Our story so far: a nuclear bomb has been detonated in the desert outside of Los Angeles (thanks, Jack!), and we have reason to think this was the work of three Muslim countries. Seasoned 24 fans never really believed any of this because, after all, this is 24 we're talking about — and anyway, they kind of gave the game away when they started torturing the NSA director and discovered that he knew about the whole thing.
So anyway, last night we learned for sure that the evidence implicating the Muslims has been faked. The reality is that the whole thing was planned by some folks who wanted us to start a huge war in the Middle East.
I think Richard Perle was behind it. Those 24 scriptwriters really know their neocon politics, don't they?
A 16-YEAR-OLD NSW schoolgirl was critically wounded today when a crossbow arrow fired by a fellow student passed through her chest and hit another pupil in the leg.
Witnesses said a teenage boy chased students around a high school near Port Stephens, north of Newcastle, before shooting one girl through the left side of the chest.
Police said the arrow passed through her body before lodging in the leg of a second 16-year-old girl at the Tomaree High School at Salamander Bay.
Witnesses said another student stopped the attacker as he tried to light a petrol bomb.
Both girls were taken to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital, where the student with chest injuries was in a critical condition.
Police said a 16-year-old boy taken into custody after the 8.15am (AEST) shooting was a student at the school, and as many as 100 teenagers may have witnessed the attack.
One police spokesman said the boy and the first girl shot knew each other.
"They certainly knew one another," he said, but refused to confirm whether the attacker and the seriously injured girl had once dated.
One caller to Sydney radio 2GB, who said his nephew was a student at the high school, said a senior student tackled the boy as he was about to light a petrol bomb.
"The alleged offender apparently chased the girls around the school," the caller said.
"There's a hero at the school, a Year 12 boy at the school ... who has tackled this offender while he was trying to light a petrol bomb.
"It could have been horrendous."
Another caller described the scene and its aftermath as similar to a war zone.
Sandy Roache, the mother of one student, said her daughter sent her a mobile phone text message at about 8.20am saying she had seen a girl shot.
"And I went over to my sister's across the road to show her the text and I (sent a) text back, 'are you joking?'," Ms Roache told AAP outside the school.
She said her daughter had told her the attacker was not very popular, while other students described him as a loner.
Police said a number of students managed to overpower the boy and hold him until police arrived.
It had not yet been revealed whether the illegal weapon was home-made or shop bought.
The school principal was not available for comment today but an education department spokesman said parents had been encouraged to take their children home.
Spokesman Sven Wright said a substantial number of the school's 1,100-odd pupils had left for the day.
Counselling was in place for remaining staff and students.
An ambulance spokesperson said rescue authorities were called in to cut the arrow from the second girl's leg before she could be taken to John Hunter Hospital.
"What a Girl Wants" is to avoid making a political statement.
Print advertisements for the teen comedy originally featured a photograph of star Amanda Bynes wearing a tank top with an American flag on it and flashing the peace sign with her fingers as she stands between two British royal guards.
But with the war in Iraq sparking anti-war protests in the United States and abroad, Warner Bros. quickly changed the ad. The studio said Monday it feared the peace sign would be viewed as a political message.
New versions of the image feature Bynes with her right hand at her side, although many of the original posters already had been placed on billboards and buses before the change was made.
In the film, Bynes plays an American girl who travels to London to find the father she never knew, who's a British politician. "What a Girl Wants" opens Friday nationwide.
