Activists: Fight new immigration law

Activists: Fight new immigration law

PHOENIX

Civil-rights activists called on President Barack Obama to fight a tough new Arizona law targeting illegal immigrants Sunday, promising to march in the streets and invite arrest by refusing to comply if the measure goes into effect.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona told about 3,500 protesters gathered at the state Capitol that the Obama administration can help defeat the law by refusing to cooperate when illegal immigrants are picked up by local police and turned over to federal immigration officers.

Al-Qaida group confirms 2 deaths

baghdad

An al-Qaida front group in Iraq on Sunday confirmed the killing of its two top leaders but vowed to keep up the fight despite claims by U.S. and Iraqi officials that the deaths could be a devastating blow to the terror network.

The defiance came in a statement released a week after the group’s leaders — Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri — were killed in a raid by Iraqi and U.S. security forces on their safe house near Tikrit.

80 Afghan schoolgirls fall ill; poison feared

kabul

Dozens of Afghan schoolgirls have fallen ill in recent days after reporting a strange odor in their classrooms in northern Afghanistan, prompting a probe into whether they were targeted by militants who oppose education for girls or victims of mass hysteria.

Either way, the reports from three schools within 2 miles of one another in Kunduz province have raised alarm in a city threatened by the Taliban and their allies.

The latest cases occurred Sunday, when 13 girls became sick, Kunduz provincial spokesman Mahbobullah Sayedi said. An additional 47 complained of dizziness and nausea the day before, and 23 fell ill last Wednesday.

All complained of a strange smell in class before they fell ill.

Most stranded to be home by today

london

Most tourists stranded by the volcanic ash crisis will be home by today although thousands could be stuck for nearly another week, European airlines and government officials said.

A week of airspace closures caused by ash spewed by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano prompted the worst breakdown in civil aviation in Europe since World War II, with about 100,000 flights canceled.

Official: Torpedo blast likely sank ship

seoul, south korea

An explosion caused by a torpedo likely tore apart and sank a South Korean warship near the North Korean border, Seoul’s defense minister said Sunday, while declining to assign blame for the blast as suspicion increasingly falls on Pyongyang.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said an underwater explosion appeared to have ripped apart the vessel, and a torpedo blast seemed the most likely cause. Investigators who examined salvaged wreckage separately announced Sunday that a close-range, external explosion likely sank it.

Obama, Graham pray together

montreat, n.c.

President Barack Obama made a pilgrimage Sunday to Billy Graham’s home, concluding his North Carolina vacation with his first meeting with the ailing evangelist who has counseled commanders in chief since Dwight Eisenhower.

Obama’s motorcade drove to Montreat from Asheville, where he spent the weekend, to see the 91-year-old Graham and son Franklin, also an evangelist.

Associated Press