Miniskirt remark decried

Miniskirt remark decried

MEXICO CITY — A Catholic priest’s condemnation of miniskirts on an official church Web site is causing outrage among some Mexican women, who say the Roman Catholic Church is making it easier to justify sexual violence against women.

The Rev. Sergio G. Roman sounded the alarm against miniskirts in an online publication to prepare Catholics for a church family-values forum next year in Mexico City.

“When we show our body without prudence, without modesty, we are prostituting ourselves,” wrote Roman, a Mexico City priest.

Mexican newspaper columnists lampooned the article, and women’s rights advocates have assailed it.

Women dressed in miniskirts and low-cut shirts have rallied at the doors of Mexico City’s Cathedral during Sunday Mass, carrying signs that read: “Clothed and naked, I am the same.”

Guadalupe Loaeza, a renowned Mexican social commentator, said she worries the priest’s statements will be taken seriously and make it acceptable to blame the victim.

Band saxophonist dies

LOS ANGELES — A publicist for the Dave Matthews Band says saxophone player LeRoi Moore has died of injuries suffered in an all-terrain-vehicle accident in June.

Publicist Ambrosia Healy says Moore died Tuesday at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles.

He was initially hospitalized in late June after the accident on his farm outside Charlottesville, Va.

Moore had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin physical rehabilitation when complications forced him back into the hospital. Moore was 46.

Egyptian parliament fire

CAIRO, Egypt — Fire ravaged a 19th-century palace used by the upper house of Egypt’s parliament Tuesday, with flames bursting through windows as helicopters scooped water from the Nile River to douse the blaze.

Flames soared upward from the top floor of the three-story building, and much of the interior appeared gutted. While firefighters focused on one corner of the building, the blaze burned unabated on the other side, spreading to the second floor with periodic explosions and showers of sparks.

There was no official word on the cause. Evacuated employees said authorities told them they had ruled out terrorism, and that an electrical short-circuit had likely sparked the fire.

‘Virtual fence’ on hold

TUCSON, Ariz. — Construction on “virtual fence” projects scheduled along Arizona’s border with Mexico is on hold indefinitely because the Interior Department hasn’t signed off on use of its lands, federal officials said Tuesday.

Interior officials have not accepted a proposed finding in an environmental assessment produced for the U.S. Border Patrol that putting towers with radar, cameras and communications equipment on Interior Department lands would have no significant impact, said Mike Friel, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Authority to waive environmental laws for border security projects was granted to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff under a 2005 congressional act, but the law does not extend to virtual fence projects, Friel said.

Divisions in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Just a day after Pervez Musharraf’s resignation, Pakistan’s governing coalition fell into wrangling Tuesday over restoring the judges he fired, exposing troublesome divisions that could disrupt picking his successor as president.

Pakistanis have been urging the government to set aside political bickering and tackle extremist violence and economic downturn — challenges underscored Tuesday by a bombing outside a hospital and new battles between the army and militants.

The U.S.-backed leader reluctantly ended his nine-year presidency Monday in the face of the ruling coalition’s move to impeach him in parliament.

Storm maintains strength

NAPLES, Fla. — Tropical Storm Fay rolled ashore in southwestern Florida on Tuesday without much fanfare, but stubbornly hung around like an unwelcome houseguest, maintaining its strength and threatening — once again — to become a hurricane.

The storm first hit the Florida Keys, veered out to sea and then traversed east across the state on a path that would curve it toward to the Florida-Georgia border. The failure of Fay to weaken meant a whole new swath of the state had to prepare for a worse storm.

At 9 p.m. EDT, the center of the storm was about 45 miles south-southwest of Melbourne and forecasters expected it to head north-northeast later in the evening.

Associated Press