​At about 5:30am, Hurricane Irene--now classified as a weak category 1 storm--reached Egg Inlet in New Jersey. New York City experienced strong winds and rain all morning, yet no major bridges or tunnels were shut down. Power outages plagued the area: 150,338 customers on Long Island, 166,000 in New Jersey, and 57,992 in New York experienced a loss of service. While hundreds of thousands of people in low-lying areas were ordered to evacuate, the city's shelters, which could accommodate 70,000 people, only had 8,700 evacuees as of last night. Irene was just downgraded to a tropical storm. [NYT]

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Middle East Media Research Institute

​Are jihadists becoming a bit out of touch? Their latest target is David Letterman, of all people, because he made a joke about the deaths of Osama bin Laden and OBL's successor Ilyas Kashmiri. On the al-Qaeda forum Shumoukh al-Islam, someone by the name of Umar al-Basrawi called upon U.S. Muslims to cut off Letterman's tongue and break his neck.

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​According to a letter discovered in the raid that led to his death, Osama Bin Laden was considering alternate names for his terrorist group because he felt that "Al Qaeda" had taken on a bad connotation for killing too many Muslims. He wanted to pick a name that would "convince Muslims worldwide that they were in a holy war with America," and was apparently considering "Taifat al-Tawhed Wal-Jihad," (meaning monotheism), and "Jihad Group," as well as "Jama'at I'Adat al-Khilafat al-Rashida," or "Restoration of the Caliphate Group." Al Qaeda's full name, for the record, is Al Qaeda al-Jihad, meaning "The Base of Holy War," but that had been shortened over the years, which tends to happen with all names, to the disappointment of all parents. In any case, now it's up to Bin Laden's successor, Ayman al-Zawahri, to deal with Al Qaeda's branding issues. [NYDN]

​A member of the United States Marine Corp Reserve, Yonathan Melaku, 22, was arrested today for carrying a backpack containing "five pounds of something labeled ammonium nitrate," material that could make a bomb, as well as automatic weapon ammunition, near the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. ABC News reports that the materials -- "not a device" -- were found in four ziplock bags, in addition to a school notebook with scribbled words like "Taliban rules," "al qaeda," "muahidin," and "defeated coalition forces." Melaku has not yet been charged, though he was arrested in May for "vehicle tampering" in Virginia.

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​A new website tied to Al Qaeda includes a detailed "hit list" of 40 names and 26 photos of powerful Americans, urging terrorists to attack them at home, NBC New York reports. The FBI alerted the people on the list, as well as law enforcement, of the website, which they say "is aspirational and it's unknown if the threat will progress beyond these discussion forums." NBC declined to name anyone targeted, but teases that it features not only politicians, but Wall Street firms, think tank members and military contractors -- leaders of all kinds "in government, industry and media." New York State Homeland Security Director Michael Balboni calls the threat "much more specific, individual targeting than we've seen before," but stresses, "You don't want to scare people." Too late! [NBC NY]

• ​The family of a woman in Queens is furious after she left nearly $250,000 in her will to bogus Rapture-propagating pastor Harold Camping. Doris Schmitt was 78 and died weeks before the Rapture was supposed to happen. Her family was shocked to discover that she'd left most of her life savings to Camping's Family Radio, of all things. Her great-nephew told the Post, "If the money had gone to any other charity in the world my family would be fine with it." [NYP]
• Ilyas Kashmiri, who has been described as the "military brain" of al Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan last night in a drone strike, according to a spokesman for the group. The death has not been confirmed by Pakistani officials. Kashmiri is/was "considered one of the most dangerous men in the world by counterterrorism officials on three continents." [CNN]

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​In the vacuum left by the demise of Osama Bin Laden, a man known as Saif al-Adel ("Sword of Justice" to you; other aliases include Muhamad Ibrahim Makkawi and Ibrahim Al-Madani) has been appointed interim leader of Al Qaeda, reports CNN. Al-Adel, who is Egyptian, was once a Special Forces officer and has long "played a prominent role" in the terrorist group. He is a Most Wanted Terrorist "for Conspiracy to Kill United States Nationals, to Murder, to Destroy Buildings and Property of the United States, and to Destroy the National Defense Utilities of the United States" and is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. He's also an Aries. [CNN, FBI]

​A new report concludes after 31,000 words that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (above right) is not a liar: He really did kill Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl (above left) nine years ago in Pakistan, as Khalid had said. But there are lots of new details from this investigation, some of them gruesome, as the Washington Post notes today:

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