Navy ends search for victim of sinking

Navy ends searchfor victim of sinking
HONOLULU -- The Navy has ended its recovery effort at the site of the Ehime Maru wreck, giving up hope of finding the ninth and final victim of a collision involving a U.S. submarine and the Japanese training fishing vessel.
Divers involved in the $60 million effort were unable to locate the remains of Takeshi Mizuguchi, a 17-year-old Uwajima Fisheries High School student, Rear Adm. William Klemm, the operation's commander, said Wednesday. Mizuguchi's family was informed Tuesday that the search was being called off, Klemm said.
Family members had given 24 pink roses to Navy officials to thank them for their efforts.
"That is a measure of kindness and class that goes beyond anything I have ever seen in my life," Klemm said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Mizuguchi family."
Nine men and teen-age boys went down with the Ehime Maru when it was rammed Feb. 9 by the USS Greeneville, which was demonstrating a rapid-surfacing drill. Twenty-six others were rescued.
The wreckage was moved to shallower water so divers could search for the dead. The first body was found Oct. 16; the eighth was recovered Oct. 25.
Savannah school boardbans 'lewd' cheers
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- School officials on Wednesday banned "lewd gestures" and "vulgar movements" from school performances in response to complaints that some cheerleading and dance routines had become too sexy.
The Chatham County school board voted unanimously, saying the policy strikes a balance by answering offended parents without setting strict standards that put the board in the role of morality police.
"It wasn't like it was widespread," board member Jessie DeLoach Collier said of the complaints. "It's just some people, because of their religion, may have been embarrassed by some of the things they saw."
The policy bans "lewd gestures, inappropriate comments, foul language and suggestive or vulgar movements" at school functions by all student groups, from glee clubs to wrestling teams. Board president Diane Cantor said the final decision of what's tasteful is up to school principals.
Board members have said the move is a result of phone calls from parents offended by some cheerleading and dance squad routines.
Right-wing group startsanti-Muslim campaign
LONDON -- Members of a far-right political party masquerading as clergymen have been distributing anti-Muslim leaflets outside English cathedrals, the Financial Times reported today.
The reported actions of the British National Party follow the recent launch of its "Campaign Against Islam," which claims that lax immigration laws have created an internal threat by extremists bent on turning Britain into an Islamic country.
The Church of England has labeled the campaign as subterfuge, the newspaper reported.
"It is just sad that there are people who believe that this tripe is acceptable," the newspaper quoted the Very Rev. Colin Slee, dean of Southwark Cathedral.
BNP activists dressed as clergy have distributed the leaflets to worshippers and passers-by outside Canterbury Cathedral, the newspaper said. The leaflets, which say that Britain is being overrun by Muslims, have also turned up at Southwark and St. Paul's cathedrals.
Police are investigating the campaign, but have been told by prosecutors that the party has not broken any laws, according to the report.
Killer gets life sentence
SYDNEY, Australia -- A court gave life imprisonment today to a woman who murdered her partner before skinning his body and carving it up to serve to his children.
Katherine Mary Knight, 45, was a "very dangerous person" and ordered her never to be released, Justice Barry O'Keefe said.
Knight, a slaughterhouse worker, pleaded guilty last month to murdering John Price, 44, at his home near Newcastle, 120 miles north of Sydney, in February of last year.
She stabbed Price at least 37 times, decapitated him, skinned his body and later included his flesh in meals for the son and daughter of the deceased, accompanied by vindictive notes, O'Keefe said. Prosecutors did not suggest to the court that the children ate the meal.
Knight said she could not remember what happened in the house.
But prosecutor Mark Macadam said Tuesday that Knight had told her brother five months earlier that she would murder Price and claim insanity. Price broke off the relationship shortly before the slaying.
Associated Press