Nation briefs 10/09/02

Bail granted to one of six accused terror members

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A federal judge granted bail Tuesday to only one of six men accused of being part of an al-Qaida sleeper cell.

In granting $600,000 bond to Sahim Alwan, Magistrate H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. said Alwan had "disclaimed any continued participation in the activities of al-Qaida" and had extricated himself from a training camp in Afghanistan.

As to the five others, the judge said: "I find that each defendant ... has not come forward with sufficient evidence to offset the government's claim of dangerousness and risk of flight."

The defendants -- all Americans of Yemeni descent -- are accused of being members of an al-Qaida cell awaiting orders from Osama bin Laden's terror network to carry out an attack in the United States.

If convicted, the men could get up to 15 years in prison.

From two North Carolina beauty queens to none

RALEIGH, N.C.-- North Carolina, which has had two reigning beauty queens for a month, now has none.

A judge on Tuesday ordered the Miss North Carolina pageant to not recognize anyone as the titleholder until Rebekah Revels, who won the pageant but was forced to resign over topless snapshots, resolves her lawsuit with the organization.

A month ago, state judge Narley L. Cashwell ruled that Revels, who was crowned in June and stepped down in July, had a valid contract with the Miss North Carolina Pageant Organization.

Revels has sued the state pageant for breach of contract. But the judge said Tuesday that contracts between the pageant and its contestants say disputes should be settled by arbitration.

Until that is done, he ruled that no one should serve as Miss North Carolina.

Based on Cashwell's original order, Revels went to Atlantic City, N.J., for the Miss America pageant along with Misty Clymer, the runner-up who gained the title when Revels resigned.

Within a week, a federal judge refused to force the Miss America pageant to include Revels.

NTSB cites negligence in 1994 pipeline rupture

WASHINGTON -- The National Transportation Safety Board ruled Tuesday that a 1999 fuel pipeline explosion that killed three people in Bellingham, Wash., was caused by an excavation project five years earlier, compounded by the pipeline company's failure to inspect the pipe.

At a meeting Tuesday, the NTSB cited damage to the pipe caused by IMCO General Construction Co., which was conducting excavation work at a nearby water treatment plant in 1994.

Olympic Pipeline Co., which operates the pipeline, inadequately inspected the work and failed to identify or repair damage, the board found.

-- From wire reports