NEWS AND VIEWS

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Typhoon slams into Chinese island: "The strongest typhoon in more than 30 years has hit the south Chinese island of Hainan with winds comparable to Hurricane Rita, state media reports.

Typhoon Damrey made landfall at 0400 local time (2000 GMT Sunday) north of Wanning City and is due to sweep the whole of the tropical island on Monday.

Two evacuated villages were swamped by floodwater a metre (yard) deep.

No casualties were reported immediately but it is feared that rice, rubber and banana crops could suffer major damage.

The island was battered by winds of 200km/h (125mph), stronger than the 193km/h (120mph) gusts recorded when Rita made landfall in Texas and Louisiana on Saturda"

The Memphis Flyer :: the mid-south's news weekly: Breaking News: Breaking News: TERRORISM TASK FORCE BUSTS BOGUS U of M STUDENT:

"Was Mahmoud Maawad a University of Memphis student and pilot-wannabe with a passion for flying small planes or an Arab terrorist looking to duplicate the suicide missions of 9/11?

Federal prosecutors in Memphis aren’t saying, but on Thursday they asked a U.S. magistrate to hold Maawad, 29, whose email logon is “pilot747,” without bond until trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Thomas Anderson agreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Parker, and Maaward becomes the second Memphis resident of Arab descent to be held without bond because of investigations by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. In April, Rafat Mawlawi was jailed in a separate investigation in which prosecutors have linked him to Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida. He is awaiting trial on October 3rd.

Maawad is charged in a criminal complaint with fraudulent use of a Social Security number which he used to get utilities and a credit card and enroll in school. He entered the United States at New York City from Egypt in 1998 and his visitor’s visa expired in 1999. He has been in the country illegally since then. His address is 3557 Mynders Avenue in Memphis, where he moved in June. He previously lived in Olive Branch, Mississippi for an unknown period. He is currently enrolled as an undergraduate student at the University of Memphis, registering as a transfer student from New Jersey but failing to register as an international student.

Maawad was cited on March 11, 2005, by Memphis police for selling alcohol to a minor at 1171 Chelsea in Memphis

Maawad was busted again this week after federal agents searched his apartment and computer on September 9th and examined his Internet purchases of flight instructions and pilot paraphernalia. Since June, Maawad ordered $3,300 of merchandise over the Internet from Sporty’s Pilot Shop in Batavia, Ohio, including a private pilot course, flight simulator software, a flight gear bag, several DVDs, a $239 Navy leather flight jacket, a $19.95 DVD on “How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act,” and instructional programs on “airplane talk.” His email address was pilot747_200@hotmail.com.

After purchasing approximately $2,500 worth of merchandise, Maawad’s debit card was rejected by Sporty’s for lack of funds and his last three orders were not filled. Agents are in the process of examining his computer hard drive."

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"More than 150 people have been killed and hundreds injured in a series of bomb attacks and shootings across Iraq.

In the worst incident, at least 112 people were killed and some 160 injured when a car bomb exploded in Baghdad's mainly Shia district of Kadhimiya.

During the night, gunmen killed 17 men in the nearby town of Taji after dragging them from their homes.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed it had begun a nationwide bombing campaign to avenge a recent major offensive on rebels.

In a statement on a website, the group said it acted after US and Iraqi forces attacked insurgents in the northern town of Talafar."

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Scores killed in Baghdad attacks

Photo Credit: Amr Nabil, Egypt Today

September 2005

With You in Spirit

Public endorsements of candidates by both Coptic, Catholic and Muslim clergy and the suspension of a controversial priest stoked the debate last month about the power religious institutions wield in this month’s presidential elections — and raised new questions about the separation of religion and the state
By Noha El-Hennawy

With you in Spirit-Full Story from "Egypt Today"

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Fire, Stampede at Egypt Theater Kills 29: "BENI SUEF, Egypt (AP) - A fire that began when an actor knocked over a candle on the set of a play ripped through a crowded theater in this central Egyptian city late Monday, sparking a stampede of audience members and killing at least 29 people, survivors and officials said.

The fire spread quickly across the set, which was made entirely of paper and had been ringed with candles. Panicked audience members trampled each other trying to get out the one available exit door, which at one point was partially blocked by a piece of wood that fell during the blaze, survivors said."