An Islamic scholar from South Africa has been denied entry into the United States, prompting questions from Bay Area Muslims who had invited him to participate in activities marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.Fazlur Rahman Azmi was detained by officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection when he arrived at San Francisco International Airport from London on Friday afternoon, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil liberties group.Azmi, who made previous visits to the country as recently as April without problems, was questioned for hours before being denied entry and sent on a plane out of the country Saturday, the group said. Michael Fleming, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman, confirmed Saturday that Azmi was forced to leave the country after a brief detainment. He refused to give any details of the case.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com censor News |
Editor - 20:53:00 10-21-06 |
BASE jumper killed during Bridge Day festival Thousands watch as man's parachute fails to deploy after W.Va. leap |
Thousands of people watched a pioneering parachutist jump to his death from a bridge during a festival Saturday when his chute opened too late, a sheriff said.Brian Lee Schubert, 66, died of injuries suffered when he hit the water 876 feet below the New River Gorge Bridge during West Virginia’s annual Bridge Day festival, said Fayette County Sheriff Bill Laird.Schubert, from Alta Loma, Calif., had been well known in the sport of BASE jumping since 1966, when he and a friend became the first people to jump from El Capitan, a nearly 3,000-foot-tall rock formation, in California’s Yosemite National Park. The sport’s acronym stands for the places jumpers usually leap from: buildings, antennae, spans and earth.Lew Whitener, a newspaper photographer covering the annual Bridge Day festival for the Register-Herald of Beckley, said it appeared Schubert’s chute didn’t start to open until he was about 25 feet above the water. The crowd gave a collective gasp, he said.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15364271/
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Editor - 20:50:00 10-21-06 |
U.S. Sees Deadliest Month of '06 in Iraq 3 Marines die in Iraq as U.S. fatalities hit 78, the deadliest month of year; 18 Iraqis killed |
Five bicycle bombs and a hail of mortar shells ripped apart a market south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing 18 people in yet another sign that Iraq's government and U.S. forces were struggling to contain sectarian violence. Three U.S. Marines also were killed, making October the deadliest month for American forces this year.In Washington, President Bush met with his top military and security advisers to study new tactics to curb the staggering violence in Iraq, where more than 3 1/2 years of war have now taken more American lives _ at least 2,791 _ than the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.U.S. officials have blamed the skyrocketing violence on the holy month of Ramadan, which ends Sunday for Sunni Muslims, as well as the increased vulnerability of American forces during a major two-month security sweep in Baghdad and the approaching U.S. midterm election.... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/21/ap/world/mainD8KTASOO0.shtml
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Editor - 20:48:00 10-21-06 |
Aid agencies warn of food crisis |
An already dire humanitarian situation in North Korea is likely to worsen this winter after the impoverished country's nuclear brinkmanship resulted in sanctions and intensified scrutiny, aid workers warned.North Korea has still not recovered from famine in the 1990s that experts believe killed about 2.5 million people - 10 per cent of the population. UN sanctions imposed after North Korea's underground nuclear test this month do not cover aid supplies and charities have been assured the curbs won't bar them from operating in the country.'US NGOs have been allowed to conduct humanitarian assistance activities in North Korea, most of those at a modest scale,' said a senior private aid official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. 'Those have not been affected to date by the growing estrangement in the political relationship.'... http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1928447,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
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Editor - 20:44:00 10-21-06 |
City chief quits amid reports of 20 child deaths |
The city's human services commissioner resigned and one of her top deputies was fired amid reports that at least 20 children died of abuse or neglect under the agency's watch."Children are dying and we're concerned about it," Mayor John Street said Friday. "We hold this department and ourselves to a high standard."Commissioner Cheryl Ransom-Garner stepped down and John McGee, who handled abuse investigations, was terminated, Street said.The Philadelphia Inquirer, citing state records, has reported that at least 20 children died from 2003 to 2005 after their families met with the city's Department of Human Services.... http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/21/child.deaths.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us
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Editor - 20:42:00 10-21-06 |
Pope warns scientists not to risk fate of Icarus |
Pope Benedict told scientists on Saturday that by believing only in "artificial intelligence" and technology they risked the fate of the mythical Icarus, whose home-made wings melted when he flew too close to the sun."Contemporary life gives pride of place to an artificial intelligence ever more enslaved to experimental tecnhiques, thereby forgetting that all science should safeguard mankind and promote his tendency to authentic goodness," the Pope said. The German-born Pope, a theology professor and an enforcer of Vatican dogma before his election as pontiff last year, has voiced his concerns about some areas of scientific research that clash with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. ... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2595766
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Editor - 20:37:00 10-21-06 |
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