POLYGAMY CASE "Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS)" ARIZONA & UTAH Utah woman charged in polygamy case The Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY -- For apparently the first time in more than 100 years, Utah prosecutors are going after a woman on polygamy-related charges. Polygamy shakes up top race in Arizona; Independent says opponents ignore the issue New York Times News Service PHOENIX - As if a staggering budget deficit and troubled educational system were not enough campaign fodder for Arizona's leading candidates for governor, this week they found a new issue. Rather, it found them. Other news agencies: Polygamy Issue Raised in Arizona Race, The Associated Press Arizona Underdog Touches Nerves on Polygamy Issue, FOX News

CALIFORNIA
Nasdaq Down, Psychic Readings Up
Wired News
SAN FRANCISCO -- Aeion pulled a card from his tarot card deck. "The Four of Swords -- it's shown itself again," he said with a sigh. "I feel like there's a two-month period you're waiting for."

COLORADO
Aspen, Colo. Psychics Fight for Rights to Name of Fortune-Telling Businesses
The Associated Press
ASPEN -- A woman who makes her living as a psychic here is in a legal battle she said she saw coming. Nancy Marks is suing to stop another woman from using the name "Aspen Psychic." She said she foresaw the trouble.

IDAHO
Threats Made Against Idaho 'Islam People'
The Associated Press
BOISE -- A threatening letter was discovered this weekend at the Islamic Center of Boise, adding to a recent string of threats and vandalism directed at the center.

MASSACHUSETTS
Employee, fired for eyebrow ring, sues Costco
The Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD -- To Costco, the employee's eyebrow ring violated the corporation's dress code. To the worker, it symbolized her religious beliefs. Last year, Costco Wholesale Corp. fired Kimberly M. Cloutier of West Springfield for refusing to remove her ring. She filed a $2 million suit against the corporation.

OREGON
Church elders ignored sex abuse, suit states
The Associated Press
CORVALLIS - Tyler Davidow of Corvallis has filed a $3 million suit against two local Jehovah's Witness congregations and the faith's national headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y., claiming leaders ignored sexual abuse he suffered as a child.

PENNSYLVANIA
Jury Deliberates in Einhorn Trial
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA- A jury has begun deliberating the fate of Ira Einhorn, the former hippie guru accused of killing his girlfriend in 1979.
Other news agencies:
Einhorn says he was surprised when girlfriend's body was found in his closet, The Associated Press
Einhorn Reads From Diaries on Stand, The Associated Press
Einhorn Takes Stand in Murder Trial, The Associated Press

Owners of New Age shops say stores' success bewitching
The Associated Press
WILKES-BARRE -- The sign on the door of Jonathan Wint's Obscurity New Age Shoppe promises an alluring assortment of goods. "Herbs, salts, incense, charcoals, cauldrons, incense burners, books, grimoires, cloaks, candle holders, amulets, jewelry, natural oils, tarot cards, wands, runes, crystals and more."

UTAH
SLC Mayor Switches Gears on Main Street
The Salt Lake Tribune
Temple Square may become Temple Rectangle after all. Today, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson will meet privately with ethicists, lawyers, former City Council members and religious leaders to pitch a plan that would transfer the city's easement on the Main Street plaza to the LDS Church. In return, the church would have to promise that the public forever be allowed to walk through the plaza, even if people are not permitted to protest, pass out pamphlets or engage in other speech or behavior the church finds distasteful.
Other news agencies:
Plaza issue to pit mayor vs. ACLU, Deseret News
Anderson Eyeing 'All Options' on Plaza, The Salt Lake Tribune

VIRGINIA
Wiccan seeks to lead prayers for meetings
The Washington Times
A Wiccan priestess wants the Board of Supervisors of Chesterfield County Va to add her name to the list of clergy members who say prayers before meetings.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Falun Gong plans Texas protest
Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON -- About 50 Falun Gong members demonstrating outside the Chinese Embassy on Monday plan to carry their protest to Texas next week for President Bush's meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

AUSTRALIA
Islamic pendant 'taken off for rape'
The Sun-Herald
A man took off his Islamic pendant as he raped a girl, saying that to keep it on would be "disrespectful", police alleged in court yesterday.

Muslim worker wins right to pray
news.com.au
A Muslim worker in Sydney has won the right to pray at work. In a deal brokered between his boss and unions yesterday, computer assembler Kamal El-Masri has been given the go-ahead to take part in afternoon prayers.

CANADA
Fate of former nun rests with judge in P.E.I. child assault case
Canadian Press
CHARLOTTETOWN -- The fate of 78-year-old Lucille Poulin rests with a Prince Edward Island judge who must decide whether the former nun crossed the line from religious fanatic to criminal child abuser.

EGYPT
Muslims Welcome Falwell Apology for Mohammad Slur
Reuters
CAIRO -- Officials from Muslim countries welcomed on Sunday an apology from conservative U.S. preacher Jerry Falwell for calling the Prophet Mohammad a "terrorist," and they urged that debate on Islam be more informed.

INDIA
Israeli Tribes: Once Lost and Now Found?
Searching for the Lost Tribes of Israel in India and Afghanistan
Newsweek
Oct. 21 issue - When the veteran Israeli journalist Hillel Halkin began hunting for the Lost Tribes of Israel four years ago, he thought the claim that a community of Indians on the Burmese border was descended from one of the tribes was either a fantasy or a hoax. The fate of Israel’s 10 lost tribes, which, after being driven from ancient Palestine in the eighth century B.C. by Assyrian conquerors, disappeared into ethnic oblivion, ranks among history’s biggest mysteries.

IRAN
Liberal Iranian cleric jailed
BBC News
A hardline religious court in Iran has sentenced a prominent liberal cleric to seven years in prison. The main charge against Hassan Youssefi Eshkavari was his rejection of the compulsory veiling of women.

ITALY
Rosary to Undergo First Change in Centuries, Vatican Says
New York Times
ROME -- Time and again, Pope John Paul II has boldly gone where other popes have not: a synagogue, a ski slope, distant countries with tiny populations. On Wednesday, he will apparently cross another frontier, making a significant change in the rosary, a signature method of Catholic prayer for many centuries.

KENYA
Matatu Owners Now Put Off Anti-Mungiki Protest
The East African Standard
A matatu owners protest strike over the Mungiki sect members' invasion of the city scheduled for today (Monday) has been put off.

NIGERIA
Two Killed in University Cult Clash
This Day
An undergraduate with the University of Jos, Mr. Emmanuel Godwin Tawe, and another person, simply referred to as Chuks (whose surname were shot dead early on Sunday morning by unknown gunmen suspected to be cult members.

PHILIPPINES
Ecleo urges CA to junk Cebu RTC judge’s warrant of arrest
The Manila Times
The supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) and Dinagat Island Mayor Ruben Ecleo Jr. has asked the Court of Appeals to order his release and nix the warrant of arrest issued against him.
Related news:
‘Fake’ ballots for Ecleo found, The Philippine Star

SAUDI ARABIA
Official: Extremism Not Islamic Way
The Associated Press
RIYADH -- Mosques in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to preach extremism or recruit for Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, a senior member of the Saudi religious establishment said Sunday.

ZIMBABWE
Nzira Warned Against Interfering With Witnesses
The Herald
A Harare magistrate yesterday warned the leader of the Johane Masowe Sect in Chitungwiza Godfrey Nzira that he risked being thrown into jail if he continued to interfere with witnesses. The spiritual healer is facing trial at the magistrates' court for allegedly raping two of his followers on several occasions.

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