Bin Laden releases new tape

Hi, I'm Kristin Volk with a UPI news update on this Friday, May 16, 2008. Osama bin Laden is urgi...  More »

Hi, I'm Kristin Volk with a UPI news update on this Friday, May 16, 2008. Osama bin Laden is urging his followers to liberate Palestine in a new audio tape he's reportedly released. The Al Qaeda leader's message coincides with Israel's 60 anniversary. In the tape that appears on Jihadist websites, Bin Laden reportedly told listeners that freeing Palestine should be the goal of every Muslim and claimed that Israel has engaged in terror. More than 4 thousand aftershocks have hit China since Monday's devastating earthquake there. Those shocks have triggered landslides, blocked roads, knocked out phone lines, and complicated rescue efforts. The official death toll now stands at more than 22 thousand, but officials warn it could top 50 thousand. But, survivors are still being pulled from the rubble days after the 7.9 magnitude quake rocked the southwest part of the country. Gay and lesbian couples have been given permission to marry in California. That's after California's Supreme Court overturned a state ban on same-sex marriage yesterday. Couples could tie the knot in as little as a month, but the new law may not last long. Religious and social conservatives are pressing to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would undo the Supreme Court ruling and ban gay marriage. (should be photos of Bush speaking from yesterday) Senator Barack Obama is expected to respond directly to President Bush's criticism of his foreign policy vision. Obama's response will come at a campaign event later today in South Dakota. During an address in Israel yesterday, Bush compared leaders who were open to dialogue with nations like Iran to Nazi appeasers in the years leading up to the World War II. The White House has denied the remarks were aimed at Obama. That's all for now. Check out our wrap-up from the White House on upi.com today, and for all of us at UPI, have a nice weekend.  « Less