Islamic militants charged with plotting terrorist acts in Egypt

Associated Press

Ninety-four suspected Muslim militants have been charged with plotting to carry out terrorist acts in Egypt and will be tried before a military court, defense officials said yesterday.

The officials said the trial of the group, all suspected members of the previously unknown Al-Wa'ad group, was due to open Sunday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

A charge sheet filed by a military prosecutor included accusations that they planned to assassinate public figures, blow up and sabotage government establishments and possessed explosives and ammunition, the sources said.

They are also accused of setting up an "unconstitutional" group whose goal is to disturb public order.

Of the 94 members of Al-Wa'ad, which means "the promise," 87 have been in police custody since May. The rest are at large.

Among those detained were two mosque preachers from Cairo - Sheiks Fawzi al-Said and Nashaat Ibrahim - and two U.S.-trained pilots. The defendants also include several foreigners: three from Dagestan, one Dutch, an Egyptian-American, an Egyptian-German and a Yemeni, according to the officials.

Police have confiscated documents and explosives manuals from the defendants. A state security prosecutor's report said that they had received training in Afghanistan.

Prosecutors did not say whether the accused were linked to Osama bin Laden, the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, who is believed to have run militant training camps in Afghanistan.

Auburn University suspends 15 students for costumes

Associated Press

Auburn University said yesterday it has indefinitely suspended 15 students who wore Ku Klux Klan costumes and blackface to fraternity Halloween parties.

The school said the students violated its harassment and discrimination rules. They could face additional disciplinary action - including expulsion.

"The continued presence of these students in the university community poses an immediate threat to the well-being of the university, and we're taking that action," Auburn President William Walker said.

The suspended students include five from Delta Sigma Phi fraternity - one who wore blackface with a noose around his neck, another dressed as a policeman and three more who dressed as hunters.

They appeared in a photo with a fraternity member dressed as a Klansman who was pointing a gun at the man in blackface. The school said the student dressed as a Klansman has dropped out of school.

"They just did something stupid," said Delta Sigma Phi President Matt Furin. "Everyone feels responsible and everyone wishes they could do things different."

The other 10 suspended students were members of Beta Theta Pi who wore blackface and afro wigs at a separate party.

The two fraternities were previously expelled from campus by their national chapters. They both made public apologies.

Man drowns in floodwaters caused by heavy Texas rain

Associated Press

Floodwaters caused by torrential rain yesterday swept a man in a pickup truck to his death and left a pregnant woman missing.

Three men were in the truck near Blanco, about 40 miles north of San Antonio. The drowned man's identity was withheld pending notification of family. The other two were rescued by residents, the Blanco County Sheriff's Department said.

Farther west in Edwards County, a 32-year-old woman was missing after floodwaters swept the car she was riding in off a highway, Sheriff Don Letsinger said. The woman's father was rescued.

A pickup truck with two men was later washed off the road at the same spot, just south of Rocksprings, Letsinger said.

"We fished them out of the trees. They're OK," he said.

In Real County, a group of people were stranded by high water from a river and a creek, Letsinger said.

"Those people could be in danger," Letsinger said. "We don't have any way to get to them by land. We're in contact with those people and will have to take them food and water."

About 8 inches of rain fell in Edwards County, where the state Department of Transportation shut down all roads, he said.

The weather service issued a flash-flood warning for 10 counties in south-central Texas until Thursday evening.

The same storm spawned several tornados as it moved through the Hill Country, officials said. Other twisters were reported in neighboring counties.

"It moved a big ole 40-foot horse trailer on top of a tractor, stuff like that," Kendall County chief deputy Hugo Boehm said.

A lane of the highway west of Boerne, about 40 miles west of San Antonio, was closed briefly to clean up debris, he said, and one building lost its roof.

Downed phone lines were blocking some roads, said Boerne Police dispatcher Norma Prendergast.