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Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth. ...SNIP... The meeting also reviewed what has been described as a Mecca watch, the brainchild of a French Muslim.br>

Frustrated by the state and federal gridlock on solving Seattle's transportation problems, Mayor Greg Nickels suggested secession at a Thursday luncheon.

Fun little widget allows you to add your own phtot to th Obama Logo. Here are two I created:

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Four men in Orlando were charged with a hate crime after they pummeled a 62-year-old woman and her two mentally-challenged companions at a public park after they didn't pay a "fee" for being white, police said. Investigators said the victims were walking into a Kaley Park when they were confronted by Christopher Colbert, Erick Golden, Willie Pritts and Antoniette Boone. Police said the victims were told that since they are white, they had to pay a fee to be in the park.

BEIJING (AP) -- Beijing's air quality is better than expected, though a study shows athletes in outdoor endurance events will face some risks from pollution and the weather may be less than ideal at this summer's Olympics. ...snip... an analysis by four independent experts of data supplied by Beijing organizers found heat and humidity might be a greater threat to athletes than the city's noxious air. ...snip... "It means we may not see much of world records under unfavorable conditions, but that's not the main purpose of the Olympic Games -- to set records."

BERLIN (AP) - Police and customs officials investigating suspected patent violations seized dozens of boxes of mobile phones, navigation devices and other gadgets from exhibitors in a technology fair, authorities said Thursday. All the exhibitors who were searched cooperated, except one who was briefly taken to a police station, police said. Of 51 exhibitors affected, 24 were from mainland China, three from Hong Kong and 12 from Taiwan. Another nine were German, and one each were from Poland, the Netherlands and Korea.

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DENVER -- A Colorado Springs lawmaker referred Wednesday to unmarried, pregnant teenagers and the fathers as "sluts" who should be made to feel ashamed for their lack of morals. Rep. Larry Liston’s remarks were made during a discussion with health care professionals at a Republican legislative caucus lunch about Colorado’s high teen pregnancy rate. "In my parents' day and age, (unmarried teen parents) were sent away, they were shunned, they were called what they are," Colorado Springs Republican Rep. Larry Liston said during the meeting in Denver. "There was at least a sense of shame." "I think it’s wrong. They’re...

Allentown police had suspected William Torres of dealing drugs in the city. But an undercover narcotics investigation yielded much more, and resulted in Torres, 21, being charged early Saturday with two counts of homicide. Torres was driving on Turner Street Friday afternoon when he was pulled over by police and arrested. He was wearing a hooded sweartshirt with a skull-head pattern on it, pajama bottoms and fuzzy lion-faced slippers at the time. He was still wearing the get-up when he was arraigned after midnight at Lehigh County prison.

Kaelin Weber said he didn't have much time to react Christmas morning when a masked robber walked in, showed a knife and jumped the counter of an Ingram convenience store. "I only tried to feed my family and I got shot in my back," Davis said as police led him back to jail in handcuffs. Weber, who was cut during the robbery, was not charged.

New federal legislation says universities must agree to provide not just deterrents but also "alternatives" to peer-to-peer piracy, such as paying monthly subscription fees to the music industry for their students, on penalty of losing all financial aid for their students. The U.S. House of Representatives bill (PDF), which was introduced late Friday by top Democratic politicians, could give the movie and music industries a new revenue stream by pressuring schools into signing up for monthly subscription services such as Ruckus and Napster. Ruckus is advertising-supported, and Napster charges a monthly fee per student. The Motion Picture Association of America...

A city government employee developed a computer program that let him rig a radio station's online poll in favor of the mayor, who is seeking re-election Tuesday. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration said the employee, who works in the city's computer department, would not be disciplined. "As far as I'm concerned, it was all in good fun," the mayor said. The employee found a way around restrictions on repeat voting, allowing him to bombard the site with votes favoring the mayor, the mayor's office acknowledged. The poll, posted last week, showed 86 percent of listeners believed the media was too harsh...

An armed man was shot and killed early this morning after he and another man broke into a residence in East Liberty, police said. Shawn Davis, 18, of Duquesne, died of a shotgun blast to the head inside an apartment at 300 North Negley Avenue. He was shot at 3:15 a.m. and pronounced dead at the scene 10 minutes later. Police said he and his accomplice, Rashawn Gibson, 20, of Garfield, tried to rob the occupants of the apartment.

Duquesne University has ordered WDUQ-FM to stop airing underwriter support messages from the reproductive rights and health-care education group Planned Parenthood. The National Public Radio affiliate and jazz station, which is based on the Duquesne University campus and operates under the university's 501(c)3 tax-exempt status, pulled the underwriting acknowledgement messages Thursday. "Planned Parenthood is not aligned with the university's Catholic mission and identity and legally, stations are not required to accept underwriting support," said Bridget Fare, Duquesne University spokeswoman

When Osama bin Laden issued his videotaped message to the American people last month, a young jihad enthusiast went online to help spread the word. The global jihad is as close as YouTube, which features videos like an ode to suicide attacks (top), a message “to black Americans” from a bin Laden lieutenant (center), and an Iraq insurgency promotional message (bottom). “America needs to listen to Shaykh Usaamah very carefully and take his message with great seriousness,” he wrote on his blog. “America is known to be a people of arrogance.” Unlike Mr. bin Laden, the blogger was not operating...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The leader of an artists' cooperative has been sentenced to probation for illegally setting up a secret apartment inside the Providence Place Mall that was equipped with furniture and a video game system. Alerts Michael Townsend, 36, said he and seven other artists built the apartment in a 750-square-foot loft in the parking garage four years ago and lived there for up to three weeks at a time while documenting mall life.

Vigilantes attacked a Beaver County man Tuesday because he allegedly tried to lure two children into his Economy Village home, Ambridge police said. Police who found the bleeding man, Kenneth Newingham, outside his home later charged him with attempted luring. The suspect told police he did not know his attackers and no charges have been filed in connection with the beating. Investigators said Mr. Newingham, 43, had been inviting children to his home since last month. Only once did any of them accept, police said. On Tuesday evening he tried to lure a 10-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl who...

State Attorney General Tom Corbett today announced his agents and police have broken up a heroin ring run by Mexicans in Beaver Falls and Moon. Mr. Corbett said the ring has been distributing Mexican black tar heroin, a form that is often not as powerful as some others but which has been linked to at least one death. Julio Ramierez-Garcia is accused of running the ring from apartments in Moon and Beaver Falls since arriving in the area from Mexico early last year. Agents today were rounding up 16 street-level dealers, all of them Americans. They were also arresting 10...

...Still, some conservatives have once again criticized the Kerrys, as they did in 2004, for living a lavish lifestyle while preaching conservation -- even though she and her husband have since exchanged gas-guzzling SUVs for hybrids and purchase carbon credits for their flying time. But when a recent column by Washington pundit Charles Krauthammer comes up, excoriating former Vice-President Al Gore for flying around the country promoting "An Inconvenient Truth," Mrs. Kerry can scarcely contain her irritation. "What would Krauthammer do? How would [Mr. Gore] get there? Talk to some angel that would carry him on the wings? The message...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter today called on President Bush to forge an agreement with Congress on "sharing power" on the Iraq war, just as the Senate prepares to debate resolutions opposing the president's plans to send additional troops. "It's premature to decide that question. First we've got to see if we can work out with the president an agreement on sharing power. He has shown signs of being willing to do that," said the Pennsylvania Republican, who will join a group of fellow Republican senators in meeting with President Bush later this week.