLY SHEAR. THE LATEST DVORAK DATA T-NUMBERS FROM BOTH AGENCIES DECREASED A LITTLE...HOWEVER...THE CONVECTION HAS EXPANDED AND THE CLOUD TOPS HAVE COOLED DURING THE PAST COUPLE HOURS...AND KYLE REMAINS A 65-KT HURRICANE. ANOTHER RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT WILL BE SAMPLING THE STORM AROUND 0600 UTC. SATELLITE DERIVED WINDS INDICATE VERY STRONG...BUT DIVERGENT FLOW OVER...

““SEC. 1338. Housing Trust Fund. “(a) Establishment and purpose.—The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (in this section referred to as the ‘Secretary’) shall establish and manage a Housing Trust Fund, which shall be funded with amounts allocated by the enterprises under section 1337 and any amounts as are or may be appropriated, transferred, or credited to such Housing Trust Fund under any other provisions of law. The purpose of the Housing Trust Fund under this section is to provide grants to States for use— “(1) to increase and preserve the supply of rental housing for extremely low- and...

Excerpt - Chinese taikonaut Zhai Zhigang slipped out of the orbital module of Shenzhou-7 Saturday afternoon, starting China's first spacewalk or extravehicular activity (EVA) in the outer space. "Shenzhou-7 is now outside the spacecraft. I feel well. I am here greeting the Chinese people and people of the whole world," the taikonaut reported to the ground control in Beijing, where Chinese President Hu Jintao watched the proceedings with country's top space scientists. Donning a 4-million-U.S.dollar homemade Feitian space suit, Zhai waved to the camera mounted on the service module after pulling himself out of the capsule in a head-out-first position...

Excerpt - MOSCOW — A Russian warship on Friday rushed to intercept a Ukrainian vessel carrying 33 battle tanks and ammunition that was seized by pirates off the Horn of Africa — a bold hijacking that heightened fears about the surging piracy and high-seas terrorism. ~ snip ~

German commandos storm KLM airliner arresting two suspected 'terrorists' - local media. More soon.

For release at 2:00 a.m. EDT Central banks have been employing coordinated measures designed to address the pressures in global money markets. Most recently, central banks have acted together to inject dollars into the overnight markets. Using their reciprocal currency arrangements (swap lines) with the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the Swiss National Bank today are announcing the introduction of operations to provide U.S. dollar liquidity with a one-week maturity. These operations are designed to address funding pressures over quarter end. Central banks continue to work together closely and are prepared to...