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Al-Qaeda message takes a stab at Berlusconi May 31 2004 at 03:57PM Rome - Stinging comments directed at Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and attributed to al-Qaeda were widely reported in the Italian press on Monday, just days ahead of a visit to Rome by United States President George Bush. The message, posted on an Internet site and attributed to Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin, the head of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, claims responsibility for the bloody weekend siege at a housing complex in the eastern Saudi oil city of Al-Khobar, in which 19 foreigners and three Saudis were killed. It says:...

EDMONTON -- Corrections Canada won't let guards at maximum-security prisons wear stab-proof vests because it sends a confrontational "signal" to prisoners, says a department spokesman. "If you have that kind of presence symbolized by (a stab-proof vest), you're sending a signal to the prisoner that you consider him to be a dangerous person," said Tim Krause. "It interferes with what we call 'dynamic security.' We want staff to talk to prisoners, to see how they're doing." At Stony Mountain Institution only guards in the emergency response unit are allowed to wear the stab-proof vests, said unit manager Linda Garwood-Filbert. The...

A PASSENGER told tonight how a Qantas flight attendant ignored serious stab wounds to his head to repeatedly tackle a 'would-be hijacker' until he could be subdued. Derek Findlay described today's dramatic hijack bid by a man in a suit and armed with wooden stakes, who attacked two flight attendants and tried to crash a Melbourne to Launceston domestic flight. Mr Findlay, 30, was among passengers who wrestled the attacker to the cabin floor after he ran towards the cockpit, lunging at the male purser and female flight attendant. As well as sticks, the man was also brandishing an aerosol...

Ayatollah Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a key U.S. ally in southern Iraq is murdered, and the power struggle intensifies By TONY KARON The power struggle among Iraqis to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime may have claimed its first victim Thursday when Ayatollah Abdul Majid al-Khoei was stabbed to death by unknown assailants inside the Imam Ali Mosque, Shiite Islam's holiest shrine, in the city of An Najaf. According to press reports, al-Khoei was killed during a meeting with a rival cleric backed by Saddam's regime over control of the shrine. The reports said al-Khoei had...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats plan to take one last shot at blocking one of President Bush (news - web sites)'s judicial nominees while they still control the Senate, hoping to defeat the promotion of a former aide to retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond (news, bio, voting record). AP Photo The Senate set aside most of Monday to debate the appeals court nomination of U.S. District Judge Dennis Shedd. While under its current Democratic control, the chamber has only debated an appeals court nomination when party leaders wanted to kill it. Shedd is a former assistant to the 99-year-old Thurmond, who will...