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ROSEVILLE, Calif. -- A regional shopping center in suburban Sacramento has been evacuated after a man started a fire, then barricaded himself in the back room of an electronics store.

PHOTO CAPTION: "Yasir Afifi said the FBI planted a GPS device on his car and later confiscated it when a friend posted this photo online. (Credit: khaledthegypsy/REDDIT)" SNIPPET: "Yasir Afifi, a 20-year-old student and U.S.-born citizen found a GPS tracking device on his car. A friend posted pictures of the device, which resulted in the FBI coming by Afifi's Santa Clara, Calif., apartment to retrieve the surveillance equipment. It seems the FBI was tracking Afifi's movements..."

Maybe Ed Schultz was right about being able to attract more people than Glenn Beck: organizers of today’s “One Nation Together Rally” are claiming that, based on a “satellite image,” there are definitively more people on the Washington Mall today than there were on the 29th of August. Congratulations, liberals! Except “Restoring Honor” was on the 28th. It was bound to happen that the organizers of this rally, the goal of which was decidedly to undermine the strength in numbers of the Tea Party, would claim to have brought together a larger number of people than Glenn Beck’s crew. Given...

Civil rights, labor groups rally on National MallThe goal is to arouse enthusiasm among Democratic voters and stave off an expected GOP comeback in the midterm elections. The rally is also a liberal response to conservative commentator Glenn Beck's rally in August. By Jordan Steffen, Tribune Washington Bureau 11:52 a.m. CDT, October 2, 2010 WASHINGTON - Thousands of activists from groups that support the Democratic Party gathered for a march and rally on the National Mall on Saturday in a bid to rejuvenate the enthusiasm of more liberal voters and stave off an expected GOP comeback in next month's midterm...

On Friday and Saturday nights, at an increasing number of malls across the country, teenagers are being forced to bring along the one person they'd most likely rather leave behind: a parent. Dozens of malls now have what they call a "parental escort policy," meaning teens under the age of 18 have to be with a parent or guardian who is 21 or over to enter. Most shopping centers have these restrictions only on weekend evenings, but some keep them in place seven days a week. The Mid Rivers Mall in St. Louis, Mo., started sending away teens at the...

A brawl involving juveniles outside the AMC 24 Theaters in the Aventura Mall on Saturday night resulted in 16 arrests and the early closing of the theater and nearby restaurants. Aventura police evacuated the area outside the theater shortly after they arrived at 10:09 p.m. Several police and mall security officers were struck by suspects who were resisting arrest, and a few officers reported minor injuries, according to Aventura Police spokesperson Chris Goranitis. Officers used Taser guns on several suspects while making the arrests, Goranitis said.

ROSEVILLE, Calif - A California appeals court struck down a mall's rules banning strangers from talking about subjects other than the mall while inside the facility. A three-judge 3rd District Court of Appeals panel issued a 43-page opinion Wednesday describing the rules, which ban the unacquainted for discussing anything other than Roseville's Westfield Galleria mall and its stores while in the mall, as "unconstitutional on their face" due to violations of free speech as outlined in the California Constitution, the Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday. The mall's rules, which were previously upheld by Placer Superior Court Judge Larry Gaddis, allow for...

Look what I found on my last trip home. You have to see it to believe it!

A British holidaymaker has been charged with indecency in Dubai after walking through the world's largest shopping centre in a bikini. The woman was buying clothes and gifts in the Dubai Mall, fully dressed but in a low-cut top, when she was accosted by an Arabic woman and criticised for wearing 'revealing clothing'. The pair then became embroiled in a heated row in front of hundreds of bemused shoppers. Incensed by the Arabic woman's comments, the British woman told her to 'mind her own business' before stripping out of her clothes and 'taunting' the locals by walking around in only...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Authorities in Las Cruces say someone stole a gun and a Taser out of a Dona Ana County Sheriff's car at the Mesilla Valley Mall. According to investigators, an off-duty sheriff's sergeant had his marked vehicle parked at the mall when someone broke the front window before taking off with a gun, ammunition, a Taser, and handcuffs. When questioned why the sergeant took all his equipment to the mall, investigators say he was just obeying the rules. "Yes, he was off-duty; however, he was on-duty so far as being on call which required him to have...

A thief with an eye for fancy lingerie stole more than $8,300 worth of underwear and bras from the Victoria's Secret at Orlando Fashion Square Mall on Tuesday. Police said the bra bandit emptied 11 drawers and a couple of display trays — containing about 200 panties and 140 bras — from the East Colonial Drive store in less than 30 minutes. An employee said workers had filled their drawers with the underwear and bras for the upcoming sale at 5:30 p.m. and noticed someone had lifted the undies at 6 p.m. Workers said they don't know how the thief...

City Creek Center may be trying to attract retail tenants during tough economic times, but that doesn't mean there will be lots of empty storefronts when the massive project opens for business in early 2012, a representative said Wednesday. Interest in City Creek -- one of the few large shopping centers in development nationally -- is high, Mark Gibbons, president of City Creek Reserve, said without elaborating. SNIP But City Creek Reserve, a development arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has yet to release much information about retailers that will fill 80 smaller speciality shops. The...

SEATTLE -- There are more questions than answers in the case of a suspected international arms dealer caught in Washington state with a stockpile of sniper rifles. Oliver King is an Iranian citizen who, in the past, has been a licensed gun dealer. King appeared in court in Seattle on Wednesday, accused of keeping a stash of guns and ammunition hidden in a storage unit near the U.S.-Canada border. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, King lied to enter the U.S. near Blaine last week. Agents with U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement became suspicious of King when he showed up...

ORLANDO, Fla.- A Florida shopping mall had an unexpected, and unwelcome, visitor Wednesday when a 10-foot alligator took up residence on a nearby sidewalk, authorities said. Trappers were called to the Millenia Mall in Orlando, Fla., early in the morning to capture and remove the animal, WESH-TV, Orlando, reported. They said more of the reptiles are seen at this time of year when the alligators' mating season begins. "Most of the time when you have a big single alligator, it's usually a male adult searching for a girlfriend," gator trapper Terry Parlier said.

Six people have been injured in a shooting at Arrowhead Mall in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Three of the victims are reported to be in critical condition. Muskogee, United States - Muskogee Police confirm that there was a shooting at the mall and that there are victims. At this time the duty desk officer said during a phone interview that there is no other information that they can give out.

How do you keep more than 6,300 people fed, housed and having the time of their life while floating in the middle of the ocean? The Oasis of the Seas -- the world's largest cruise ship -- aims to accomplish that feat nearly every week. Almost five times as large as the Titanic, it has a population during its seven-day Caribbean sailings that is larger than many American small towns -- more than 8,600 when it is fully booked and including staff. The Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ship, which first set sail last December, is almost as long as five...

A father was told he was not allowed take pictures of his four-year-old son at a Sunderland shopping centre because of fears he could be a paedophile. Kevin Geraghty-Shewan, of Kent, was challenged by a security guard at The Bridges after photographing his son Ben on a children's train ride. He was told he could not prove Ben was his son and later quizzed by a police officer called to the centre. Bosses at the shopping centre have apologised for the "misunderstanding". Mr Geraghty-Shewan, 48, of Gillingham, said they had visited the shopping centre after Ben was given £10 from...

Arguments have moved to the appellate court level in a California case in which a man talking to two willing strangers in a shopping mall was arrested because the subject of the conversation was God. The case developed several years ago when a youth pastor was arrested at the Galleria Mall in Roseville, Calif., for having a conversation about religion with two other people. Matthew Snatchko, who works with youth at his church, was interrupted in the middle of a conversation by a security guard. A second guard joined the confrontation and told Snatchko he was being placed under citizen's...

The shopping malls of America will be among the next major terrorist targets. Malls make such obvious high-value targets that it's difficult to grasp why they haven't been hit up until now. Shopping malls are America's marketplaces, constantly packed with people, with uncontrolled entry, and openly vulnerable to any given form of attack. We need only consider the darkest days of the Iraqi terror campaign of 2006-2007 to grasp how the jihadis view marketplaces. Scarcely a week went by without another Iraqi marketplace bombing, with casualties largely consisting of women and children, mounting from the dozens to the hundreds. We...

A Muslim immigrant opened fire and killed five people in Finland today before turning the gun on himself.
CNN reported: A gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping center near the Finnish capital of Helsinki Thursday, leaving five people dead, police said. Four of the victims — three men and one woman — were killed at the Sello shopping center in Espoo, just west of Helsinki, police said. Some were employees of a grocery store at the mall, police said. A fifth victim, also an employee of the grocery store, was found later at an apartment in Espoo, police said, without...