The last hostage in the Rochester, New Hampshire situation has been released.
A few minutes later, the suspect stepped outside, into the middle of the street. Surrounded by a SWAT team, the man, dressed in smart trousers, a white shirt and red tie, took off the 'bomb' he claimed to have, before being taken into custody.
The suspect was known to the local police in Rochester.
No-one has been hurt and the hostages are ok. Congratulations to Rochester police department and all authorities concerned.
President Bill Clinton has also cancelled all events for today. Security has also been stepped up by police at the Clinton's house. Workers in other campaign office across the state have been told to keep all doors locked and be vigilant.
With one of the original four hostages being held, details have come out about the protagonist in this.
Earlier today he visited a hardware store and purchased several items. Some of these are believed to be strapped to his chest. The son of the man is reported to have been told by him, earlier in the day, to watch the news.
The Clinton campaign have released this statement on their website:
"There is an ongoing situation in or Rochester, NH office. We are in close contact with state and local authorities and are acting at their direction. We will release additional details as appropriate."
There were originally three hostages, after the woman and child left. The woman who has just left the building was a hostage, leaving two campaign staff inside being held by the suspect.
The networks which have begun rolling coverage of this, CNN, Fox, MSNBC have been asked by police to not air live pictures of the street in Rochester as it could compromise any action they might take.
The man has asked to speak to Hillary Clinton, who is at an event in Virginia.
A man has taken hostages at the Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire.
Early reports are that the man entered the office and had, what he claimed, was a bomb strapped to his chest. He then let a mother and her child leave. They then ran to a nearby store and raised the alarm.
Another US ally has changed it's stripes to a certain degree, Australia's new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
Former Prime Minister, John Howard, lost the general election, paving the way for Mr Rudd's left wing party to take the majority. He also is against the US strategy of keeping combat troops in Iraq. He has advocated, since 2003, for a greater number of troops performing training of Iraqi forces and peace keeping.
Tell The Truthiness ; Congratulations Mr Rudd. After UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's 'cooled' attitude to the US, is there anyone left in the "coalition of the willing"? Or is it just Bush and Cheney at this point?
Speaking in a CNN Reliable Sources interview today, Tom Brokaw gave his take on the state of Iraq. He also touched on many other areas when talking to Howard Kurtz.
The ramblings of Rudy Giuliani, the Oprah Obama backing, the runaway train of Hillary Clinton, things don't look good for the Republicans, except for Ron Paul.
But there is one chink of light that may give the GOP a chance, handguns.
Yes, not gay marriage or stem cell research, but handguns. The US Supreme Court will have final say as to whether the District Of Columbia can ban handguns. The DC area has had a ban on handguns since 1976.
So here, finally, the federal government is set to rule on the definitions within the Second Amendment.
Back in May 2006, the White House press secretary was Scott McClellan and he was lying for the President.
That's not just our opinion, it's Mr McClellan. An excerpt from his book says this :
"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.
There was one problem. It was not true.
I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself."
Tell The Truthiness ; It all eventually rises to the surface. Bit by little bit.
Everyone's favourite booby-prize candidate, Rudy Giuliani may be painting himself as Mr 9/11, but the opinion of one 9/11 Commission Co-Chairman doesn't think so.
Thomas H. Kean, former New Jersey Governor and co-chair of the 9/11 commission has thrown his backing for President behind Senator John McCain.
The scene of this public endorsement wasn't a town hall, or on the steps of a courthouse, but at Boston's Logan Airport, the location that Flight 11 and Flight 175 departed from before crashing into the World Trade Center towers.
Rudy Giuliani couldn't be reached for comment, rumours that he might have been meeting the President to try and link the Boston Tea Party and the Civil War to 9/11 and al-Qaeda have remained speculation.
Tell The Truthiness ; But of course, since the Republicans held their convention in New York in 2004, with security the broad issue combined with their near constant invocation of 9/11, this event seems rather tame in comparison.
The congressional hearing into the Blackwater shootings had a surprise chapter last week. After denying that he had any connection to the US military contractor, Howard Krongard, who was leading the hearing, made a phone call during a break to find some interesting family details.
On his return to the room, Krongard told the hearing that his brother, 'Buzzy' Krongard attended a Blackwater advisory board meeting. He recused himself and left.
Mr Krongard later said about his Blackwater brother, "we do not discuss our business with each other."
Tell The Truthiness ; We don't mind if you don't know everything about your brother. But when you don't know he's working for a firm that you are investigating for shooting members of the Iraqi public, you really do need some one-on-one time.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives are rounding up votes tonight for a war spending bill which stipulates for troop withdrawals from Iraq.
A reduction in troop numbers would have to start within thirty days of it's passage.
The symbolism is important if nothing else in the bill, since the White House has said the President will veto the bill if it gets passed.
Tell The Truthiness ; Democrats and those Republicans that have seen the light, symbolic actions are fine, but we need to see some real, physical ones to get actual change.
Judith Regan, who used to work for News Corporation, has filed a lawsuit which claims she was asked to lie to protect Rudy Giuliani's presidential race.
Regan argues that she was told, by a senior executive, to lie to federal investigators about an affair she had as part of a campaign to protect Giuliani.
Tell The Truthiness : From the War On Aliens, to this. He's done it again. What shall we call this? The Fooliani News Channel? Foxliani?
Anyone got any suggestions? Email or leave a comment and let us know.
This report is last years UK ceremony of remembrance in London.
The parallels between what happens on the 11th of November in the US and other countries to honor the fallen war dead is telling, especially this year in 2007.
In the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and continental Europe the day is called Remembrance Day. People wear red poppies, a symbol of a fallen solider. The red flowers were the first things to grow on the muddy trenches in northern France after the end of the First World War. People stand for two minutes, at 11:00 in silence. In streets, offices, airports, stations, shops, squares, parks and government buildings. A chance to stop and think.
It is done in silence, with no speeches, no 'celebration', just diginifed, sombre reflection for the dead of past conflicts and those of the present day.
Those in charge of the Veteran's Day events in Long Beach California prevented those veterans taking part who are against the Iraq War because they didn't have the right "spirit".
Tell The Truthiness ; Anyone who's gone off to fight on our behalf and has been lucky enough to come back alive has earned the right to say whatever they like. Regardless of what they say, whenever they wish to say it, censoring them contradicts the very reason they go off to fight.
George Bush was recently playing video games with veterans, which gave his image a bit of a shake, just before Veterans Day, but away from the photo-ops, things are quite different.
He also said during his radio address that he will never forget what is owed to them.
The man is either deceptive or has a short memory. Because today he vetoed a Labor, Health and Education bill which would have included money for veterans support. More shocking are the results of a survey which shows that one in four of the number of people homeless are veterans.
Tell The Truthiness ; We'd forgive you for not playing video games with wounded troops in the future, as long as you give them the money they need when they come back home.
How many more people, of any rank in US government, are there left to be made to tow the line and prop up the President? Recent events indicate not that many.
Daniel Levin, the acting assistant attorney general in 2004, asked to experience the method of torture and reported that "torture is abhorent" in a memo, which was later leaked. He was later pushed out of his job by Alberto Gonzales. Now, Malcolm Nance, a former Navy interrogation instructor has told a house committee that waterboarding is torture.
Tell The Truthiness ; "Physical pain and sheer panic" described the marine in the reconstruction shown in the video of how waterboarding felt. Enhanced interrogation techniques equals torture, plain and simple.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was given a last-minute 'get out' on the eve of the Iraq invasion, but didn't take it.
George Bush was concerned about the effect the military action would have on his "closest ally" and the UK government. The President was given advice by the United States London embassy that the war vote prior to the invasion could bring down Mr Blair's government.
The reason Mr Blair didn't take the offer from the President? He thought it would look "pathetic".
Tell The Truthiness ; Since 2003 there's been 1,220,580 war casualties in Iraq. What looks more "pathetic" now Mr Blair?
More people believe in ghosts and UFOs than in what President Bush is doing for the US.
34 percent of those polled by AP/Ipsos believe in ghosts and UFOs.
Meanwhile, 31 percent of the same people believe in President Bush's direction for the country.
Tell The Truthiness ; Where were the nutty people who were polled and gave this unbelievable answer? Show us the people who believe in Bush's policies, bring them forth and we'll put them inside the containment unit.
