Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – A prominent Los Angeles-based Muslim activist has been jailed for four years after pleading guilty to attempting to bribe a witness, prosecutors said Tuesday. Najee Ali, who heads the community group Project Islamic HOPE (Helping Oppressed People Everywhere), was sentenced on Monday after he admitted an attempt to interfere with a witness in a court case involving his daughter. A spokeswoman for Los Angeles County District Attorney said in normal circumstances Ali would have received a two-year sentence but saw his term doubled because he had a prior conviction for armed robbery in 1992.

Dr. R. Scott Hitt, an AIDS specialist and the first openly gay person to head a presidential advisory board, has died. He was 49. Hitt died Thursday of colon cancer at his home in West Hollywood, according to John Duran, the city's mayor and a longtime friend. Hitt was chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS during President Clinton's administration in the 1990s. "I think Scott's legacy was drawing AIDS to the attention of the president. He was uncompromising," Duran said. "He was not afraid of challenging the president about what would make good public policy." When...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fueled by opposition to the Iraq war and anger at President Bush, liberal grass-roots and Internet activists on Wednesday claimed their most significant political victory -- the defeat of Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record). The three-term senator from Connecticut was repudiated on Tuesday by voters from his own party who chose Ned Lamont -- a relative unknown with a fierce anti-war message -- to represent Democrats in the November election. "The winner is people-powered politics," declared the Daily Kos Web site, a sentiment that echoed throughout the liberal blogosphere. Lamont, a millionaire businessman who...

LOS ANGELES A jury convicted world-renowned geneticist William French Anderson on Wednesday of molesting the daughter of a colleague. Anderson, 69, is widely credited as the "father of gene therapy," a promising but controversial experimental medical treatment that involves injecting healthy genes into sick patients. He was the first person to successfully treat a patient this way in 1990, launching the field. The white-haired Anderson sat stoically, staring straight ahead, his head held high. He showed no reaction as the verdicts were read. His wife, a renowned surgeon, sat in the front row of the spectator section behind him with...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A Florida man has been charged with stealing large amounts of consumer information from Acxiom Corp., one of the world's largest database companies. The new indictment comes on the heels of a separate case last year in which an Ohio man pleaded guilty to hacking into an Acxiom server. Acxiom manages personal information on millions of consumers, along with financial and other internal data for companies. The new case, against Scott Levine, 45, represents "what may be the largest cases of intrusion of personal data to date," U.S. Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray said...

LAFAYETTE, Calif. - The wife of a prominent Bay Area attorney was found dead in the couple's home Saturday, police said. Daniel Horowitz called 911 shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday to report that the body of his wife, Pamela Vitale, was found in the entryway of their home, located in an upscale Contra Costa County neighborhood. The 52-year-old woman's identity has not been confirmed, but "based on what we know, it's believed to be the wife of Daniel Horowitz," said Contra Costa Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee. Authorities would not release details of how the victim died, but said it was...

In Canada, a Muslim association got Bill Baker to speak; in Britain, "prominent Jews in Britain are being targeted in a wave of anti-Semitic harassment by far-Right and Islamic fundamentalist organisations

Sunday, July 26, as pro-reform Palestinian legislator Nabil Amer was nursing the wounds inflicted by Yasser Arafat’s gunmen, a phone call came through to his room at the Amman university hospital from none other than Arafat. The Palestinian leader inquired about his health and offered to pay his hospital expenses. Amer did not bother to reply Sitting beside his bed was a fellow Hebronite, Rafiq Natshe, once Palestinian legislative council speaker, for many years PLO ambassador in Saudi Arabia and a highly respected figure in the Palestinian community. Known also as Abu Shakar, he is the head of the leading...

Prominent Jews targeted by Muslims and the far Right By Rajeev Syal (Filed: 15/02/2004) Prominent Jews in Britain are being targeted in a wave of anti-Semitic harassment by far-Right and Islamic fundamentalist organisations. The home of Lord Triesman, the former general secretary of the Labour party, has been attacked by Combat 18, the neo-Nazi group. Uri Geller, the Israeli television personality, and Barbara Roche, the former Labour minister, have been the victims of graffiti and hate mail. Uri Geller with graffiti on a fence outside his home The incidents have emerged as police prepare to release figures this week showing...

CLEVELAND (AP) - A prominent Islamic clergyman was arrested Tuesday on an indictment alleging he concealed links to groups that committed terrorist attacks against Jews when he applied for U.S. citizenship a decade ago, officials said. Imam Fawaz Mohammed Damrah, who leads the Islamic Center of Cleveland, Ohio's largest mosque, is accused of withholding information on his membership or affiliation with several groups, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, U.S. Attorney Gregory White said. White said the indictment did not allege that Damrah, a Palestinian, committed any terrorist activities. The indictment did not specify what type of support Damrah may have...

Now that we've elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as our next governor, there is a lot of talk about how he'll reshape the Republican Party. But he might have a bigger impact on the Democratic Party. His 68-member transition team features many prominent Democrats -- who are being called "dinos" behind their back. No, not dinos as in dinosaurs -- a bad pun -- but as in Democrats in Name Only, a rip-off of what Republicans used to say about people like Schwarzenegger and those who don't care about the party's conservative stance on social issues like abortion, gay rights and gun...