FLORIDA
Internal inquiry clears officer
The Sun-Sentinel
DELRAY BEACH -- An internal-affairs investigation has cleared a veteran police officer of accusations that he had a personal relationship with a self-proclaimed psychic who is being investigated for defrauding elderly people out of thousands for her services.

NORTH CAROLINA
UNC Lawyers Appeal Quran Book Order
The Associated Press
Lawyers for the University of North Carolina told an appeals court Saturday that students would be deprived of free-speech rights if the court banned discussions of a book on the Muslim holy text, the Quran.

Judge refuses to block Quran reading for UNC students
The Associated Press
GREENSBORO -- A federal judge refused on Thursday to block a summer reading program for incoming freshmen at the University of North Carolina who were told to read and discuss a book on the Quran, Islam's holy text.

Interfaith leader assails Franklin Graham's criticism of Islam
The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE -- The leader of a national interfaith group expressed dismay Thursday at the latest criticism of Islam by the son of evangelist Billy Graham.

PENNSYLVANIA
Pennsylvania Land Targeted For LDS Pilgrimage Site
The Associated Press
SUSQUEHANNA -- Land on the Susquehanna River in Northeastern Pennsylvania may become a Mormon pilgrimage site because church officials say it is the place where most of the Book of Mormon was written almost 200 years ago.

TEXAS
Number of Hispanic muslim converts growing
The Houston Chronicle
Huevos rancheros for breakfast; fasulye for dinner. It was not an unusual menu that graced the table one recent Thursday at Patricia El-Kassir's west Houston home.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
American Muslims say relationship with President Bush weakened over past year
The Associated Press
Several American Muslim leaders who President Bush publicly courted after the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks say he is ignoring them now, and some blame conservative Christians and pro-Israel lobbyists for the reversal.

CAMBODIA
Falun Gong followers under U.N. protection are deported
A member of the sect says a couple were arrested in Phnom Penh and sent back to China
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH -- Cambodian police arrested two Falun Gong followers under United Nations protection and sent them back to China earlier this month, an activist with the meditation sect said Saturday.

CHINA
China broke vow to retain Hong Kong freedoms, Falun Gong says
The Associated Press
HONG KONG -- Sixteen Falun Gong followers were convicted Thursday of public obstruction for protesting China's attempts to stamp out the movement, and government critics said an appeal by members of the meditation group could severely test Hong Kong's freedoms.

ENGLAND
British Judge OKs Kleasen Extradition
The Salt Lake Tribune
Assured Texas authorities will not seek the death penalty, a British judge has ordered Robert Elmer Kleasen sent back to the United States to stand trial for the grisly 1974 slayings of two Mormon missionaries in Texas.

ETHIOPA
Lost Ark: Ethiopians Say It Is Hidden in Town
The Associated Press
Thanks to Hollywood's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," the Ark of the Covenant is one of the most famous objects in the Bible. It is also one of the most mysterious because the Bible doesn't say what happened to it.

GEORGIA
Attack Disrupts Georgian Congress
The Associated Press
TBILISI -- Assailants attacked a group of Jehovah's Witnesses in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and set a fire at the home of one its members, disrupting plans to hold a religious congress there, a lawyer for the group said Friday.
Other news agencies:
Religious attacks rise in Georgia, New York Times News Service

NIGERIA
Calm Returns to Calabar After 15-Day Cult Killings
Vanguard
Calm has returned to Calabar, Cross River state, after 15 days of killings by cultists who invaded the city, allegedly from a first generation university in one of the southern states of the country.

PAKISTAN
Christian's blasphemy charge overturned
Threat to Pakistani now from extremist Muslims upset by decision
WorldNetDaily.com
A Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy against Islam was acquitted today by his country's Supreme Court in Islamabad.

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