BIN LADEN VIDEO

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Subtropical Storm Gabrielle forms SEPT 8,07

MIAMI - Subtropical Storm Gabrielle formed Friday off the southeast U.S. coast, and a tropical storm watch was issued for portions of the South Carolina and North Carolina coast. At 11 p.m, Gabrielle had top sustained winds near 45 mph and was centered about 385 miles southeast of Cape Lookout, N.C., the National Hurricane Center said. It was moving west northwest near 10 mph and was expected to continue along the same path during the next 24 hours.A tropical storm watch was issued for portions of the South Carolina and North Carolina coast from Edisto Beach northward to Oregon Inlet, including Pamlico Sound. A tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area within the next 36 hours.

Subtropical systems are hybrid weather formations that are typically weaker than hurricanes. They share characteristics of tropical storms, which get their power from warm ocean waters, and more normal storms that form when warm and cold fronts collide.Gabrielle is the second subtropical storm to form this year. Subtropical Storm Andrea formed in May about 150 miles northeast of Daytona Beach, before the June 1 official start to hurricane season. Andrea skirted the southern Atlantic coast but caused minimal damage.

Seven dead, one missing in Romania floods Fri Sep 7, 1:55 PM ET

BUCHAREST (AFP) - Seven people drowned and one was missing after severe floods following heavy rains in eastern Romania, the interior ministry said Friday, updating the toll. Three elderly women were found dead in their homes in the town of Tecuci in Galati county, the worst hit by the flooding, the ministry said.Nearly 1,400 people had been evacuated as a thousand homes were flooded, while train services were also badly disrupted.The labour ministry said it had released emergency aid totalling some two million euros for the victims.

Typhoon batters Tokyo By Hiroaki Watanabe
Fri Sep 7, 8:23 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - A typhoon pounded Tokyo and surrounding areas on Friday, killing at least one man and snarling transport and power supplies, before weakening and moving north. The typhoon, the biggest to hit Tokyo since October 2002, brought down record rainfall in many parts of the capital, but by afternoon it had weakened to a tropical storm.Rescue workers searched for homeless people swept away by a swollen Tama river as they slept in shacks along its banks in western Tokyo.Many were winched to safety by helicopters, although local officials said they were not sure how many others had been living along the river bank. Kyodo news agency said 29 people had been rescued.By noon, the worst of Typhoon Fitow, whose name means beautiful fragrant flower in a Micronesian language, had passed to the north of Tokyo.The flood warning for the Tama river was lifted and train service in the capital had mostly returned to normal.The eye of the storm was near the Tsugaru Peninsula, some 600 km (375 miles) north of Tokyo, bringing with it winds gusting to 90 km (56 miles) an hour as of 7 p.m. (6 a.m. EDT), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It had picked up speed and was heading north at 40 km (25 miles) an hour.Apple growers in the path of the storm hurried to pick their crops as the storm approached.
If the apples get damaged by falling, all the effort and cost up until now will be wasted, a farmer told NHK as he harvested apples five days ahead of schedule.During the night, a 76-year-old man was killed by a falling tree northwest of Tokyo, local police said. At least 69 people had been injured and another was missing, NHK television said.A construction worker died after being trapped in a landslide that had hit a dam being built in Fukui, northwestern Japan, a local government official said. But it was not clear whether the death was linked to the typhoon, he added.

Bedraggled commuters struggled to get to work on Friday with some expressways closed and trains, including high-speed bullet services, delayed or cancelled on many lines. About 10 million people commute to work or school in Tokyo.

Some travelers blamed climate change.

It's rare for Tokyo to get hit directly like this, said Miho Kaido, a 36-year-old tourist who came by taxi to Tokyo station to catch a bus to Aomori in northern Japan. The worst thing is that the trains are not running. I think global warming is having an impact and making the weather more severe.In central Tokyo, tree branches and leaves littered the streets and broken umbrellas were snagged in fences and under parked cars after the stormy night, as clean-up crews moved methodically in the rain to remove the debris.In July, a typhoon killed three people and injured more than 70 when it hit the southern island of Kyushu and moved along the country's eastern coastline.(Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds, Yoko Kubota, Linda Sieg, George Nishiyama and Teruaki Ueno)

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

Is China quietly dumping US Treasuries?
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 12:25am BST 06/09/2007

A sharp drop in foreign holdings of US Treasury bonds over the last five weeks has raised concerns that China is quietly withdrawing its funds from the United States, leaving the dollar increasingly vulnerable.

China threatens nuclear option of dollar sales

Data released by the New York Federal Reserve shows that foreign central banks have cut their stash of US Treasuries by $48bn since late July, with falls of $32bn in the last two weeks alone.This comes as a big surprise and it is definitely worrying, said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas.We won't know if China is behind this until the Treasury releases its TIC data in November, but what it does show is that world central banks are in a hurry to get out of the US. They don't seem to be switching into other currencies, so it is possible they are moving into gold instead. Gold is now gaining momentum across all currencies and has broken through resistance at 500 euros, he said.While the greenback has been resilient over recent weeks - even regaining something of a 'safe-haven' role as banks scrambled to buy the currency to cover dollar debts - most experts believe that America's $850bn current account deficit will eventually cause the dollar to resume its relentless slide.David Powell, an economist at IDEAglobal in New York, pointed the finger at Beijing as the main suspect in the sudden bond flight this summer.In a client note entitled Has China started to dump US Treasuries?, he said the sales appear to coincide with early moves by Beijing to launch its new $300bn sovereign wealth fund.

The scheme is part of the government's plan to diversify it $1,340bn reserves from bonds (mostly in the US) to a broader portfolio of investments and a better yield.
If so, the switch comes at a very delicate time, just as tempers flair on both sides of the Pacific over China's policy of holding down yuan by currency intervention. A bill in Congress calls for punitive tariff sanctions of 27.5pc against Chinese imports, and there has been a growing outcry over contaminated pet food and lead-tainted toys.Two top advisers to the Chinese government gave strong hints in August that Beijing should use its estimated $900bn holdings of US Treasuries and agency bonds as a bargaining chip, words taken as an implicit threat to trigger as US bond crash if provoked.The Chinese government has since put out an official statement clarifying that it has no intention in taking such an irresponsible step, which would in any case backfire by devaluing China's remaining holding.Mr Powell said the switch out of Treasuires was a purely commercial decision. If if turns out that the Chinese are behind this, it is merely an attempt to increase returns on investment. It has nothing to do with settling protectionist scores, he said.Any evidence that China was pulling out would risk setting off an unstoppable stampede, which is why such a policy would never be announced. It holds the world's biggest pool of resrves, followed by Japan.Robin Bhar, a metals analyst at UBS, said there was little evidence yet that Asian central banks were switching heavily into gold. Most of the recent buying of gold has been on the COMEX futures markets, the playground of hedge funds.Central banks tend to buy their bullion in London at the AM and PM fixings, leaving a footprint that is visible to experts. They seem to have been largely absent from the market so far.

Stocks drop after weak jobs report By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer
SEPT 8,07

NEW YORK - Wall Street plunged while bonds surged higher Friday after the government reported payrolls in August fell for the first time in four years rather than rising as had been expected. The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 250 points.
Investors were taken aback by the Labor Department's report that payrolls dropped by 4,000 in August, the first decline since August 2003. Economists had forecast payrolls would increase by 110,000. However, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.6 percent as expected.Wall Street had been awaiting the report all week as it sought to determine how well the economy was holding up under the weight of a faltering housing market, a rise in mortgage defaults and tightening availability of credit. While the report is backward looking, investors regard it as an important proxy of the economy's overall health.This certainly cements the case for a Fed action at the next meeting. The debate has really become about whether it will be 25 or 50 basis points, said Zach Pandl, economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., referring to whether the central bank would reduce rates by a quarter point or a half percentage point. He expects the Fed will reduce rates by 25 basis points to 5 percent when it meets Sept. 18.

The Dow fell 249.97, or 1.87 percent, to 13,113.38.

Broader stock indicators also skidded. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 25.00, or 1.69 percent, to 1,453.55, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 48.62, or 1.86 percent, to 2,565.70.The three major indexes, though still in positive territory for the year, all finished the week down more than 1 percent.Bonds, meanwhile, soared following the jobs report as investors sought safety. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, skidded to 4.37 percent from 4.51 percent late Thursday.The dollar fell sharply following the report, as the likelihood of an interest rate cut appeared to increase. Dollar-based assets would earn less interest if the Fed were to cut rates. In addition, gold prices rose sharply because some investors would be expected to abandon a weakening dollar and move into gold if the central bank lowers rates.This is just the expected response, said Pandl, referring to Wall Street's reaction to the jobs report. The markets are repricing for lower growth and expectations of Fed cuts.While the employment report clearly unnerved an already jittery Wall Street, some investors had been looking for a weak showing, arguing that a drop in employment could offer adequate reason for the Federal Reserve to lower short-term interest rates. But the employment report appeared to signal too much weakness even for those pulling for a rate cut. Making matters worse, the Labor Department revised the jobs figures for June and July, saying the economy added fewer jobs than had been reported.The central bank has left its fed funds rate unchanged for more than a year as it has sought to hold down inflation. But recent upheavals in financial markets have stirred concerns of a slowing economy and led some investors to expect a rate cut.

Consumers who feel confident in their ability to continue to earn are likely to keep spending, investors reason, and consumer spending is responsible for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.It is a pretty solid data point that gives people real cause for concern, said James Sonneborn, wealth manager at RegentAtlantic Capital LLC, noting that he generally tries to avoid placing too much emphasis on a single economic reading.It certainly gives the Fed cover to cut rates and the rationale, he said, noting that the central bank has sounded fewer cautionary notes recently about inflation, always one of its chief concerns. Still, Sonneborn doesn't expect the employment report will prompt the Fed to cut rates before its meeting on the 18th.They never want to show a panic. You might get a change in the commentary or the tone when the Fed president's speak publicly. That might be their opportunity to verbally guide people toward what they're thinking.

Several regional Fed presidents are scheduled to speak next week.

Comments from one former Fed official — Alan Greenspan — perhaps added to Wall Street's unease Friday. The Wall Street Journal reported the former Fed chairman on Thursday told a group of economists in Washington that the recent market turmoil is similar to that of 1987, when the Black Monday crash occurred, and of 1998, when the big hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management came close to collapsing. Greenspan's comments come about a month ahead of the 20th anniversary of the stock market's crash on Oct. 19, 1987. The flurry of disappointing news came a day after stocks had posted sizable gains on the notion that mixed economic data revealed an economy that was holding up but not growing at such a pace to push inflation higher and rule out a rate cut. A variety of retailers posted stronger-than-expected sales for August, while a report on the nation's service sector, where most Americans work, showed it expanded in August at the same rate as in July. And on Wednesday, a series of anecdotal reports from the Fed's regional banks found only limited instances in which the jitters in the financial markets in the past seven weeks — particularly in August — had dampened business activity outside the real estate sector. Investors in oil appeared able to largely shake off concerns about the employment picture. Light, sweet crude rose 40 cents to $76.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by more than 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 3.19 billion shares, up from 2.74 billion on Thursday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 17.13, or 2.16 percent, to 775.79. The U.S. jobs report prompted broader selling in markets overseas. Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 1.93 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 2.43 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 2.63 percent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 0.83 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.28 percent, while the often-volatile Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.16 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the week down 244.36, or 1.83 percent, at 13,113.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 index finished down 20.44, or 1.39 percent, at 1,453.55. The Nasdaq composite index ended down 30.66, or 1.18 percent, at 2,565.70. The Russell 2000 index finished the week down 17.07, or 2.15 percent, at 775.79. The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index — a free-float weighted index that measures 5,000 U.S. based companies — ended Friday at 14,655.52, down 192.18, or 1.29 percent, for the week. A year ago, the index was at 12,948.96. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com ,Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

THERE ARE 2 ELECTS THE CHURCH AND ISRAEL

ISRAEL ON EARTH DURING TRIBULATION 7 YR PEACE TREATY

ISAIAH 42:1
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

ISAIAH 45:4
4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

ISAIAH 65:9,22
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

ROMANS 11:28
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.

THE CHURCH ELECT IN HEAVEN DURING 7 YR TREATY

1 PETER 1:2
1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Study finds U.S. Jews distance selves from Israel By Michael Conlon, Religion Writer Thu Sep 6, 1:12 AM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Young U.S. non-Orthodox Jews are becoming increasingly lukewarm if not alienated in their support for Israel in a trend that is not likely to be reversed, according to a study released on Thursday. Blending into U.S. society, including marriage to non-Jews and a tendency to look on Judaism more in religious terms than ethnic ones, is part of what's happening, the study found.For our parent's generation, the question that mattered was, how do we regard Israel? For Generation Y (born after 1976) the question is indeed, why should we regard Israel? said Roger Bennett, a vice president of The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, which sponsored the study.Until people recognize that a healthy and animated dialogue about Israel is the first step to a meaningful connection, the 'Israel debate' that takes place in America is liable to become moot well before Israel celebrates its 100th birthday, he added.U.S. support backed by a vocal and politically powerful Jewish lobby has been a key feature of the Jewish state's success since its founding in 1948, an event that is widely backed by U.S. Jews and non-Jews.But the study found that feelings of attachment may well be changing as warmth gives way to indifference, and indifference gives way even to downright alienation.The study found only 48 percent of U.S. Jews under age 35 believe that Israel's destruction would be a personal tragedy for them, compared to 77 percent of those 65 and older.In addition, only 54 percent of those under the age of 35 are comfortable with the idea of a Jewish State as opposed to 81 percent of those 65 and older.It did find higher levels of support among U.S. Jews, regardless of age, who had visited Israel.

VARIOUS AFFILIATIONS

There are perhaps 6 million Jews in the United States, only about a third of them affiliated with a congregation. Of those who do attend a synagogue, perhaps 40 percent are classified as liberal Reform, 32 percent middle-ground Conservative and 8 percent Orthodox, according to surveys.The findings were based on a representative sample of 1,704 non-Orthodox Jews in 2006 and 2007 contacted in writing. Its error margin was plus or minus three percentage points. The authors said they excluded Orthodox Jews because they tend to be overwhelmingly supportive of Israel.In general U.S. Jews have increasingly adopted the American idea of what it means to be Jewish -- primarily a religious identity, Steven Cohen of Hebrew Union College, co-author of the study, said in an interview.The decline in attachment is widespread. It doesn't depend on how you measure it, Cohen added, with the disengagement no different among political liberals or conservatives.Cohen also said inter-marriage with other faiths had a strong impact with younger Jews being much more likely to be married to non-Jews.The trend is part of a long-term historic slide not likely to be reversed since people do not seem to significantly grow in their attachment to Israel as they age, the study said.Steven Bayme, director of contemporary Jewish life for the American Jewish Committee, a major pro-Israel lobbying group, said assimilation is the biggest problem with declining support among U.S. Jews, but he said it is not new.
People growing up where there always has been an Israel are more detached, he said.
But the study breaks new ground, he added, in finding that politics do not underpin declining support -- that it is not as many assume a response to Israel's handling of the peace process or problems with religious pluralism in the country. Bayme also said that even though Orthodox Jews were not included in the study, the segment represents strong signs of Jewish renewal -- children involved in the Hebrew faith in numbers far disproportionate to those of non-Orthodox families and who in the future will help counter the effects of assimilation outside their ranks, he said.

WORLD TERRORISM

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men

LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

Bin Laden urges Americans to convert By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer
SEPT 8,07

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden appeared for the first time in three years in a video Friday released ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, telling Americans they should convert to Islam if they want the war in Iraq to end. American officials said the U.S. government had obtained a copy even though the video had not been posted yet by al-Qaida — and intelligence agencies were studying the video to determine whether it was authentic and looking for clues about bin Laden's health.

The 30-minute video was obtained by the SITE Institute, a Washington-based group that monitors terrorist messages, and provided to the Associated Press.The footage gives a rare look at the al-Qaida leader, who has likely avoided appearing in videos as a security measure. His emergence comes at a time when terrorism experts believe his terror network is regrouping in the lawless Pakistan-Afghanistan border region — and it underlines the U.S. failure to catch him.In the video, a short excerpt of which was broadcast to the Arab world by Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden wears a white robe, a white circular cap and a beige cloak seated behind a table while reading an address to the American people from papers in front of him.His trimmed beard is shorter than in his last video, in 2004, and is fully black — apparently dyed, since in past videos it was mostly gray. He speaks softly, as he usually does, and has dark bags under his eyes, but his appearance dispelled rumors that he had died.U.S. President George W. Bush made the rare move of speaking about an al-Qaida video. The tape is "a reminder about the dangerous world in which we live, he told reporters on the sidelines of a summit of Pacific Rim nations in Sydney, Australia.

It's important that we show resolve and determination to protect ourselves, deny al-Qaida safe haven and support young democracies, Bush said.In the video, Bin Laden makes no overt threats and does not directly call for attacks.Instead, he addresses Americans, lecturing them on the failures of their leaders to stop the war in Iraq despite growing public opposition in the U.S.He says there were two solutions to stopping the Iraq war. One is from our side, and it is to escalate the fighting and killing against you. This is our duty, and our brothers are carrying it out, bin Laden said.The second solution is from your side. ... I invite you to embrace Islam, he said.One result of that, bin Laden said, would be an end to the Iraq war. He said warmongering owners of the major corporations would rush to appease voters who showed they are looking for an alternative, and this alternative is Islam.

He derided Bush, saying events in Iraq have gotten out of control and the American leader is like the one who plows and sows the sea: He harvests nothing but failure.
Bin Laden frequently criticized capitalism, calling its leaders the real terrorists and threats to human freedom.This is why I tell you: as you liberated yourselves before from the slavery of monks, kings and feudalism, you should liberate yourselves from the deception, shackles and attrition of the capitalist system, he said.Bin Laden's attacks in the video on capitalism, multinational corporations and globalization led several current and former government officials to believe an American — 28-year-old Adam Gadahn — may have written at least part of the speech.

Gadahn, who has been charged with treason and supporting terrorism for serving as an al-Qaida propagandist, has appeared in several past al-Qaida-produced videos, lecturing against capitalism and globalization and making insider references to American culture. It has Adam Gadahn written all over it, one former senior intelligence official said of bin Laden's tape, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The video appeared to have been recently made. At one point, bin Laden mentions that several days ago Japan marked the 62nd anniversary of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. He also refers to the Democratic Party's congressional victory in last fall's election and to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was elected in May.He also shows a grasp of current events, dropping mentions of global warming and saying Americans are reeling under the burdens of a mortgage crisis.

And he praises author Noam Chomsky, an early critic of the Iraq war, as well as Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, who has said poor U.S. leadership was losing the war against terrorist groups. Bin Laden knows Bush has low approval ratings, knows the significance of a growing awareness of global warming, said Thomas Sanderson, deputy director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He's trying to capitalize on what he sees as a shift back to the middle in American politics.Al-Qaida annually uses the anniversary of the Sept. 11 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as a propaganda opportunity, issuing videotapes to rally supporters and mock the United States. But the appearance of bin Laden this year makes a bigger splash. The al-Qaida leader had not appeared in new video footage since October 2004, and he had not put out an audiotape in more than a year, his longest period without a message. His deputy, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri, has issued numerous videos and audiotapes in the meantime as al-Qaida has increased the sophistication and speed of its media operations.

Seth Jones, a terrorism expert at the RAND think tank, said that while the anniversary gives the pretext for the tape, it also comes at a time when the main al-Qaida leadership has managed to regroup. There clearly has been a resurgence of core al-Qaida in the tribal areas of Pakistan along the frontier with Afghanistan since 2005, Jones said. He said sympathy in that region for the Taliban has made it more receptive to militant Sunni groups, including al-Qaida. It's really created a sanctuary, Jones said. Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute, said she believes strongly that al-Qaida has regrouped but that its core bases are more scattered than previously, comprising several training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She said it was likely bin Laden is hidden in a more secure location, away from any of those sites. During the video, bin Laden's image moves for only a total of about 3 1/2 minutes in two segments, staying frozen the rest of the time while his remarks continue.A former senior U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it might have resulted from a technical glitch while al-Qaida passed the video through a variety of computer sites to mask its cyber trail.

The United States intercepted the video before it was released on Islamic Web sites where al-Qaida usually posts its messages, a U.S. counterterrorism official said in Washington. U.S. officials had analyzed the video for hours before transcripts and videos were leaked, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The official said analysts were studying bin Laden's physical characteristics — for clues about his health after unconfirmed rumors earlier this year that he had died of kidney disease. Soon after word emerged that the United States had the video, Islamic militant Web sites that usually carry statements from al-Qaida went down and were inaccessible. Hours later, the sites were back up, but by late Friday, the video still had not been released on the militant Web sites. The reason for the shutdown was not immediately known. Evan H. Kohlmann, a terrorism expert at globalterroralert.com, said he suspected it was the work of al-Qaida itself, trying to find how the video leaked to U.S. officials.
Associated Press writers Lara Jakes Jordan, Pamela Hess and Matthew Lee in Washington and Sarah DiLorenzo in New York contributed to this report.