On Thursday morning, Austin resident Joseph Stack burned down his home, drove to his local airport, then flew a small plane he owned into an office building that housed an IRS office there. Two people were taken to the hospital and 11 more were injured. Two bodies were pulled from the buildings, but their identities have not been confirmed. A Web site registered to Stack contained a suicide note, in which Stack rants against the government and the IRS. "If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, 'Why did this have to happen?,'" he wrote. "The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time." He ends, "I am finally ready to stop this insanity.  Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well." Though investigations are ongoing, authorities initially said that the crash was not linked to any terrorist group and called it an "isolated incident." Before driving to the airport, Stack set fire to his home.

When Google went on the offensive against China after attacks on the company’s servers were sourced to the nation, most assumed the Chinese government was behind them. But a new inquiry traces the attacks to computers at two schools in China. The attacks were aimed at getting computer codes and emails sent by Chinese human-rights activists, and pilfering trade secrets off Google’s servers. One of the schools in question has strong links to the Chinese military. A new concern is the possibility that it was not the Chinese government but some outside force that was attempting to break into Google’s information. The schools involved are Shanghai Jiaotong University and Lanxiang Vocational School, according to knowledgeable sources. Some are still cautioning that the Chinese government could have set up proxies to avoid implication. Spokespeople for the two schools said they had not heard that the threats had been traced to their computers. One professor commented that he is “not surprised,” and that “students hacking into foreign Web sites is quite normal.” He cited “geek students” who may just have been “experimenting with their hacking skills learned in school,” or that the “university’s IP addresses were [sic] hijacked by others, which frequently happens.”

Duck and cover: The U.N. nuclear agency announced Thursday new fears that Iran may be building a nuclear weapon. The report puts the U.N. with Germany, France, Britain, and Israel in disagreeing with a three-year-old U.S. intelligence assessment that said Iran stopped building a warhead in 2003. The U.N. says that Iran’s opposition to its probes "give[s] rise to concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program."

Has the government fallen victim to Twilight hysteria? Parse together the titles of Twilight: New Moon and Twilight: Breaking Dawn and you have the name the Obama administration wants you to call the new phase of the Iraq War. ABC News' Jake Tapper has learned that the war currently known as "Operation Iraqi Freedom" will be rebranded to "Operation New Dawn" as part of an effort to focus on what General David Petraeus has been told is "a change of mission for U.S. forces in Iraq." The memo, written by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, states that the name change sends "a strong signal that Operation IRAQI FREEDOM has ended and our forces are operating under a new mission." Some are crying foul on the name change, worrying that the administration is attempting to hoodwink the public into viewing the war as a minor conflict. Though it appears that the revision was intended to evince a new relationship with Iraq and Iraqi forces, there is some bad blood that might get in the way: "New Dawn" was the name for the brutal series of 2004 battles for Fallujah (at the time, U.S. leaders wanted to call it "Fallujah Fury").

It might not quite live up to the hype, but The New York Times has published another damning story about Governor David Paterson. Last year, when a plane crashed in Buffalo killing 50 people, Paterson was nowhere to be found. Last summer, after he was advised to travel around New York to boost numbers, he spent time relaxing in the Hamptons with friends. Lawmakers have criticized Paterson's lack of engagement during crisis and, at times, his seemingly remote participation. Now, Paterson's campaign is racking up $1,000 restaurant bills from a lacking $3 million war chest, only adding to the pre-election uncertainty. As voting day nears, Paterson appears to be increasing his isolation, often times making senior policy advisers feel "shunned" and keeping staff members out of the loop during the decision-making process.

After two years of bailouts and debatable progress, the Federal Reserve is making its first move toward normalizing lending. On Friday, the Fed will put into effect an increase in the interest rate from 0.50 to 0.75 on emergency loans, acting to discourage emergency borrowing rather than tightening credit. Additionally, the Fed raised the minimum bid rate for its Term Auction Facility to 0.50 percent from 0.25 percent, and shortened the maximum maturity for lending from primary credit loans to overnight. The changes are meant to direct depository institutions to turn to private funding markets when interested in short-term credit, allowing the Fed to act as a backup or emergency source.

Maybe they compared Nobel Prizes? The Dalai Lama said he was “very happy” after his meeting with Obama on Thursday and that the president was “very much supportive.” The White House shindig was relatively low-key, as to not offend China. They met in the Map Room, instead of the Oval Office, they spoke without cameras, and released only a single image.

The House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee invited Toyota Motor Corp. Chief Executive Akio Toyoda to testify in Washington, and though he wavered earlier in the day, he eventually accepted. Toyoda said that he “look[s] forward to speaking directly with Congress and the American people.” Toyoda will give a five-minute opening statement and answer lawmakers’ questions. Other bigwigs in the Toyota camp are also to scheduled for trips to the Hill, with the president of Toyota Motor Sales USA testifying Tuesday. Texas Governor Rick Perry is subtly asking congressmen to play nice, noting that Toyota provides his state with more than 10,000 jobs.

Lindsey Vonn won’t be winning five Olympic medals: Her hopes to do so were dashed Thursday after she fell in the slalom portion of the Super-Combined. She was leading after the downhill portion, but fell behind to the eventual winner, Germany’s Maria Riesch, in the slalom portion. Vonn’s ski snagged a slalom pole, causing her to crash and not finish. Her American teammate Julia Mancuso won the silver.

Maybe he should call Kobe for advice? Tiger’s wife, Elin Nordegren, will not attend his televised apology Friday, sources tell RadarOnline.com. Meanwhile, Tiger was getting ready for the big event—the first confirmed photos of him since his scandal showed the golfer jogging in Orlando, Florida.

President Obama is getting tired of waiting for Democrats to put aside their differences, so next week he'll release his own proposal—a mashup of the Senate and House bill—as Democratic legislators struggle to find common ground within their own party. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said that he doesn't know "whether the president is going to put one particular piece of legislation on the table," and a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) deferred questions regarding a finalized proposal by saying that Democrats are "continuing to make progress on winnowing the differences between the House and Senate proposals." Why all the sudden hurry? Obama has invited both Democrats and Republicans to the White House for a televised meeting on health care next week. Meanwhile, administration officials continued attacks on insurance companies, following up on an inquiry into a particular insurer's proposed 39 percent premium increase for Californians. Insurers, for their part, pushed back by calling for an end of what an industry spokeswoman called "the politics of vilification."

How the mighty have fallen: Bernard Kerik, the police commissioner of New York when the September 11 attacks occurred, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for tax fraud, lies he told to the Bush White House while being vetted for the Homeland Security chief post, and six other felonies. Kerik pleaded guilty in November and had been awaiting his sentence while under house arrest in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.

Another bad omen for Yahoo: The Web site that once dominated the Internet has now fallen to third place in the U.S., behind the seemingly untouchable Google—and now Facebook. The shift came in January, when just-released figures show that Facebook’s slight upturn—when coupled with Yahoo’s slight but continued slide—gave Mark Zuckerberg’s Web site the edge. Facebook, which just celebrated its 400 millionth user, receives almost 134 million unique visitors per month, while Yahoo has slipped from dominance to a still-impressive 132 million. Google, for its part, has been mired in controversy over its new venture, Google Buzz, which takes aim at Twitter and Facebook by offering a social-networking side to its colossal Gmail customer base. Let the status updates war begin!

Did Jesus have another cross to bear? Elton John think so: "I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems,” John tells Parade. “On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel.” John also says, “Fame attracts lunatics. I never had a bodyguard, ever, until Gianni [Versace] died. I don't like celebrity anymore."

Why not put the kid in the ring? Jonathan Ballan, the lead bond lawyer for the financing of Yankee Stadium, booked the stadium on June 5 for his son’s bar mitzvah. Now, Bob Arum, a boxing promoter, is negotiating to book the stadium for the same day for a bout between Yuri Foreman and Miguel Cotto. So far, Arum has agreed to give the bar-mitzvah party ringside seats, allow the bar mitzvah boy into Foreman’s dressing room before the fight, and to give the boy’s friends autographed baseballs. But the matter is still not settled. “The bar mitzvah saga continues,” Arum tells The New York Times.

Can’t say they weren’t warned: Werner Hoeger, an Olympic luge athlete from Venezuela, warned Canadian officials in November about the track that killed a Georgian athlete last week. Hoeger competed in the Salt Lake City and Turin Games, but did not qualify for the current Games after he suffered a concussion on the Vancouver track. After the crash, Hoeger warned luge officials that it was unsafe and that athletes from small countries were not being allowed enough practice runs—Georgia's Nodar Kumaritashvili, who died, only had 26 practice runs, while Canada’s team averaged 250.

Proof that life really does imitate art: Alabama shooter Amy Bishop wrote a novel about—surprise!—a scientist at an Alabama university who desperately wants tenure. As The Boston Globe points out, the unpublished novel may be a window into the life of Bishop, who allegedly shot six colleagues at the University of Alabama last week after they denied her tenure. The novel follows Olivia, a scientist who moves to Alabama and struggles with her career while a global pandemic leaves women unable to have children. Bishop wrote of the heroine: "She knew she was a professor, having finally achieved tenure. Her huge family sat at the table, her mother, father, her sister, Steve's parents and the children—her many children... she felt warm, happy, fulfilled, and yet she knew it was just a dream." Bizarrely, Bishop is the second cousin of novelist John Irving, and was particularly proud of that connection. She had worked on the book for several years, sending the most recent version of it to a colleague in Massachusetts six months ago.

Despite endless buildup and a four-month release delay, Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island is not winning over critics. The AP cites an “inherent gloom” that wears away at audiences, although it does credit Scorsese for “seemingly hurl[ing] everything the director knows about filmmaking up on screen in a blazing, masterful technical triumph.” It’s a common critique among film buffs, who seem less upset with the movie than perplexed. The New York Daily News remarks that “what ultimately sticks in the mind is how hard the movie works for so little effect,” admitting that the film is expertly shot and brilliantly acted. Critics seem disappointed in Scorsese himself, noting that the man who gave the world The Departed, Cape Fear, The Aviator, and Goodfellas is capable of much more than just a pretty movie (one critic summed up the disappointment as such: “It's a shame that at the height of his popularity, he's using his movie-god strength merely to rattle the cage.”) Leonardo DiCaprio leads an all-star cast that includes Sir Ben Kingsley and Mark Ruffalo. DiCaprio said this week that the movie left him with nightmares, and that the experience was “very traumatic…I went to places and unearthed some things that I didn’t think I was capable of.” Shutter Island opens in theaters tomorrow

Twelve wine-makers and traders in France were found guilty Wednesday of selling the American distributor Gallo phony "pinot noir." French officials found in 2008 that 13.5 million liters of wine had been mislabeled and sent off to Gallo. They took ordinary wine which would have sold for $62 per 100 liters and by pretending it was pinot noir jacked the price up by more than double. The masquerading pinot noir had been sold in bottles of Gallo's ubiquitous Red Bicyclette label. Heavy fines were levied but no one was sent to jail.

Top U.N. climate change official, Yvo de Boer, announced on Thursday that he is resigning, effective July 1, from the post that he held for almost four years, the Associated Press reports. De Boer said he was announcing his departure now so that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had enough time to find a replacement before the next large climate summit in Mexico this fall. During his tenure, de Boer used frequent press encounters to raise the profile of climate issues and privately lobbied world leaders. The failure of last December's Copenhagen climate summit reportedly demoralized him, although de Boer said that he had been planning to switch jobs before the event. His next move is to global accounting firm KPMG, where he will consult on climate and sustainability issues.

Dick Cheney made a surprise appearance at the Conservative Politcal Action Committee on Thursday, arriving after his daughter Liz’s speech. “Often before I give big speeches, I ask him for advice,” Liz said. “Today I brought him with me.” Cheney arrived to cheers, a standing ovation, and a shout of “four more years.” “Knock it off,” Cheney said. “A welcome like that is almost enough to make me want to run for office. But I’m not gonna do it!”

In spite of widespread complaints about the practice, Malaysian authorities have begun to use caning as a sentence for women, and recently doled out the punishment to three Muslim women convicted of adultery. A wave of protest arose over a caning sentence for a woman caught drinking, and Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein cited the other three women in his defense: "People are saying that no woman has been caned before... today I am announcing that we have already done it," he said, claiming that the caning victims had subsequently "repented." Caning sentences issued by Islamic courts directly contradict Malaysian federal law, which bars women from receiving the punishment. Amnesty International and advocacy group Sisters in Islam have spoken out against the practice, calling it an example of "further discrimination against Muslim women in Malaysia" and a violation of the nation's constitution.

The Taliban's bomb makers have not been deterred by the increased presence of Marines and Afghan soldiers in Marja, as convoys continue to confront new mines placed in their way, The Washington Post reports. And in addition to insurgent forces firing rocket-propelled grenades at coalition bases, the Taliban has turned to human shields, using the bodies of women and children to protect themselves, according to The Guardian. The Post says American troops control a small part of the farming community and Newsweek reports a Taliban leader known to officials as the "shadow governor" of Afghanistan's Kunduz province has been captured in Pakistan. Pakistani authorities, working in concert with U.S. officials, caught Mullah Abdul Salam about a week ago, around the same time that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's second in command, was captured. Three other militants were also detained along with Mullah Salam.

Everything is ready for Tiger Woods' 11 a.m. press conference Friday, his first public statement in the nearly three months since his massive adultery scandal broke. Woods will "discuss his past and his future and he plans to apologize for his behavior," a statement from his camp said. Like everything Tiger does, the event will be tightly controlled. He will speak for five minutes but take no questions. According to his agent, only three wire-service reporters will be invited, plus a handful of media chosen by the Golf Writers Association of America. One camera will be allowed. According to TMZ, the Florida golf course where Woods will make his statement is on alert, bringing employees in early, at 4:30 a.m., clearing golf carts from beneath the clubhouse for Tiger's fleet of black SUVs, and arranging to have uniformed and plain clothes police on the scene. Most interestingly, Woods' press conference has been scheduled for a time when it will upstage the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona. Accenture was the first major sponsor to dump Woods in the wake of mistress-mania. No word yet on whether wife Elin will pull a Silda Spitzer, and appear alongside her man, or a Jenny Sanford, leaving him to face the music alone.

A chilling discovery from the Virginia-based web security firm NetWitness: more than 75,000 computer systems at almost 2,500 companies, primarily in the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and Mexico, were hacked beginning in 2008 in one of the world's largest and most sophisticated cyber attacks. The hackers, based out of Eastern Europe, baited employees into downloading or opening emails containing malware, which targeted proprietary corporate data, credit-card transaction data, emails, and login credentials at companies and at least 10 government agencies in 196 countries. Most troubling is that the attacks exhibited a scale and sophistication usually reserved for cyber attacks by nation states, highlighting the inability of the private sector to defend itself with traditional security approaches such as intrusion-detection systems and anti-virus software.

Generally regarded as one of America's most mediocre presidents, Millard Fillmore is suddenly in the spotlight. Legend had it that Fillmore's greatest achievement was installing a bathtub in the White House. Now, America's thirteenth president will star on his own presidential dollar coin and two cities in upstate New York are battling it over Fillmore's legacy. The coin ceremony will take place in Moravia on Thursday, but Fillmore was buried in Buffalo and led that city's university, leaving many a little peeved. "His legacy is here in Buffalo, not in—what is it?—Moravia," a University of Buffalo official told The Wall Street Journal. "As a small town, we just have a few moments of history that are ours—and Fillmore is one of them," said a Moravia partisan.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu won a Nobel Prize in physics, but even he may be wondering if he has the smarts to win the political war around climate change. He tells the Financial Times in an interview that the situation is getting dire not just for the environment but for business, which doesn't know which way legislation may go this year. “We’re in a crazy never-never land situation,” Chu said. But he remains optimistic that major energy and cap-and-trade legislation will be passed. “I’m here because I think we can do this," he told the paper. President Obama is making a new push this week, authorizing $8.3 in loans to build two nuclear reactors—the first of their kind to be constructed in the U.S. in 30 years.

Searching for ways to stem the economic crises in the future, the Senate and the White House are nearing a deal that would see the creation of a council of banking regulators, despite some opposition from Senate Republicans. Led by the Treasury secretary, its primary function would be to closely monitor banking activities for systemic risk. The creation of a council would diminish the authority of the Federal Reserve, which has borne waves of criticism for allowing the crisis to get out of hand. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has reportedly said he would not object to a Treasury-led council. "The idea of having a council, with the secretary of the Treasury as chair, and the Fed chairman or his designee as vice chair, is that you’re getting an early-warning system," said Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

After a controversial Sports Illustrated cover and the drama of her aching shin, Lindsey Vonn finally made headlines for doing exactly what everyone expected of her. With a commanding performance, the 25-year-old darling of U.S. audiences took gold in the women's downhill. It was the first Olympic gold of her career. "This is the best thing that's happened to me in my life," Vonn told reporters. "It's awesome." Fellow American Julia Mancuso finished 0.56 seconds behind her for silver, while Elisabeth Goergl of Austria won the bronze. Later Wednesday, speedskater Shani Davis defended his title in the 1,000-meter race, becoming the first man ever to repeat in that event. Snowboarder Shaun White took gold in the halfpipe, duplicating his 2008 win. White completed a Double McTwist 1260 move for a near-perfect score, and teammate Scotty Lago snatched the bronze.

Eight bedraggled, sweaty American missionaries arrived in Miami on Thursday after spending almost three weeks in a Haitian jail, freed after Haitian parents testified that they had voluntarily handed over their children to the group. The Baptists mostly hailed from two churches in Idaho, and were charged with attempting to take 33 Haitian children into the Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without the proper papers. Two of their number—leader Laura Silsby and nanny Charisa Coulter—are still being held in Haiti for questioning about their pre-earthquake trip to the country. The group has denied allegations of trafficking, saying that it was only trying to rescue child quake victims.

A United Airlines flight headed from Denver to San Francisco Thursday was re-routed and has landed in Salt Lake City due to an unspecified security threat. Officials are calling the emergency landing a " precautionary measure," though details on the threat have yet to be released. Passengers and crew are still on board the plane as FBI and airport police conduct a search.

Crystal Gale Mangum, the former stripper who accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape in 2006, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and arson on Wednesday. Mangum assaulted her boyfriend, threatened to stab him, and lit his clothes on fire in a bath tub. There were three children in the house at the time. Other charges include assault and battery, communicating threats, three counts of misdemeanor child abuse, injury to personal property, identity theft, and resisting a public officer.

Alexander McQueen's name won't die, despite his suicide last week. PPR, a French group that owns a controlling stake in McQueen's companies, announced on Thursday that the McQueen label will continue on without him. The PPR president called it "the best tribute we could offer to him," and said the company planned to build on the McQueen brand. McQueen reportedly told the head of PPR's Gucci subsidiary that his brand "will be my legacy" and "something I will always leave behind." No word yet on who will lead the company. The autumn-winter collection McQueen was working on at his death will also show at Paris fashion week in March.