STATE DEPT: NEVER CONCLUDED BENGHAZI ATTACK LINKED TO ANTI-ISLAM
VIDEO: The U.S. State Department said Tuesday (October 9th) that it never concluded that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed stemmed from protests over an anti-Islamic video made by a California man.  However, for about a week after the attack, there were statements from administration officials suggesting that it was linked to the video protests.
The administration has said that it provided its best intelligence on the attack at the time, and has refined its explanation as more information came to light, having since said the attack was a planned action by terrorists. The State Department yesterday gave reporters its most detailed rundown of what happened on September 11th, briefing them one day before a congressional hearing today on the assault and the security situation in Libya ahead of it.

SANDUSKY SENTENCED TO 30 TO 60 YEARS IN PRISON: Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced yesterday (October 9th) to 30 to 60 years in prison, after being convicted in June of sexually abusing 10 children over 15 years. The sentence all but ensures that the 68-year-old Sandusky will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Before he was sentenced, Sandusky made a rambling, 15-minute statement in which he denied the charges against him and portrayed himself as the victim, saying, "In my
heart I did not do these alleged disgusting acts." After the sentencing, prosecutor Joe McGettigan described Sandusky's comments as, quote, "a masterpiece of banal self-delusion, completely untethered from reality and without any acceptance of responsibility." Sandusky is appealing his conviction.

DEATH TOLL IN MENINGITIS OUTBREAK UP TO 11: The death toll in the outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to steroid injections rose to 11 Tuesday (October 9th) and the number of overall cases increased to 119. The growing outbreak has focused attention on the
incomplete regulation of pharmaceutical compounding companies such as the one
that produced the drugs, the New England Compounding Center. The Food and Drug Administration regulates only the ingredients used by the compounding companies, but not the compounders themselves, which are subject to local oversight that varies from state to state. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that as many as 13,000 people across the nation received potentially tainted steroid shots.

FRENCH AND AMERICAN SCIENTISTS WIN NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS: Scientists Serge Haroche of France and America's David Wineland were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday (October 9th) for their work in the field of quantum physics that has led to
the creation of extremely precise clocks and could one day lead to superfast computers. A quantum particle is one that's isolated from everything else, and which develops unusual properties in that state. However, those properties are changed when the particle interacts with something else, including when somebody observes it. Working separately in the 1990s, Haroche and Wineland developed ways to observe quantum particles without changing their properties.

PAKISTANI TALIBAN SHOOTS 14-YEAR-OLD GIRL WHO SPOKE AGAINST THEM: Pakistani Taliban gunmen shot and seriously wounded a 14-year-old girl Tuesday (October 9th) who became famous for speaking out against the militants. Malala Yousufzai was shot in the head and neck when she got on her school bus after class, and doctors were
struggling to save her life. Yousufzai became known when she spoke out against
the Taliban after the Pakistani government agreed in early 2009 to a ceasefire
with the militants in the Swat Valley, where she lived. That allowed the
Taliban to set up courts there, executive civilians and close girls' schools,
including the one Yousufzai attended. A documentary filmed the then 11-year-old
girl crying as she spoke about wanting to be a doctor, and she wrote in a blog
published by the BBC about fears of her school being attacked. The Pakistani
military retook control of the Swat Valley later that year, and Yousufzai later
received the country highest civilian award, and was also nominated for
international awards for child activists. She's received many threats since
then, and gunman came to her school yesterday asking for her by name. A Taliban
spokesman said of the attack, "She was pro-West, she was speaking against
Taliban and she was calling President Obama her ideal leader." The U.S. State Department condemned the attack, saying, "Directing violence at children is barbaric. It's cowardly."

ROMNEY REVEALS MET EX-NAVY SEAL KILLED IN BENGHAZI ATTACK: Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney revealed at a rally yesterday (October 9th) that he'd previously met Glen Doherty, one of the two former Navy SEALs killed in the attack last month on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which the U.S. ambassador and another American were also killed. Speaking at an Iowa rally, Romney said that he'd once mistakenly crashed a neighbor's Christmas party near his La Jolla, California, home, thinking it was the neighborhood's annual holiday party. He said everyone had been very kind to him anyway and that he'd met, quote, "some really interesting people. One of them was a guy actually
from my home state of Massachusetts -- a relatively young guy compared to
me." Romney said the man was a former Navy SEAL and that they talked about
interests they shared, including skiing, and about how the man kept going back
to the Middle  East, first in the military and later as a security contractor. Romney continued, "You can imagine how I felt when I found out that he was one of the two former Navy
SEALs killed in Benghazi on September 11th. And it touched me obviously that I
recognized that this young man that I thought was so impressive has lost his
life in the service of his fellow men and women." A campaign spokesman
said that Romney wasn't sure that the SEAL he met was Doherty until a neighbor
called last week to tell him.

SKYDIVER CANCELS RECORD JUMP ATTEMPT DUE TO HIGH WINDS: Austrian skydiver and extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner canceled his planned attempt at a record-setting jump yesterday (October 9th) from 23 miles up over the New   Mexico desert because of high winds. Baumgartner was to be taken up to the jump height by a huge, ultra-thin helium balloon that's so delicate that it can only be used if the winds are 2 miles per hour or less. With his jump, Baumgartner wants to become the first person to break the sound barrier outside of an airplane and also break the current jump record, which is an altitude of
19.5 miles. A date hasn't been set yet for him to try again.

REPORT: PROTESTANTS NOW LESS THAN 50 PERCENT OF U.S. ADULTS: A new report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has found that the U.S. no longer has a Protestant majority for the first time in the nation's history. The percentage of Protestant adults in the U.S. is at a new low of 48 percent, the first time it's fallen below 50 percent. Among the reasons for the decline is the growing number of American adults who say they have no religious affiliation, which is now at 20 percent, up from 15 percent over the last five years. At the same time, not all of the people who say they have no religious affiliation are
atheists. Many say they believe in God and consider themselves spiritual but
not religious.

STONE SOUR FRONTMAN CONFIRMS COMIC BOOK DEAL: Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor has confirmed in a new interview with USA Today that the comic book version of the band's upcoming concept album, House Of Gold And Bones, will debut on April 17th, 2013. The four-issue series will be published by Dark Horse Comics and will visualize the short story that forms the basis of the two-disc album. The first CD, House Of Gold And Bones Part 1, comes out on October 23rd, while Part 2 will arrive next spring.

• Taylor will be doing a signing session at the Dark Horse booth this Saturday (October 13th) at New York Comic Con.
• The singer and writer -- who published a memoir called Seven Deadly Sins last year -- told Pulse of Radio a bit more about the storyline of House Of Gold And Bones: "It's
       essentially a sci-fi/fantasy story that I created, but at its heart, it's
       essentially about a man, standing at the crossroads of his life, trying to
       figure out what comes next. He's got 20, 30 years in front of him -- who's
       he going to be for that 20 or 30 years? Is he going to allow himself to
       evolve and become a better man, become a different man? And, you know,
       it's kind of wrapped in this insane world that I created."

FIRST RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE ALBUM GETTING DELUXE 20^TH ANNIVERSARY
REISSUE: Rage Against The Machine's self-titled 1992 debut album will be reissued in a 20th anniversary edition on November 27th, according to Antiquiet. The set, titled Rage Against
The Machine XX, will come out in three versions: a regular single disc, a two-CD/one-DVD package, and a deluxe box set featuring the CDs, two DVDs, the album on vinyl picture disc, plus a 40-page booklet and a double-sided poster.

The first CD will feature three hard-to-find B-sides along with the original album,
while the second CD will contain the original Rage Against the Machine demo
tape, which was recorded in 1991 and sold for $5 at the merch table at the
band's earliest gigs. This marks the first time that the entire demo tape --
which helped land the group their record deal with Sony -- will get a full
official release.

• The first DVD will contain Rage Against The Machine's free
       concert in Finsbury Park on June 2010, which was a "thank you"
       to U.K. fans for making 'Killing in the Name' the U.K.'s Number One single
       during Christmas Week 2009. Also included are music videos and live
       concert performance clips.
• The second DVD will feature Rage's first public performance
       ever at Cal State North Ridge in October 1991, plus various rare concert clips
       from the band's first couple of years of touring.
• Rage Against The Machine disbanded in 2000 but
       reunited in 2007 and has played sporadic live shows ever since. Summer
       2011's L.A. Rising festival was Rage Against The Machine's last
       live appearance to date.

BRAD ITT SAYS FAMILY IS EVERYTHING: Brad Pitt has started choosing his acting roles based on his family.  In a new interview -- conducted by Guy Ritchie for Interview magazine -- Brad said that he wants his body of work to be a legacy for his loved ones. He explained, "I want it to be worthy enough of a story to leave the family, you know? They're everything. The
family is first . . . I also don't want to embarrass them."

'GIRLS' STAR POSES PREGNANT AND TOPLESS: Girls star Jemima Kirke is showing off her
pregnant, nude body -- but not by going the artsy route celebs have taken in the past. Instead, the 27-year-old posed for Vice magazine in various poses: sloppily eating ice cream, wearing mismatched underwear, and baring her breasts in the shower. This will be her second child with husband Michael Mosberg. Check out the (NSFW) photos: http://bit.ly/OOyzHh

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY SHOWS OFF WEIGHT LOSS: McConaughey has dropped 30 pounds for his role as an AIDS patient in The Dallas Buyer's Club. Check it out: http://bit.ly/RaWIa7

TOM CRUISE GETS SPANKED: A bunch of A-listers got spanked -- literally -- at Matt Damon's birthday party in London last weekend. The New York Post reported that John Krasinski was in charge of organizing the bash at Simon Hammerstein's London club The Box. Sources told the Post that Damon, Tom Cruise, Chris Hemsworth and Emily Blunt
all "got paddled on their rears" by the club's cross-dressing hostess." The insider added, "Matt got some extra spanking and they all had a fantastic night enjoying the shows and partying till the end."

LOUIS C.K. TAKING BREAK BEFORE SEASON 4: Louis C.K. is taking a break from production on his FX comedy Louie.  Per the comedian's request, the fourth season of the show will premiere in 2014 instead of 2013. He told reporters, "It's a luxury I asked for. The last three seasons have been this surge of fun and work and stories and it's been
great, but I want the show to keep getting better. That's my goal. I don't want
it to be making the doughnuts. I want it to be something that comes from
somewhere important and stays funny. I think I can do better work if I spread
things out."

PAULA ABDUL GUEST-JUDGING 'DWTS': Paula Abdul is heading back to TV. The former American Idol/X Factor judge is taking a turn on Dancing With the Stars, where she'll be acting as a guest judge next Monday, October 15th. Paula previously had her own dance
show called Live To Dance, which briefly aired in early 2011 on CBS.

'COMMUNITY' PREMIERE IS POSTPONED: NBC has delayed the return of Community. The sitcom was slated to move to Friday nights and return to the air on October 19th -- but that has been postponed. They released a statement explaining, "Given the success we've
had for the past four weeks -- including winning the first week of the season
in A18-49 -- we've decided to continue to concentrate our promotional strength
on our new NBC shows that are scheduled Monday through Wednesday and have
therefore decided to hold Community and Whitney from their
previously announced premieres of October 19th."

MED WITH RED FACES ARE HOT: Men with red complexions are apparently irresistibly
attractive to women. In a study, women were asked to manipulate pictures of
men's faces to make them more attractive -- and the first thing they did was
make their skin tone redder. It is thought that rosy cheeks are a sign of good
circulation and therefore an indication of good health. The women, who had the
choice of adding red or yellow tones, tended to plump for a degree of pinkness.
They added even more red when asked to make the men look as dominant as
possible. (Daily Mail)

CHECKING FACEBOOK IS MORE TEMPTING THAN SEX: Checking social networking sites is more tempting than sex and cigarettes, according to a new study. Researchers at Chicago University's Booth Business School used BlackBerrys to log reports about participants' willpower and desires over seven days. They had to identify what the desire was and how strong they felt it was, as well as if it conflicted with other desires and what decision they had made - whether to accept or resist the pull. The results showed Facebook, Twitter or other social networks yearnings were ranked as the hardest desires to resist. (Daily Mail)