From email: Keith is Back !

[Catchawave]

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Tonight on Countdown
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The Israeli air force carried out strikes Monday in southern Lebanon despite an agreement to halt raids for 48 hours after nearly 60 Lebanese civilians were killed in an Israeli bombing, the army said. The airstrikes near the village of Taibe were meant to protect ground forces operating in the area and were not targeting anyone or anything specific, the army said. Meanwhile, Hezbollah guerrillas attacked an Israeli tank in southern Lebanon, wounding three soldiers, the military said. The attack occurred near the villages of Kila and Taibe on border, where Israeli ground forces have been fighting Hezbollah guerrillas for nearly two weeks. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14100258/

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, under pressure amid the mounting civilian death toll in the Middle East, said that today she believes a cease-fire can be reached this week to end the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. At the end of a turbulent 8-day trip, Ms. Rice laid out what she called an “emerging consensus” for a ceasefire package. Under the proposal, Israel and Lebanon ­presumably representing Hezbollah -- would agree to a ceasefire as part of a larger pact that would include installing international peacekeepers throughout southern Lebanon. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/world/middleeast/31cnd-rice.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast&oref=slogin

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

Mel Gibson issued a lengthy statement Saturday apologizing for saying “despicable” things to sheriff's deputies when he was arrested for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol. The entertainment Web site TMZ posted what it said were four pages from the original arrest report, which quoted Gibson as launching an expletive-laden “barrage of anti-Semitic remarks” after he was stopped early Friday on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14080210/


That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
For more than 30 years, crowds have flocked to the small English fishing village of Lyme Regis to watch an annual tradition - two teams of fishermen standing on wooden platforms as human bowling pins, hurling a dead giant eel at each other. But the ritual was abruptly abandoned after an animal rights activist threatened to draw negative publicity to the latest tournament, organizers said Saturday. The practice, known as conger cuddling, is the annual highlight in the small coastal town about 155 miles southwest of London. The object of the game is to knock the opposing team off the platform by swinging a 25-pound eel at them. Fishermen often accidentally catch the creatures in their nets, deep-freeze them and defrost them in preparation for the tournament.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BRITAIN_EEL_GAME?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
OK, but if the eels were already dead, and these fools want to hurl them at each other, where's the harm?

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

Other News:
Gunmen kidnapped 29 people in Baghdad on Monday, while Iraq’s latest wave of violence killed 19 people, including four Iraqi soldiers in a suicide bombing. The interior minister faced calls for his dismissal because of the worsening security crisis in Baghdad and surrounding towns, mostly blamed on sectarian conflict between Shiites and Sunnis. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14115961/

Scorching heat again built up over the Plains and Upper Midwest early Monday as the furnace-like air that blistered California last week settled over the nation’s midsection. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14117740/

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Monday giving Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13165160/

NATO troops assumed command Monday of military operations in volatile southern Afghanistan from the U.S.-led coalition in the latest bid to crush resurgent Taliban forces behind a deadly spike in bloodshed. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14111646/

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, who tested positive for testosterone on his way to victory in cycling’s showpiece event, should find out Monday if the counter-analysis he has requested confirms the result. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14059185/

A serious oil spill has occurred on one of Russia’s largest export pipelines near the border with Ukraine and Belarus, the Natural Resources Ministry said Monday, warning it could cause an environmental disaster. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14116559/

The government is considering allowing over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill, but only to women 18 and older — a surprise move Monday that revives efforts to widen access to the emergency contraceptive almost a year after it was thought doomed. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14119546/

A swarm of slimy invaders is menacing beachgoers on North Carolina's southern coast. Jellyfish have stung so many people in the area of Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach that the New Hanover County Health Department issued an alert on Friday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14117854/

Six veteran homicide detectives are leading a new police task force investigating the unsolved 1997 killing of rap star Notorious B.I.G. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14118674/