Man pleads guilty over online 'South Park' threat

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (AP) — A Muslim convert from Brooklyn pleaded guilty Thursday to using a website he founded to post online threats against the creators of the "South Park" television show and others he deemed enemies of Islam.

In court papers filed Thursday with his guilty plea, Jesse Curtis Morton, 33, admitted that his now-defunct Revolution Muslim website served as an outlet for al-Qaida propaganda and that he used the site to post thinly veiled threats not only against "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker but others he considered to be enemies of Islam.

Morton, who also uses the name Younus Abdullah Mohammad, worked closely with Zachary Adam Chesser, who …

The Write Solution

Mechanical engineering students turn a senior project into a writing tool for the blind. BY LYNNE SHALLCROSS

WHEN undergraduate engineering students play with clay, don't assume that they're finding their inner child. They might just be making Braille writing simpler in the United States and combating illiteracy among blind people in developing countries.

Four Johns Hopkins University (JHU) mechanical engineering students created a lightweight, portable Braille writing device in an effort to give the blind a lowcost, low-tech way to write.

As part of an Engineering Design Project class, the students took on the assignment from the Baltimore-based National Federation …

German, Saudi ministers press Syria to contribute to Lebanese presidential solution

The German and Saudi foreign ministers called on Syria Friday to help clear the way for the election of a new Lebanese president, the German Foreign Ministry said.

Lebanon has been without a president since November, when the pro-Western parliament majority and the opposition _ led by the Syrian-backed militant group Hezbollah _ failed to agree on the composition of a future government after a consensus candidate is elected head of state.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Saudi counterpart, Saud al-Faisal, discussed their "common concern" over Lebanon during a meeting in Berlin, a ministry statement said.

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We're in the money

Students at a city secondary school have been getting to gripswith finance with help from a leading bank.

Pupils from Fairfield High School, in Montpelier, have beengaining skills for life by spending a morning learning about thebasics of banking through the NatWest "Face 2 Face With Finance"scheme.

With the help of Sonia Blah, who works at NatWest's Eastvillebranch, and Face 2 Face With Finance coach, Sally Graff, Year 10pupils took part in interactive exercises to help them understandmore about what banks do, about different types of bank accounts andthe practical tasks of budgeting and managing their money.

The activities formed part of the school's …

Three Dudes, some Drugs, and a Bear

By the time the acid took hold, we were halfway to Edmonton. Tommy rode shotgun, a cigarette dangling from his dry lips, and Bear scrunched in the back seat, shifting constantly. Johansson, our first year roommate, had called us on his cell a few hours ago, breathing heavily, saying that he needed to get out, that everything had gone wrong.

"Talk to me, Joe," I had said.

"Stay back you fuckers! Stay back!"

'What the fuck, Joe? Is this ajoke?"

We burned through the prairie night - ours eyes twisted; our skulls hollowed. Tommy flicked his cigarette out the window and lit another one. Tommy and Johansson had been the closest out of all of us, but that wasn't …

Federal board rules for Delta in union election

ATLANTA (AP) — Delta Air Lines Inc. says a federal board has upheld results from an election that blocked a union from representing its flight attendants.

Delta said late Friday that the National Mediation Board rejected claims by the Association of Flight Attendants that the company interfered in the representation election last year.

The union criticized the ruling, saying Delta unfairly pressured flight attendants to …

Somalia explosion kills 9, including 3 ministers

An explosion ripped through an upscale hotel in Somalia's capital Thursday during a university graduation ceremony, killing nine people, including three Cabinet ministers and two journalists.

The blast raised new questions about the ability of Somalia's weak government to control even the small area of the capital it holds. African troops protecting the government wage near daily battles with Islamic militants who control much of central and southern Somalia.

More than three dozen students had gathered to receive their diplomas at the ceremony at the Shamow Hotel, which sits in the small patch of Mogadishu that is held by Somalia's government.

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