Greece: Muslims mark Eid with outdoor prayers

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands of Muslim immigrants attended outdoor prayer services across Athens Tuesday to mark the festival of Eid-al-Adha, while police clashed with a small group of protesters from an extreme right group at one of the sites.

The services at eight public squares and other areas in greater Athens occurred peacefully, but police cleared one square where Greek local residents and members of the far-right Chrysi Avgi — a group widely linked to a growing number violent attacks against immigrants. Police later briefly clashed with several dozen of its members.

Protesters played loud music from a nearby apartment, threw eggs, and jeered at the immigrants …

Oil hovers below $83 ahead of key US jobs report

Oil prices hovered below $83 a barrel Friday as investors looked to a key U.S. jobs report later in the day for clues about the strength of the economic recovery.

Signs of monetary tightening in China and the dollar's gains on other major currencies also helped keep oil prices in check.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for February delivery was down 20 cents to $82.46 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the contract fell 52 cents to settle at $82.66.

The Labor Department is scheduled to announce later on Friday the December unemployment rate and job creation figures _ numbers traders will …

SNEED

Tipsville . . .

Watch for former state Senate President Phil Rock to be appointedhead of the Illinois Board of Higher Education by his old pal, Gov.Ryan. A bird word . . .

Attention birders! Sneed hears a rare black-crowned night-heronwith a dislocated elbow in its wing is being nursed back to health atthe Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn. A Westmont familyfound the injured bird at Waubonsee Creek in Oswego 10 days ago.Although the injury will heal, officials at the center said the heronlikely will never fly again. This week the bird will be taken to anew permanent home, the Cosley Zoo in Wheaton. The 1 1/2-foot tallbird - which has gray and white feathers, …

Ex-East German activist Baerbel Bohley dies

BERLIN (AP) — Baerbel Bohley, a prominent figure in the pro-democracy movement that helped end communist rule in the former East Germany, died Saturday. She was 65.

The Robert Havemann Society, a group dedicated to the history of East Germany's opposition that Bohley helped set up, said she died of cancer.

Bohley, a painter who endured harassment by East Germany's secret police, and several others in September 1989 established New Forum. It became the most prominent opposition group in the final phase of hardline communist rule.

The group advocated free elections, greater openness in East German society and a free press.

East Germany opened its heavily fortified …

Euro falls against dollar

The euro fell against the dollar Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve and European central banks said they would extend more credit to banks still roiled by financial market turmoil.

The 15-nation euro fell to US$1.5551 in afternoon European trading from the US$1.5586 it bought in late New York trading Tuesday.

The European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank said Wednesday they will make billions of U.S. dollars available to banks still starving for the currency.

The U.S. Federal Reserve said it is extending its emergency borrowing program to Wall Street firms by US$100 billion and is taking other steps to ease a severe credit crunch that …

Bomb scare shuts down Colo. town to base before crash

ASPEN, Colo. - Authorities say they're looking for a former Aspenresident after a bomb scare effectively shut down this resort townon New Year's Eve, one of its busiest nights of the year.

Suspicious packages and threatening notes were found at twobanks, forcing the evacuation of a 16-block downtown area. Afireworks show was pushed back from 8:30 p.m. until midnight andthen canceled altogether.

Police said a downtown Wells Fargo Bank first discovered apackage with a threatening note at about 2:30 p.m. A nearby …

Human chronic fascioliasis: a possible cause of unexplained abnormal liver tests

Fascioliasis is a cause of hepatic disease. Hepatitis B and C viruses are important causative factors in chronic liver disease. In this study, the frequency of hepatitis B (HBV) and/or hepatitis C (HCV) in cases of chronic human fascioliasis is studied. Egg count, indirect haemagglutination test (IHAT), haemoglobin level, total leucocyte and eosinophil counts, serum bilirubin, serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and acid phosphatase (ACP) are performed. Serum γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), arylsulphatase (ASA) and lipid peroxide levels are determined. Results showed that levels of the latter group of enzymes were increased …