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MANILA, Philippines — A member of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group captured after a gunfight at sea died in a hospital yesterday. Abu Ayub, 22, died of a heart attack, said Gen. Ernesto Carolina. The military said Ayub and three other survivors of the gun battle told them their leader, Abu Sabaya, was severely wounded before disappearing in the water. His body has not been found.

WASHINGTON — The mother of Zacarias Moussaoui, accused in the Sept. 11 attacks, says her son only turned bitter against the United States after being jailed last summer. "For me, he's not a killer, because he promised me that he didn't do anything," Aicha el-Wafi told CNN's "Larry King Live." As a youngster, Moussaoui "loved American movies and he was always dressed with American-style clothes," she said. Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, was arrested Aug. 16 in Minnesota after officials at a flight school became suspicious of his conduct as a student.

New tape says Bin Laden is alive, planning attacks Copyright © 2002 AP Online By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden is seen in this undated photo. AP Photo BEIRUT, Lebanon (June 22, 2002 10:42 p.m. EDT) - Osama bin Laden and his No. 2 man are both alive and well and their al-Qaida network is ready to attack new U.S. targets, bin Laden's spokesman said in audiotaped remarks aired Sunday. The message also claimed responsibility for a deadly April fire at a Jewish synagogue in Tunisia. The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television network, which has in...

For the fifth year running, thousands of Iraqi schoolboys, dubbed the "lion cubs of Saddam", gathered Saturday to spend three weeks of their summer holidays at military training camp. The boys, aged 12-17, were dropped off by their parents at collection points in Baghdad run by the ruling Baath party and taken by bus to the camps to receive three weeks of "military and cultural training", according to AFP. This year's program has been named the "Al-Aqsa intifada" in solidarity with the Palestinian uprising against Israel that erupted in September 2000. Saddam's Cubs were launched in 1998 to prepare young...

THE RICH guy he big house at the end of the block had somebody — I am guessing his butler — drop off a notice at each home in the neighbor-hood. “Dear Neighbor,” it began. “We are hosting a fund-raiser at our home for Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). President Bill Clinton (he put that name in italics, just so we would not miss it) will be our special guest along with several Members of the U.S. House and Senate. . . We hope traffic will not inconvenience you too much.” We all got the notice on...

Hi FReepers... I've been browsing Amazon and Mises.org looking for a history of banking from the Austrian Economics perspective but pickings seem to be pretty slim. Does anyone out there know of a book which covers this topic?

THE electric power business has come out of the closet. Enron, Reliant, Dynegy and other Houston-based energy firms have become household names in recent months, though not necessarily for the best of reasons. Terms such as transparency, round-trip trades, and "gaming the market" are now part of the journalistic lexicon. Electricity deregulation, which had been a sleeper public policy issue for years, is now the subject of heated debate in Washington and many state capitals. Unfortunately, politicians of various stripes are using the Enron debacle and its aftermath as a stalking horse for unrelated agendas. Gov. Gray Davis of California...

Libya's leader Kadhafi claims he is telling Islamic separatists from the Philippines to Chechnya to give up the struggle and integrate with their neighbors. This new message of respectability is being carried by his most trusted ambassador, his son Seif al-Islam al-Kadhafi. According to Kadhafi, Chechens, for instance, will be better off being part of a powerful Russia than forming a separate Caucasian state. "We told them, 'We want Muslims to be in the Russian government'." Seif al-Islam told a meeting at London's Royal Institute for International Affairs that Muslims should learn from Jews. "Jews in America do not ask...

As we notice recently brutal attacks being displayed against mosques everywhere, making them an easy target of hate crimes, something that is totally alien to the history of Islam vis-à-vis other religions, we'd like you scholars to enlighten us on how Islam shows keenness on preservation of places of worship without discrimination as to religion, race or culture. As regard your question, we’d like to make it clear that Islam’s teachings as regard non-Muslims and its keenness on granting them full protection is not confined to the sphere of worship. Rather, Islam’s mercy and great concern for non-Muslims cover all...

JAMMU, June 22: Terrorists kidnapped and killed a civilian at village Charote under Doda police station’s jurisdiction last night while army eliminated a hardcore terrorist in Kishtwar tehsil of Doda district today. Police said Nazir Ahmed son of Ghulam Qadir R/o Zallah Charote in Doda district was kidnapped by two terrorists from near his house on June 20 night when he was returning to his house after day’s work. The terrorists over-powered Nazir and whisked him away to a forest area. He was reported to have been tortured by the terrorists in captivity and later shot dead. His bullet-riddled body...

Cuban President Fidel Castro may have made the biggest mistake of his political life last week. By imposing an amendment that would prohibit any future changes in Cuba's Socialist Constitution, he may guarantee that it will be scrapped altogether, and that nothing of his 4-decade-old regime will survive. As you may know, the Castro regime last week collected 8.1 million signatures to request that Cuba's rubber-stamp National Assembly make the Socialist Constitution ''untouchable.'' The alleged signatures of 99.5 percent of Cuba's eligible voters were collected by Castro's neighborhood watch committees, whose evaluations of each citizen's political behavior can make or...

Sunday June 23, 10:51 am Eastern TimePress ReleaseSOURCE: NewsweekNewsweek: New Microsoft Program 'Palladium' Next Step in Computer Security Ambitious Plan to Let Users Control and Protect Information Will Require Remaking the Architecture of Personal Computers NEW YORK, June 23 /PRNewswire/ --?Microsoft is developing a new system to improve computer security that will address concerns about privacy, security and intellectual property, Newsweek reports in the current issue. Among the several benefits of the ambitious long-range plan, called "Palladium": it will seal information from attackers, it will block many viruses and worms from your computer and it will allow users to participate...

As I sit in my office, munching Pirate's Booty, sipping my caramel macchiato and watching a sweaty President Bush on TV extolling the glories of exercise and nutrition, I have four questions: Why is the most fitness-crazed president in the nation's history sometimes so short on stamina? Why does someone who bench presses 185 pounds still have an aura that's more scrawny than brawny? ("The chair," one Republican moaned, "has a way of swallowing him up.") Why does the leader of the free world, a man with limitless opportunities for stimulation, seem to get really jazzed only when he can...

<p>RALEIGH, N.C. -- When North Carolina's 2002 primary election will be held is still anybody's guess, but there is no more guessing about the number of seats North Carolina will have in the next Congress.</p> <p>Nine candidates are now in the race to represent that controversial 13th district created Thursday by the United States Supreme Court. The district includes parts of Raleigh and Wake County, picks up northern border counties, and parts of Greensboro in Guilford County.</p>

A herd of bison owned by Ted Turner, the billionaire founder of CNN and America's biggest landowner, could hold the key to a cure for foot and mouth disease, according to scientists.Geneticists have discovered that the 300 bison at Mr Turner's Vermejo ranch in New Mexico are "genetically pure" and have extraordinary powers to resist disease.The scientists from Texas A & M University, one of the world's leading genetic research centres, are now trying to isolate the "anti-disease" genes with the aim of engineering them into other animals, including sheep and cattle.They have said that success could make many...

Big News reported in The Washington Post today, June 23, 2002: Jeb Bush did NOT 'steal' Election 2000 By summer - a former Dem, now an independent and a FL certified teacher BIG NEWS HERE, folks! Today, June 23, 2002, The Washington Post published a news article titled:"To the White House, by Way of the Everglades." To read the article, click HERE. The theme of today's Washington Post article is this: Jeb Bush did not 'steal' any election - and, Al Gore LOST Florida DUE TO GORE'S REFUSAL TO OPPOSE A PROPOSED NEW [LUCRATIVE] AIRPORT ON FEDERAL LAND LOCATED IN...

<p>RALEIGH, N.C. -- Legislative leaders asked a three-judge federal panel Friday to order that state House and Senate districts approved last year by the General Assembly be used in this year's elections.</p> <p>In a motion filed by the state Attorney General's Office, House Speaker Jim Black and Senate leader Marc Basnight asked that maps drawn three weeks ago by a Johnston County judge be barred from use because they would harm minority voters.</p>

What is the difference between a Pentium 4 2.0 GHz processor and a Pentium 2.0A GHz processor? I am in the market for a new computer and someone tried to sell me the A version but I have no idea what it is or how it is different from the non-A version. Thanks!

Defense delegation in US to discuss submarine sale NATIONAL DEFENSE: A high-level military delegation is meeting with Pentagon officials to discuss the planned purchase of eight diesel submarines and other matters By Charles Snyder STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON A high-level Taiwan military delegation began an intensive round of talks with Pentagon officials Friday aimed at jump-starting apparently stalled efforts to acquire diesel submarines from the US and advancing the purchase of other weapons systems. US officials hinted today that the visit might replace long-standing plans for a US team of defense officials and contractors to visit Taiwan to present a...

Israel Vs. CNN Communication Minister Reuven Rivlin will be meeting with The Cable News Network’s (CNN) CEO Eason Jordan, later on today. Jordan asked for the meeting after Rivlin called on Jews worldwide to boycott the network, for their seemingly anti-Israel/pro-PLO reporting. Rivlin has also said that he would have no objection, if viewers make the request, of taking CNN (and England’s BBC) off the air in Israel. The last straw were statements made last week by CNN founder Ted Turner, equating Palestinian terrorism with Israeli self-defense. CNN has made an effort to distance itself from Turner’s remarks. In other...