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You know you're a Long Islander because... 1. You feel like you know Howard Stern. 2. You live in the shadow of the greatest city in the world, but you almost never go there. 3. When you're away from Long Island, you love it and when you're there, you don't. 4. You know the exact point at which Queens turns into Nassau simply on intuition. 5. You've been to Jones Beach Field 4 on a June weekend afternoon. 6. You've been to the Tanger Outlets and came home with nothing to show for it. 7. You're still waiting for a ...

ISLAMABAD: In a breakthrough of sorts in the kidnapping of US journalist Daniel Pearl, Pakistan police arrested a telephone caller who demanded a $2 million ransom from US consulate in Karachi and two others who have been sending e-mail messages to media offices over the fate of the kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter. Disclosing this Pakistan's Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider told the resident correspondent of the Middle East Broadcasting Centre here in an interview that the person, who on Friday called the U.S. Consulate in Karachi demanding a two million dollar ransom for the release of Pearl has been arrested ...

Hi everybody. Today when I got my mail, I casually put it on the dining room table. This evening, as I started going through it, I noticed a white powder material with very small white flakes inbetween 2 magazines...it 'fell' onto the table and left powder on my fingers (like baby powder). The small flakes are various small sizes (it is hardish and reminds me of paint). I called the police but got disconnected 2 times - I figured maybe that was some sort of omen that I'm overreacting and that's when I decided to post this on the FR. ...

Researchers at the University of Tokyo said Saturday they have succeeded in growing eyeballs in tadpoles using undifferentiated cells taken from frog embryos. The group, led by Makoto Asashima, a developmental biologist and professor at the university, is the first in the world to successfully restore a creature's eyesight. Asashima said he hopes the team's findings will lay the groundwork for treatment for visually impaired humans. He and his group have previously succeeded in growing a range of internal organs and tissues, including hearts and kidneys, using undifferentiated cells from frogs and newts, but this breakthrough is the first ...

FREEDOM OF SPEECH: The evening before four high-ranking Taiwanese officials were to speak at the National Press Club in Washington, a Chinese embassy official tried to persuade the club to stop letting Taiwanese speak up. The Chinese Embassy in Washing-ton made an attempt recently to get the National Press Club to stop allowing speakers from Taiwan to use the venue for press conferences and speeches, but was strongly rebuffed by press club officers, the Taipei Times has learned. The attempt was made at a private dinner hosted by the embassy's No.2 man, He Yafei (¦ó¨È«D), for the club's president Richard ...

3 January----The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, today announced the publication of the declaration and action plan of the World Conference against Racism, which was held last year in Durban, South Africa and concluded without final agreement on a text. "The anti-discrimination agenda the World Conference gave us is now a living document," the High Commissioner said in a statement released in Geneva. "With this agenda in our hands, we can regain the momentum created by the Conference and get down to the business of making the commitments made at Durban a reality." Publication of the ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - An American Airlines pilot was so worried that an armed Arab-American Secret Service agent boarding his flight was an impostor that he sought mug shots of terrorists while trying to check the agent's identity, airline records say. The airline captain doubted the authenticity of the agent's badge and photo identification and kept him off the Christmas Day flight for 1 1/4 hours before ultimately taking off late without him, according to reports filed by the pilot and a manager of the airline's operations center. The pilot described the man, a member of President Bush's security detail, ...

"THE SOLDIERS NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS" By Major Bruce W. Lovely (With Apologies to Clement Moore Who First Wrote the Story for His Children in 1822 also credit given to M/Sgt Noah Brazos Ross, RA18033195, a USArmy 18th Field Artillery survivor of Utah Beach, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Battle for the Ardennes, Deutschland wrote "Daddy's Christmas" (Soldier's Christmas)" as a Bonita, Montague County, Texas, highschool exercise in 1937) Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone, In a one bedroom house made of plaster & stone. I had come down the chimney with presents to give And to see just who ...

EWING, N.J. (AP) - About 600 people who picked up mail and packages at a postal processing facility where anthrax was found should take antibiotics, state health officials said Saturday. The recommendation applies mainly to workers from several hundred firms who pick up or drop off mail from nonpublic areas at the Hamilton Township facility, the source of three anthrax-tainted letters sent to New York and Washington. At least five New Jersey postal workers have confirmed or suspected cases of the disease. A Trenton firefighter also was hospitalized Saturday for a possible case of inhalation anthrax. Also Saturday, officials closed ...

EDUCATION CAMPAIGN: As the army seeks to calm the public by providing information on what to do in the event of a chemical attack, one officer warned that China's chemical weapons capability has significantly improved By Brian Hsu STAFF REPORTER A mere wet handkerchief can help defend against a poisonous gas attack, and could save lives in an emergency, the army said yesterday. "There is no need to panic about a possible chemical attack," said Major General Chang Chin-teh (±i®Ê¼w), chief of the chemical department of the army general headquarters. "Bring a handkerchief with you. Wet the handkerchief and use ...

Bin Laden 'received UN cash' Charities worldwide responded to the Sudan's famine A BBC investigation has revealed that the United Nations funded the work of a charity believed by the United States to be a front organisation for Osama Bin Laden. The UN donated more than $1.4m to a consortium of charities working in the Sudan in 1997, one of which was the Muwafaq (Arabic: blessed relief) Foundation. The US Treasury believes wealthy businessman Yasin al-Qadi set up the charity. In a crackdown following the 11 September plane attacks on the US, Mr al-Qadi's assets were among those frozen by ...

<p>MIAMI - Federal investigators believe they have traced "unique characteristics" of the anthrax that killed a Lantana man to a strain harvested at an Iowa facility in the 1950s, according to law enforcement sources.</p> <p>But the sources caution that final results of tests to confirm the match are not yet finished.</p>

<p>The slaying of Mesa convenience store owner Balbir Singh Sodhi has brought the state's top three prosecutors together to take on hate crime.</p> <p>Attorney General Janet Napolitano, Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton each have assigned a special prosecutor to go after potential hate crimes cases inspired by last week's terrorist attacks, they announced Thursday. Napolitano and Romley also have set up hotlines to report racially motivated threats, assaults and vandalism.</p>

Chirac calls on U.N. to lead fight against terrorismUNITED NATIONS (September 19, 2001 8:57 p.m. EDT) - French President Jacques Chirac urged the United Nations on Wednesday to lead the charge against terrorism, declaring it should be a long-term battle that goes beyond military action - targeting the perpetrators and root causes. In responding to last week's attacks, he said, the United States must make sure it follows two rules: Identify the fundamentalist terrorist groups responsible and bring them to justice, and don't finger-point at the predominantly Muslim Arab world. Chirac, who met President Bush in Washington Tuesday, flew ...

Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi is a gentleman and a scholar of Islam . He also has been president for the past three years of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the largest Muslim organization in the Americas and the roof organization that backstops about 1,100 of the 2,000 mosques in the United States and Canada with education, supplies and guidance. And he hopes that as a result of his tenure, more Muslims will ?take full advantage of the freedom and technology that is available here and develop themselves into highly educated professional people while carrying with them the lofty moral ...

Well, it seems that France and Germany have made statements declaring that the attack on us Tuesday were not "acts of war" and in the meantime India, Russia and Japan have offered their help/assistance. Who are our friends?

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - A school bus carrying Muslim children was stoned in apparent retaliation for terrorist attacks in the United States, officials said Thursday. Queensland state Islamic Council chairman Sultan Deen said stones and bottles damaged the side of the bus Wednesday in the northeastern city of Brisbane. Nobody was injured. "The children are quite shaken up," Deen said. He said public outrage over the U.S. attacks has also led to abusive phone calls to mosques. Suspicion for the attacks has fallen on terror suspect Osama bin Laden. "It is very disturbing. They are saying things like, 'You ...

Federal prosecutors say a plot to cover up the deadly police shooting of two unarmed purse-snatchers turned into a sinister habit for a circle of veteran Miami street officers. Two retired officers pleaded guilty to conspiracy this week and have given prosecutors a sordid glimpse of the law on Miami's mean streets. Based on their information, 11 others were arrested Friday on an indictment alleging coverups in four police shootings that left three men dead. Prosecutors say it began in November 1995 over lunch at a barbecue restaurant the day after the two purse-snatchers were shot as they fled. U.S. ...

Senior United Nations officials, expressing regret and disappointment over the withdrawal by the United States and Israel from the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, have urged countries to continue their search for a successful global plan to fight discrimination. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was "disappointed at the decision by Israel and the United States to withdraw their delegations from these intense negotiations, which, he is convinced, with continued goodwill, can conclude successfully by the end of this week," said a statement issued yesterday by Mr. Annan's spokesman. "It is tough going, but he urges all countries to stay ...

Artists Claude Monet Leonardo da Vinci Jamie Wyeth Andrew Wyeth John Singleton CopleyInventors Alexander Graham Bell Thomas Edison Alec Issigonis Cyrus McCormick The Wright Brothers Scientists Blaise Pascal Pierre Curie Albert Einstein Booker T. Washington George Washington Carver Statesmen Winston Churchill Konrad Adenauer Benjamin Franklin Patrick Henry William Penn Henry Clay Religious leaders Joan of Arc Brigham Young John & Charles Wesley Jonathan Edwards John Owen William Cary Dwight L. Moody John Newton Composers and Musicians Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Anton Bruckner Felix Mendelssohn Francis Poulenc Conlon Nancarrow Irving Berlin Yehudi MenuhinWriters Agatha Christie C.S. Lewis George Bernard Shaw Noel Coward ...