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Hundreds of Monks arrested after protests Military government crackdown Movie 'The Assassination of Jesse James' leaked on the internet Movieforums.com, a website that allows users to display links to movies you "can watch for free online" has leaked The Assassination of Jesse James an upcoming movie to be released in theaters on October 10.

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Bat for Lashes plays the Bowery Ballroom: an Interview with Natasha Khan Musician Natasha Khan spoke recently with Wikinews about art, transvestism and drug use in the music business.

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Lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe announces a referendum on the future of the Basque Country for 25 October 2008. Richard Garriott, famed game designer and son of former NASA Skylab astronaut Owen Garriott will become the sixth space tourist, visiting the International Space Station in 2008. There are reports that Myanmarese troops from middle Myanmar have started to march towards Yangon. The reported troops are from the Central Command based in Taungoo and the South East Command.

Anglican Church of Australia approves female bishops
The Anglican Church in Australia has cleared the way for women to become diocesan bishops. In a majority decision the Anglican Church’s highest legal authority, the Appellate Tribunal, found that there was nothing in the Church Constitution to prevent a female priest from being consecrated as a Bishop. The decision means there could be female Bishops as early as next year. The Church has permitted female priests for more than a decade.

Sydney Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen opposed the decision. "While I respect the judicial procedures which have led to this result I am disappointed that the matter has now been resolved in this way," Dr Jensen said. "Those who are opposed to this development base their objection on conscientious grounds as a matter of biblical principle.

Insurgent comander Abu al-Tunisi declared dead in airstrike for second time
The United States announced today that an airstrike against a house in Yusufiyah, Iraq on Tuesday completed its mission, killing insurgent commander Abu Usama al-Tunisi. The airstrike, by an F-16 carrying two 500lb bombs, came hours after a tip that al-Tunisi would be holding a meeting that day. The tip was confirmed by a local Iraqi arrested near the site of the house just before the bombing, which killed three. American press releases reported that al-Tunisi's body had been "definitively" identified and that his handwriting was evident on papers inside the bombed house.

There's just one problem. al-Tunisi was already reported dead more than a year ago.

The Tunisian militant had overseen anti-aircraft missions and participated in the 2005 attack against Abu Ghraib. His death was reported by Abu al-Zarqawi's army on May 20, 2006 in an al-Hesbah communique later translated and released by FBI Terrorism consultant Evan Kohlmann. He was reportedly killed after a US helicopter attack in Yusufiyah killed five men, including al-Tunisi.

Following this week's bombing, Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson addressed a press conference at the Pentagon stating that the death of al-Tunisi would "fracture" the Sunni insurgency within the country - claiming that the man was "one of the most senior leaders" and "part of the inner leadership circle". His name did not appear on the Iraqi Goverment's list of 41 Most Wanted.

Anderson also stated that al-Tunisi's group, the Aisha Battalion of anti-aircraft operations, was responsible for the kidnappings and deaths of US soldiers in June of 2006, a month after he was reported killed. While the Army could not confirm which soldiers Anderson was referencing, a June 16 kidnapping led to the death of Spc. David J. Babineau, Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas Tucker who were guarding a bridge into Baghdad.

al-Tunisi was said to be a potential replacement for al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Hamza al-Muhajir who was killed by tribesmen in May of this year. Multinational Force Iraq spokesman Maj. Winfield Danielson stated that “This is one more al-Qaeda in Iraq criminal who will never kill another innocent civilian,” although all of al-Tunisi's known targets were American soldiers, not Iraqi civilians.

In May, the US military was forced to admit that Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner's announcement of al-Qaeda in Iraq lieutenant Kamal Jalil Uthman was incorrect after the San Francisco Examiner pointed out that they had already reported Uthman killed a year earlier, in a document entitled "Tearing Down al Qaeda".

Japanese journalist shot and killed in Myanmar
Kenji Nagai (50), a Japanese video journalist killed by shot in Myanmar (Burma) this Thursday, is alleged to be shot intentionally, report says. On Friday Japanese television station Fuji TV aired a film in which Nagai had been filmed eventually. In that film, VOA reports Nagai was "thrown to the ground by a soldier and shot at close range." Tokyo based Yomiuri Shimbun reports the anonymous local testimonies of that incident: Nagai was shot from a near distance, while he filmed the anti-government demonstration. The local testimonials state that military and polices aimed many citizens with cameras with guns, Yomiuri reports.

Being informed the death of Nagai, Japanese government demands Burmese government investigation and punishment of the shooter, Yomiuri reports.

AFP, the Tokyo based news agency where late Nagai worked for, reports that Reporters Without Borders, Paris based non-profit issued a protest against Burmese government, in response to his death. According to AFP, RWB states Burmese government disturbs communications in several ways, including disturbance of cellular connection and blocking of blogs. According to Jiji, Tokyo based newswire, RWB also requests Japanese government for sanction against Myanmar.

Also European Committee spokesperson accuses Burmese military government as responsible for Nagai's death as well as all other violence in Myanmar. European Committee expresses their concern of the Burmese government attitude toward foreign press.

Nightwish release 'Dark Passion Play', most expensive album in Finnish history
Symphonic power metal band Nightwish have released Dark Passion Play, the album with the highest production costs in the history of the band's native Finland. When drummer Jukka Nevalainen was asked the overall cost of the new album, he was quoted as saying “Roughly half a million... We don’t know the exact sum down to the euros and cents as yet.”

Half of this cost was incurred in London, United Kingdom, over an expensive eight days at the Abbey Road Studios, during which time the London Session Orchestra, the Metro Voices Choir, a gospel choir, and two Irish musicians recorded their parts at the studio. The rest was spent during the ten months between September 2006 and June this year, when the band were recording the rest of the album in Finland.

The album is the sixth full-length studio album by the band, and sports some impressive figures, boasting the contributions of almost 130 different musicians and requiring a total of almost 250 separate recording tracks. Nightwish is paying for the album via the company Scene Nation, who are entirely owned by Nightwish, and have sold the liscence for it to Nuclear Blast Records.

The album is the first to feature new vocalist Anette Olzon, who earlier this year replaced Tarja Turunen, the latter having departed the band in 2005.

The album went platinum (sold more than 30,000 copies) within hours of it's Finnish release date of September 26, with 42,000 copies sold.

Nightwish are currently rehearsing for a world tour to promote the album.

Canadian woman marries New Zealand man on radio show
An Oakville, Ontario woman married a man on New Zealand radio staton The Edge after winning reality show Three Strangers and a Wedding.

Chantelle Swanson, 26, had only talked to Paul Court, her husband and who is a 29-year-old horse driver, through the telephone.

Invercargill Mayor and marriage celebrant Tim Shadbolt conducted the ceremony.

"They're great, and I know they will stand by me even if my family won't. It's about him and I, making it work," Swanson said.

Swanson had met with all three families of the three "groom's" prior to making her final decision for who to marry. One was eliminated in an earlier episode leaving Court and 29-year-old Dave Logan, a courier company team leader from Christchurch. They were waiting at Floating Pavilion in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour yesterday, when Swanson chose Court as her husband.

Swanson had moved to New Zealand three years ago to study to become a teacher. She now teaches at a middle school in Auckland.

Swanson's parents, who live in a mansion in Oakville and whose mother is a business executive, told the Toronto Star that they are disappointed towards their daughter entering the reality show.

"Yes, she did tell us she was doing this," her mother Ginny Swanson told the newspaper. "Of course I'm upset...Other than that, I don't really want to talk about it."

"Chantelle is nothing short of stunning and I am very, very lucky," Court said.

Swanson and Court will honeymoon at the Edgewater Resort in Rarotonga.

The competition started just seven weeks ago. Over 100 wannabe brides sign up every year in hopes of becoming the next winner.

Swanson is the third person to win the show. The other two winners from the first and second seasons are Zane Nichol and Paula Stockwell, and Steve Veix and Kersha. The first couple were married in 1999 and have two sons. The second were married in 2003 and have one son, and will be having a second.

The show is second in the "Strangers and a Wedding" series following Australias Two Strangers and a Wedding.

There are similar competitions in the United States and Ireland.

"It's bloody great," Court added.

Hate Crime victim finds assailant on Facebook
A Washington, D.C. student of Georgetown University has been arrested on suspicion of a hate crime, in which he allegedly beat up another man because the victim was gay. News reports confirm that the victim - who also goes to the same school - recognized the alleged assailant, because of his profile and photos on Facebook.

Washington DC Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier announced yesterday that Philip Cooney had been arrested after a warrant was issued for the September 9 attack, which occurred in the 1400 block of 36th Street NW (Between O and P Streets, NW). The victim was allegedly attacked by a group of males yelling homophobic slurs. "He made it a point to etch the suspect's face in his mind and remember him," Police Lt. Alberto Jova said. "Because of that he was able to give a very positive identification." The victim in this case suffered a broken thumb and cuts and bruises to his face.

The victim suspected his attacker was also a student at Georgetown, and did extensive examination of information available on Facebook, a popular web site used by students to socialize online.

Cooney could not be reached for comment, and will be arraigned in D.C. Superior Court today. A friend of the alleged assailant was shocked at the allegations and said he is "one of the nicest and most gentle people that we know at this school."

The attack is considered unrelated to two other hate crimes which occurred this month in the Northwest quadrant of the city.

Movie 'The Assassination of Jesse James' leaked on the internet
Movieforums.com, a website that allows users to display links to movies you "can watch for free online" has leaked The Assassination of Jesse James, an upcoming movie to be released in theaters on October 10. The movie can bee seen in six parts, all which link to an online video hosting website called Veoh, similar to YouTube.

The movie, was by someone attending what appears to be a special screening of the film and can be downloaded free of charge, 12 days before it's even released into theaters. When going to view the movie, you have one option, that is, to download the part you are watching.

Directed by Andrew Dominik, the movie is about an outlaw named Robert Ford, a man who decided to join the James-Younger Gang which was the gang of Jesse James, an American outlaw, in the 1800's. The movie is based on the novel of the same name, written by the novelist Ron Hansen.

Brad Pitt is starring as James, and Casey Affleck stars as Ford.

Trust formed to protect New Zealand's free speech
The Free Speech Coalition was launched today in New Zealand due to the "grave threat" on New Zealand's free speech the Electoral Finance Bill has, according to co-founder, Cameron Slater, who spoke to Wikinews.

David Farrar, author of Kiwiblog; Cameron Slater, author of Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog; and Bernard Darton, leader of political party, Libertarianz, compose The Free Speech Coalition trust set up to educate the "woefully informed" New Zealand public and campaign against the the "draconian aspects" of the Bill.

The Electoral Finance Bill will mean, among many other "draconian" restrictions, registered third parties campaigning against politically held viewpoints are limited to spending NZ$60,000 for 11 months in an election year. The $60,000 limit is about the cost of two full page newspapers ads, according to Slater. The Bill is currently before the Justice and Electoral Select Committee, which will consider the huge amount of public submissions received, possible amendments and whether or not it should proceed in the House.

Slater believes that Labour, Greens, New Zealand First, and United Future will recommend that minor alterations are made to the Bill while proceeding through the House, "and all the others recommending the Bill be Killed."

As well as The Free Speech Coalition supporting the Bill being withdrawn, so does the Human Rights Commission, and the New Zealand Law Society. The Law Society has said, "The Bill has serious defects, which mean it will not achieve its stated aims. Moreover, it is likely to curtail the legitimate expression of opinions while failing to curb (and potentially even incentivising) clandestine conduct in relation to the electoral process. The bill as a whole represents a backward step in the integrity of democracy in New Zealand."

"seriously flawed and does not achieve its stated aims while effectively regulating and in fact stopping free speech in New Zealand for one third of electoral cycle," was how Slater described the Electoral Finance Bill, which is expected to become law on January 1, 2008.

Slater says that the only way this Bill could work is to be withdrawn, as amendments could not save it, "For one it doesn't even cover anonymous donations which Labour wailed on about ad infinitum." He also criticises the amount of input the public has had into this Bill, with the only input being the public submissions to the Select Committee. "This is a substantial change to the Electoral Act the very basis of our democracy and there has been little or no input from the public nor has there been any public consultation."

"The real danger is that Labour tries to pass this under urgency with no more public consultation," Slater warns.

The interview finished with Cameron Slater simply stating, "Kill The Bill."

At least 9 protesters killed, 11 wounded in Burma
According to Burma's government, the military has killed at least 9 protesters and wounded 42 others in their second day crackdown on peaceful demonstrations that have been taking place for nearly almost a month. At least one monk is rumored to have been killed and a 52 year-old Japanese journalist was also killed.

Witnesses on scene claim that troops fired into the crowd of 10,000 "pro-democracy" protesters with automatic weapons in an attempt to break up the crowds. The military sent troops through the city street warning protesters that they would use deadly force if they did not stop their demonstrations.

Some media agencies in the area claim that the protesters are to blame for the violence, accusing them of "intimidating" the military, and injuring at least 31 troops.

On September 27, at least 200 monks were arrested in Myanmar during night-time raids on monasteries not long before sunrise. 100 of those monks were taken by security forces when they raided a monastery at Ngwe Kyaryan.

The protests in Burma began last month after the military abruptly raised fuel prices by 100 percent. They have since expanded into countrywide demonstrations against 45 uninterrupted years of military rule.

Bat for Lashes plays the Bowery Ballroom: an Interview with Natasha Khan
Bat for Lashes is the doppelgänger band ego of one of the leading millennial lights in British music, Natasha Khan. Caroline Weeks, Abi Fry and Lizzy Carey comprise the aurora borealis that backs this haunting, shimmering zither and glockenspiel peacock, and the only complaint coming from the audience at the Bowery Ballroom last Tuesday was that they could not camp out all night underneath these celestial bodies.

We live in the age of the lazy tendency to categorize the work of one artist against another, and Khan has had endless exultations as the next Björk and Kate Bush. Sixousie Sioux, Stevie Nicks, Sinead O'Connor, the list goes on until it is almost meaningless as comparison does little justice to the sound and vision of the band. "I think Bat For Lashes are beyond a trend or fashion band," said Jefferson Hack, publisher of Dazed & Confused magazine. "[Khan] has an ancient power...she is in part shamanic." She describes her aesthetic as "powerful women with a cosmic edge" as seen in Jane Birkin, Nico and Cleopatra. And these women are being heard. "I love the harpsichord and the sexual ghost voices and bowed saws," said Radiohead's Thom York of the track Horse and I. "This song seems to come from the world of Grimm's fairytales."

Bat's debut album, Fur And Gold, was nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize, and they were seen as the dark horse favorite until it was announced Klaxons had won. Even Ladbrokes, the largest gambling company in the United Kingdom, had put their money on Bat for Lashes. "It was a surprise that Klaxons won," said Khan, "but I think everyone up for the award is brilliant and would have deserved to win."

Natasha recently spoke with David Shankbone about art, transvestism and drug use in the music business.

DS: Do you have any favorite books?

NK: [Laughs] I'm not the best about finishing books. What I usually do is I will get into a book for a period of time, and then I will dip into it and get the inspiration and transformation in my mind that I need, and then put it away and come back to it. But I have a select rotation of cool books, like Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés and Little Birds by Anaïs Nin. Recently, Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch.

DS: Lynch just came out with a movie last year called Inland Empire. I interviewed John Vanderslice last night at the Bowery Ballroom and he raved about it!

NK: I haven't seen it yet!

DS: Do you notice a difference between playing in front of British and American audiences?

NK: The U.S. audiences are much more full of expression and noises and jubilation. They are like, "Welcome to New York, Baby!" "You're Awesome!" and stuff like that. Whereas in England they tend to be a lot more reserved. Well, the English are, but it is such a diverse culture you will get the Spanish and Italian gay guys at the front who are going crazy. I definitely think in America they are much more open and there is more excitement, which is really cool.

DS: How many instruments do you play and, please, include the glockenspiel in that number.

NK: [Laughs] I think the number is limitless, hopefully. I try my hand at anything I can contribute; I only just picked up the bass, really—

DS: --I have a great photo of you playing the bass.

NK: I don't think I'm very good...

DS: You look cool with it!

NK: [Laughs] Fine. The glockenspiel...piano, mainly, and also the harp. Guitar, I like playing percussion and drumming. I usually speak with all my drummers so that I write my songs with them in mind, and we'll have bass sounds, choir sounds, and then you can multi-task with all these orchestral sounds. Through the magic medium of technology I can play all kinds of sounds, double bass and stuff.

DS: Do you design your own clothes?

NK: All four of us girls love vintage shopping and charity shops. We don't have a stylist who tells us what to wear, it's all very much our own natural styles coming through. And for me, personally, I like to wear jewelery. On the night of the New York show that top I was wearing was made especially for me as a gift by these New York designers called [X]. And there's also my boyfriend, who is an amazing musician—

DS: —that's Will Lemon from Moon and Moon, right? There is such good buzz about them here in New York.

NK: Yes! They have an album coming out in February and it will fucking blow your mind! I think you would love it, it's an incredible masterpiece. It's really exciting, I'm hoping we can do a crazy double unfolding caravan show, the Bat for Lashes album and the new Moon and Moon album: that would be really theatrical and amazing! Will prints a lot of my T-shirts because he does amazing tapestries and silkscreen printing on clothes. When we play there's a velvety kind of tapestry on the keyboard table that he made. So I wear a lot of his things, thrift store stuff, old bits of jewelry and antique pieces.

DS: You are often compared to Björk and Kate Bush; do those constant comparisons tend to bother you as an artist who is trying to define herself on her own terms?

NK: No, I mean, I guess that in the past it bothered me, but now I just feel really confident and sure that as time goes on my musical style and my writing is taking a pace of its own, and I think in time the music will speak for itself and people will see that I'm obviously doing something different. Those women are fantastic, strong, risk-taking artists—

DS: —as are you—

NK: —thank you, and that's a great tradition to be part of, and when I look at artists like Björk and Kate Bush, I think of them as being like older sisters that have come before; they are kind of like an amazing support network that comes with me.

DS: I'd imagine it's preferable to be considered the next Björk or Kate Bush instead of the next Britney.

NK: [Laughs] Totally! Exactly! I mean, could you imagine—oh, no I'm not going to try to offend anyone now! [Laughs] Let's leave it there.

DS: Does music feed your artwork, or does you artwork feed your music more? Or is the relationship completely symbiotic?

NK: I think it's pretty back-and-forth. I think when I have blocks in either of those area, I tend to emphasize the other. If I'm finding it really difficult to write something I know that I need to go investigate it in a more visual way, and I'll start to gather images and take photographs and make notes and make collages and start looking to photographers and filmmakers to give me a more grounded sense of the place that I'm writing about, whether it's in my imagination or in the characters. Whenever I'm writing music it's a very visual place in my mind. It has a location full of characters and colors and landscapes, so those two things really compliment each other, and they help the other one to blossom and support the other. They are like brother and sister.

DS: When you are composing music, do you see notes and words as colors and images in your mind, and then you put those down on paper?

NK: Yes. When I'm writing songs, especially lately because I think the next album has a fairly strong concept behind it and I'm writing the songs, really imagining them, so I'm very immersed into the concept of the album and the story that is there through the album. It's the same as when I'm playing live, I will imagine I see a forest of pine trees and sky all around me and the audience, and it really helps me. Or I'll just imagine midnight blue and emerald green, those kind of Eighties colors, and they help me.

DS: Is it always pine trees that you see?

NK: Yes, pine trees and sky, I guess.

DS: What things in nature inspire you?

NK: I feel drained thematically if I'm in the city too long. I think that when I'm in nature—for example, I went to Big Sur last year on a road trip and just looking up and seeing dark shadows of trees and starry skies really gets me and makes me feel happy. I would sit right by the sea, and any time I have been a bit stuck I will go for a long walk along the ocean and it's just really good to see vast horizons, I think, and epic, huge, all-encompassing visions of nature really humble you and give you a good sense of perspective and the fact that you are just a small particle of energy that is vibrating along with everything else. That really helps.

DS: Are there man-made things that inspire you?

NK: Things that are more cultural, like open air cinemas, old Peruvian flats and the Chelsea Hotel. Funny old drag queen karaoke bars...

DS: I photographed some of the famous drag queens here in New York. They are just such great creatures to photograph; they will do just about anything for the camera. I photographed a famous drag queen named Miss Understood who is the emcee at a drag queen restaurant here named Lucky Cheng's. We were out in front of Lucky Cheng's taking photographs and a bus was coming down First Avenue, and I said, "Go out and stop that bus!" and she did! It's an amazing shot.

NK: Oh. My. God.

DS: If you go on her Wikipedia article it's there.

NK: That's so cool. I'm really getting into that whole psychedelic sixties and seventies Paris Is Burning and Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis. Things like The Cockettes. There seems to be a bit of a revolution coming through that kind of psychedelic drag queen theater.

DS: There are just so few areas left where there is natural edge and art that is not contrived. It's taking a contrived thing like changing your gender, but in the backdrop of how that is still so socially unacceptable.

NK: Yeah, the theatrics and creativity that go into that really get me. I'm thinking about The Fisher King...do you know that drag queen in The Fisher King? There's this really bad and amazing drag queen guy in it who is so vulnerable and sensitive. He sings these amazing songs but he has this really terrible drug problem, I think, or maybe it's a drink problem. It's so bordering on the line between fabulous and those people you see who are so in love with the idea of beauty and elevation and the glitz and the glamor of love and beauty, but then there's this really dark, tragic side. It's presented together in this confusing and bewildering way, and it always just gets to me. I find it really intriguing.

DS: How are you received in the Pakistani community?

NK: [Laughs] I have absolutely no idea! You should probably ask another question, because I have no idea. I don't have contact with that side of my family anymore.

DS: When you see artists like Pete Doherty or Amy Winehouse out on these suicidal binges of drug use, what do you think as a musician? What do you get from what you see them go through in their personal lives and with their music?

NK: It's difficult. The drugs thing was never important to me, it was the music and expression and the way he delivered his music, and I think there's a strange kind of romantic delusion in the media, and the music media especially, where they are obsessed with people who have terrible drug problems. I think that's always been the way, though, since Billie Holiday. The thing that I'm questioning now is that it seems now the celebrity angle means that the lifestyle takes over from the actual music. In the past people who had musical genius, unfortunately their their personal lives came into play, but maybe that added a level of romance, which I think is pretty uncool, but, whatever. I think that as long as the lifestyle doesn't precede the talent and the music, that's okay, but it always feels uncomfortable for me when people's music goes really far and if you took away the hysteria and propaganda of it, would the music still stand up? That's my question. Just for me, I'm just glad I don't do heavy drugs and I don't have that kind of problem, thank God. I feel that's a responsibility you have, to present that there's a power in integrity and strength and in the lifestyle that comes from self-love and assuredness and positivity. I think there's a real big place for that, but it doesn't really get as much of that "Rock n' Roll" play or whatever.

DS: Is it difficult to come to the United States to play considering all the wars we start?

NK: As an English person I feel equally as responsible for that kind of shit. I think it is a collective consciousness that allows violence and those kinds of things to continue, and I think that our governments should be ashamed of themselves. But at the same time, it's a responsibility of all of our countries, no matter where you are in the world to promote a peaceful lifestyle and not to consciously allow these conflicts to continue. At the same time, I find it difficult to judge because I think that the world is full of shades of light and dark, from spectrum of pure light and pure darkness, and that's the way human nature and nature itself has always been. It's difficult, but it's just a process, and it's the big creature that's the world; humankind is a big creature that is learning all the time. And we have to go through these processes of learning to see what is right.

2007 Rugby World Cup: Georgia claim first World Cup victory
Georgia won their first ever match in a World Cup with a 30-0 victory over Namibia on Wednesday. Romania came from behind to defeat Portugal 14-10, while Samoa won 25-21 despite a late fightback from the United States. Japan scored a last minute try to draw 12-12 with Canada.

Japan took an early lead when Kosuke Endo scored a try in the only score of the first half. Pat Riordan and D T H van der Merwe both scored in the second half as Canada led 12-5. However Koji Taira scored for Japan in injury time and Shotaro Onishi added the conversion to tie the match 12-12. Both sides are eliminated from Pool B. Australia have qualified for the quarter-finals, while Wales and Fiji face each other for second place.

In Pool C, World Cup debutants Portugal led Romania 7-0 at half time thanks to a try from Joaquim Ferreira. Marius Tincu scored for Romania with less than twenty minutes left to level the scores, before Goncalo Malheiro kicked Portugal back into the lead with a penalty. Florin Corodeanu however won the match for Romania with a 72nd minute try. Neither side can qualify fronm the pool, but Portugal pick up a bonus point while Romania move on to five points behind Italy, who must play Scotland to decide second place as New Zealand have won the pool.

Georgia comfortably defeated Namibia 30-0 to record their first ever victory in any World Cup appearance. Merab Kvirikashvili opened the scoring with two penalties while Akvsenti Giorgadze scored the first try just before half time bringing the score to 13-0. Another penalty from Kvirikashvili and two late tries from Irakli Machkhaneli and Davit Kacharava completed the victory for Georgia. Namibia are eliminated from Pool D, having lost all their matches. Georgia are fourth in the group with five points, behind Ireland on nine.

In Pool A, Samoa won their first match of their World Cup with a 25-21 victory over the United States. Lome Fa'atau and Alesana Tuilagi scored tries for Samoa as they raced to an early lead. Mike Hercus scored a penalty for the Americans, but just before half time Kane Thompson scored Samoa's third try bringing the score to 22-3 at the interval. A late fightback from the United States, with tries from Takudzwa Ngwenya and Louis Stanfill, was not enough to win the match but earned them a bonus point. Both Samoa and the USA are eliminated from Pool A. South Africa are top of the group, while England play Tonga for second place.

Today in History
1364 – English forces defeated the French at the Battle of Auray in the French town of Auray, the decisive confrontation of the Breton War of Succession, a part of the Hundred Years' War

1829 – British Home Secretary Robert Peel founded the Metropolitan Police of Greater London, also known as the Met.

1938 – Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier signed the Munich Agreement, stipulating that Czechoslovakia must cede the Sudetenland to Germany.

1941 – German Nazis aided by their collaborators began the Babi Yar massacre in Kiev, Ukraine, killing over 30,000 Jewish civilians in two days and thousands more in the months that followed.

1954 – Twelve countries signed a convention establishing the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), currently the world's largest particle physics laboratory.

September 29 is Michaelmas.

Quote of the Day

A man's life is interesting primarily when he has failed — I well know. For it's a sign that he tried to surpass himself.

~ Georges Clemenceau

Word of the Day

xenogenetic; adj

Being of foreign origin; having originated elsewhere.

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