World Celebrates as Obama Announces Osama bin Laden Death

Breaking news tonight: Osama bin Laden is dead with his body in the possession of the US military, according to US media reports tonight including the New York Times, above — a fact that many people found out about on Facebook and Twitter.

President Obama confirmed the Al-Qaeda leader's death in a speech that was broadcast on TV and on the White House website. Stating that "Justice has been done," without a doubt it was the defining speech of his administration, a US military victory and a milestone in US history and the war on terror.

Call it the real President's Speech, following the comic speech that Obama gave last night that riffed on The King's Speech.

"The images of 9/11 are seared on our national memory," the president stated before detailing the operation that began with a tip last August. Read his remarks here and let us know: how do you think this will impact Obama's personal and political brand, especially as he gears up for the 2012 election?

This also boosts the image of Brand America too, of course — not to mention national morale and confidence. News reports showed Americans celebrating in the streets at New York's Ground Zero and outside the White House:

As Arianna Huffington tweeted, the killing of bin Laden nearly ten years after 9/11 happened "eight years to the day after Bush's 'mission accomplished' speech." It also broke into Obama foe Donald Trump's The Celebrity Apprentice on the East Coast, and likely speeds up the release of Hollywood's bin Laden movies now in the pipeline.

Media brands, meanwhile, were scrambling to keep up with the news as it was breaking on Twitter, spreading on Facebook and being broadcast on TV. Below, how the New York Times homepage broke the news, in addition to the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post homepages tonight: