Imam pleads not guilty to NYC terror charges
NEW YORK (AP) - An imam accused of lying to FBI agents investigating an alleged bomb plot against New York City by a suspected al-Qaida associate pleaded not guilty Monday. "I have nothing to hide," Ahmad Wais Afzali told reporters outside federal court in Brooklyn after his plea.
Inquiry of 6 bodies in Ohio focuses on 8-9 women
CLEVELAND (AP) - Investigators trying to identify the bodies of six women found in the home of a convicted rapist are focusing the inquiry on eight or nine missing women, the coroner said Monday. It could take days or weeks to identify the bodies using dental records or DNA mouth-swab samples from relatives. Cuyahoga County Coroner Frank Miller said his office has begun the "arduous" process of collecting materials from dentists and relatives.
Ebay removes anti-abortion memorabilia from site
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Online auction house eBay Inc. has removed items that were posted for sale by anti-abortion activists trying to raise money for defense of a man accused of killing a Kansas abortion provider, the company said Monday. Supporters of Scott Roeder - one in Kansas City, Mo. and the other in Des Moines, Iowa - posted various items late Sunday in separate eBay auctions including an Army of God manual, an underground publication for anti-abortion militants that describes ways to shut down clinics.
Stakes are high in Maine's vote on gay marriage
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Bolstered by out-of-state money and volunteers, both sides jockeyed Monday to boost turnout for Maine's referendum on same-sex marriage - a contest that could give gay-rights activists in the U.S. their first such victory at the ballot box. The state's voters will decide Tuesday whether to repeal a gay-marriage bill signed into law in May by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci.
Election complaint filed against ex-wrestling exec
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The head of the Connecticut Democrats has filed an elections complaint against Republican Linda McMahon, claiming the former wrestling executive received corporate help for her U.S. Senate race. Nancy DiNardo says World Wrestling Entertainment removed several videos on the Internet site YouTube to help McMahon's campaign. She says the company removed videos of wrestlers engaging in simulated rape and other offensive acts, while leaving up thousands of less explicit ones.
Court rejects Pa. buffer law on abortion clinics
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A federal appeals court has struck down an ordinance that created two types of buffer zones around medical facilities after a Christian legal group challenged the law on behalf of a nurse who protests abortions. In a ruling issued Friday, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the 2005 Pittsburgh ordinance unduly restricted protesters from passing out leaflets and participating in other forms of free speech. The Pittsburgh law bans protesters from standing within 15 feet of entrances but also makes them stand 8 feet from clients in a 100-foot buffer around entrances.
CDC: Tainted ground beef may be linked to 2 deaths
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - Contaminated fresh ground beef caused a possible E. coli outbreak that killed two people and sent 16 others to hospitals, federal health officials said Monday. Twenty-eight people may have become ill after eating beef produced by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. All but three of the suspected infections are in the northeastern U.S. and 18 are in New England, said CDC spokeswoman Lola Scott Russell.
Soldier arrested over explosives in Tenn. field
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - An Army Special Forces soldier was arrested Monday after a pair of hunters found about 100 pounds of explosives outside his home near Fort Campbell. Maj. April Olsen, a spokeswoman at the sprawling Army post on the Tennessee-Kentucky border, said the unidentified soldier was being held in the county jail.
USDA: Glitch with foreign SS numbers is fixed
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Two federal agencies that put Americans at risk for identity-theft-like problems have fixed a glitch that linked U.S. Social Security numbers to those issued by three foreign countries, officials said. The problem, which mostly affects Maine and New Hampshire, involves three Pacific Island nations that receive disaster loans, grants and other aid from the United States in exchange for military privileges in the region.
Appeals court: Detained Canadian cannot sue the US
NEW YORK (AP) - A Canadian engineer cannot sue the United States after being mistaken for a terrorist when he was changing planes in New York a year after the 2001 terrorist attacks, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 7-4 to uphold a decision by a lower court judge dismissing a lawsuit brought by Maher Arar, a Syrian-born man who was detained as he tried to switch planes in 2002.
