All the latest news, sport, showbiz,entertainment,celebrity scandals news, science and health stories from around the world ,latest breaking news and information on the latest top stories, weather, business, entertainment, politics, new video free uncensored leaked celebrity news and more
U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the nation from the White House in Washington, May 1, 2011. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in a mansion outside the Pakistani capital Islamabad, Obama said on Sunday.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama announced on Sunday.
"Justice has been done," Obama said in a dramatic, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the New York and Washington.
Obama said U.S. forces led the operation that killed bin Laden. No Americans were killed in the operation and they took care to avoid civilian casualties, he said.
"The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of men, women and children," Obama said.
It is a major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team, after many Americans had given up hope of ever finding bin Laden.
A crowd gathered outside the White House to celebrate, chanting, "USA, USA."
Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, had repeatedly vowed to bring bin Laden to justice "dead or alive" for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people, but never did before leaving office in early 2009.
U.S. officials said that after searching in vain for the al Qaeda leader since he disappeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, the Saudi-born extremist was killed in the Pakistani town of Abbotabad and his body recovered.
Having the body may help convince any doubters that bin Laden is really dead.
He had been the subject of a search since he eluded U.S. soldiers and Afghan militia forces in a large-scale assault on the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan in 2001.
The trail quickly went cold after he disappeared and many intelligence officials believed he had been hiding in Pakistan.
While in hiding, bin Laden had taunted the West and advocated his militant Islamist views in videotapes spirited from his hideaway.
Besides Sept. 11, Washington has also linked bin Laden to a string of attacks -- including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen.
(Writing by Steve Holland; editing by David Storey
Firefighters monitor a fire in the suburb of Glendale on the outskirts of Los Angeles city, California, 01 Sep 2009 Firefighters watches over the fire.
Left over after the bush fires swepts across the California hills.
Federal authorities failed to follow through on plans earlier this year to burn away highly flammable brush in a forest on the edge of Los Angeles to avoid the very kind of wildfire now raging there, The Associated Press has learned.
Months before the huge blaze erupted, the U.S. Forest Service obtained permits to burn away the undergrowth and brush on more than 1,700 acres of the Angeles National Forest. But just 193 acres had been cleared by the time the fire broke out, Forest Service resource officer Steve Bear said.
The agency defended its efforts, saying weather, wind and environmental rules tightly limit how often these "prescribed burns" can be conducted.
"This brush was ready to explode," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whose district overlaps the forest. "The environmentalists have gone to the extreme to prevent controlled burns, and as a result we have this catastrophe today."
Prescribed burns are intended to protect homes and lives by eliminating fuel that can cause explosive wildfires. The wildfire that has blackened 140,000 acres — or nearly 219 square miles — in the forest over the past week has been fed by the kind of tinder-dry vegetation that prescribed burns are designed to safely devour.
Government firefighters set thousands of blazes each year to reduce the wildfire risk in overgrown forests and grasslands around the nation. Prescribed burns can also be used to improve overall forest health and increase forage for wildlife.
Obtaining the necessary permits is a complicated process, and such efforts often draw protests from environmentalists.
"Our air quality, for a variety of factors, doesn't need to be further reduced by these controlled burns," she said.
Setting pre-emptive fires can be especially risky near heavily populated urban areas like Los Angeles because of the danger of flames burning out of control. Last month, a 90-acre prescribed burn near Foresta, on the edge of Yosemite National Park, jumped fire lines and consumed more than 7 square miles in the park.
Meanwhile , The blaze moved toward suburban homes and Mount Wilson, home of the space observatory and dozens of mobile phone, radio and television transmission towers about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Smoke was visible throughout the city. Crews returned to Mount Wilson today to defend it, the Forest Service said. May cause disruptions to thousands of residents.
A madman with two guns opened fire in an all-female dance class at a Pennsylvania fitness center Tuesday night, killing three women and injuring as many as 10 others, police said.
Investigators said the gunman - described as a middle-aged white man - was among the dead, apparently a suicide.
The madman who fatally shot three women in a fitness center outside Pittsburgh planned the massacre for months and "chickened out" on at least one other attempt, his venom-spewing journal reveals.
George Sodini, 48, walked into a crowded 20-by-20 foot aerobics room at the LA Fitness gym in Collier, Pa., at about 8 p.m. Tuesday. He turned off the lights and fired as many as 50 rounds from at least two guns without saying a word, police said.
Stacey Falk, 26, of Bridgeville, told the Post Gazette newspaper she was in the aerobics room with 30 to 40 other women when a short, clean-shaven man in gym clothes, walked in with a bag.
He stood in a corner near a racquetball court for a moment, put down the bag, turned off the lights and pulled out a gun.
"Girls were just ducking behind each other. All I could hear were shots and screams," Falk said.
The aerobics class instructor, who announced she was pregnant, was shot in the shoulder.
"I saw these women running out of the aerobics room, hysterical," said Ron Michaels, a racketball instructor. "I think I saw three or four injured people being taken to ambulances after I was out in the parking lot," he said.
Many of the survivors credited the the staff of the fitness center staff, which opened just a year ago, with calmly steering people toward the exits.
When the massacre ended, Sodini lay dead on top of a gun near one of his victims. Sources told the Pittsburgh Gazette Soldini's girlfriend was among the dead.
Witnesses said he strode into the LA Fitness center in Bridgeville, a suburb of , through a back door about 8:15 p.m., carrying a duffel bag, and went straight to the Latin dance class on the first floor.
"He did not say anything," Allegheny County policeSuperintendent Charles Moffatt said. "He walked right into the room where the shootings occurred as if he knew exactly where he was going."
About 30 women were in the class when a witness identified only as Nicole said the killer turned off the lights, pulled two guns from the bag and started blasting.
"He got off a lot of shots," she said. "People everywhere were screaming. It was horrible."
Lauren Dooley, 26, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette she was on a treadmill listening to her iPod when the shooting started.
"I saw people flying off the treadmills, hitting the ground" for cover, Dooley said. "We crawled through the fire escape, and I sprinted out the back."
She said she heard 12 to 15 shots.
A man who was playing racquetball said the scene was total chaos.
"It was panic," said Perry Calabro, 53, "when we realized it was gunfire. Once the shooting started, everybody started running."
The shooting brought ambulances and police cars flooding into the crime scene area, which is part of the Great Southern Shopping Center strip mall.
For months before the killing spree, Sodini kept a log of his plans, filled with rage and hatred for women.
-Alleged George Sodine , the gunman responsible for the LA fitness gym massacre.Committed suicide after the rampage.-
"Why do this?? To young girls? Just read below," he wrote. "I kept a running log that includes my thoughts and actions, after I saw this project was going to drag on."
The log shows he entered the club with loaded guns on Jan. 6, but backed out.
"It is 8:45PM: I chickened out!" he wrote. "I brought the loaded guns, everything. Hell!"
The journal drips with rage and names relatives and acquaintances. It also shows his frustration at not being able to connect with women.
On Aug. 3 he wrote: "I took off today, Monday, and tomorrow to practice my routine and make sure it is well polished. I need to work out every detail, there is only one shot. Also I need to be completely immersed into something before I can be successful. I haven't had a drink since Friday about 2:30. Total effort needed. Tomorrow is the big day."
In a Web site posted under his name, Sodini wrote rambling messages about his hatred of women and how he was tired of being rejected by them. He ended by writing, "Death Lives!"
Sodini was a member of the gym and lived in Carnegie, just a few miles from the health club, authorities said.
---
People outside the LA Fitness following a shooting inside the health club. Investigators said the gunman - described as a middle-aged white man - was among the dead, apparently a suicide.
Friends waiting to hear news about victims of a shooting at a health club outside of Pittsburgh keep a vigil outside the scene of the massacre Tuesday night.
Authorities are at the scene of a shooting at an LA Fitness gym near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
----
-From CNN: 5 Killed 15 Wounded In Gym [LA Fitness] Shooting In Pennsylvania-
-----
---Three bodies were removed early Wednesday from the L.A. Fitness Center in Bridgeville.
A woman with a chest wound died at St. Clair Hospital, where two other female victims were in stable condition.
Five victims arrived in critical condition at UPMC Mercy Hospital, and two women were listed in fair condition at Allegheny General Hospital, hospital officials said.
-----------------
Here is alleged George Sodini , online web diary entries.] In a Web site posted under his name, Sodini wrote rambling messages about his hatred of women and how he was tired of being rejected by them. He ended by writing, "Death Lives!"
Sodini was a member of the gym and lived in Carnegie, just a few miles from the health club, authorities said.
“Total effort needed. Tomorrow is the big day. Unfortunately I talked to my neighbor today, who is very positive and upbeat. I need to remain focused and absorbed COMPLETELY.
“Last time I tried this, in January, I chickened out.”
George Sodini says the reason for his diary is that “maybe all this will shed insight on why some people just cannot make things happen in their life, which can potentially benefit others.”
“Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell.
“I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them.”
He was even in Santa Monica, photographing Ocean Avenue at Wilshire Boulevard. George Sodini calls his mother “Central Boss”:
“Don’t piss her off or she will be mad and vindictive for years. “
On Monday Sodini finally writes the following:
“The biggest problem of all is not having relationships or friends, but not being able to achieve and acquire what I desire in those or many other areas.
“Everything stays the same regardless of the effert (sic) I put in. If I had control over my life then I would be happier. But for about the past 30 years, I have not.”
As broke earlier today on LALATE, George Sodini in the LA Fitness shooting shot his ex girlfriend, the aerobics instructor, who had just told her class she was pregnant, but she survived. George Sodini, 48, of Scott Township, Pa. was found dead along with four women. UPMC Mercy Hospital says five of the women injured are in critical condition, two are in fair condition. The conditions of the remaining injured women are still unknown. -Source-
REbbi jackson one of the sister of Michael jackson.
The family of Michael Jackson ordered a second autopsy of the tragic pop icon yesterday as associates told of mounting anger over “unanswered questions” surrounding the superstar’s death.
Los Angeles police yesterday conducted a second interview with doctor Conrad Murray, the only person with him when he collapsed. A spokeswoman for the cardiologist said he “clarified some inconsistencies” over the death.
“Investigators say the doctor is in no way a suspect and remains a witness to this tragedy.” Frustrated by the lack of hard information, the family requested a second autopsy on Jackson’s body which was being kept at an undisclosed location, officials and local media reports said.
Late yesterday, The Los Angeles Times reported the autopsy had been completed but there was no word on the findings.
“We don’t like what’s going on,” family patriarch Joe Jackson told People magazine. The Jacksons later issued a statement to fans describing the death as
“one of the darkest moments of our lives.” The Los Angeles Coroner’s office said Friday a preliminary autopsy on Jackson was inconclusive and a final cause of death would not be known until exhaustive toxicology tests are completed in “six to eight weeks.” According to The Times, which cites Pennsylvania forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, the coroner’s office probably kept Jackson’s brain even after his body had been released to the family in order to conduct a neuropathology test.
This test could reveal whether the singer’s brain had been damaged by drug abuse and whether he had suffered overdoses in the past, the paper said.
Joe Jackson separately told Fox News that Michael Jackson’s three children — whom the pop star fiercely protected — were in “fantastic” spirits at the musical clan’s compound
