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CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- Federal authorities arrested an Islamic religious leader Friday as they began the process of deporting him for his ties to terrorist groups. Imam Fawaz Damra, the spiritual leader of Ohio's largest mosque, was convicted in June 2004 of concealing ties to three groups that the U.S. government classifies as terrorist organizations when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994. That conviction was upheld in March, clearing the way for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcemen ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Up to 1,000 people were stranded in heavy snow on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall on Friday as blizzards closed a major road. More than 100 people were evacuated to six rest centres in the area, and some schools decided to keep their children overnight for safety rather than trying to make the dangerous journey home, Devon and Cornwall police said. They said had declared a major incident and urged drivers to stay with their vehicles until help arrived. The vehicles, including coach ...

NEW YORK (AP) -- The pre-dawn sales frenzy is over -- and now the tally begins. Steep discounts and expanded hours drew hordes to the nation's malls in what merchants hope are signs consumer spending will be lively for the holidays. More people jammed the stores early, according to initial reports, and more than a few testy shoppers scuffled in a rush to grab bargains, from notebook computers to cashmere sweaters. Several major retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sears, Roebuck and Co. ...

(CNN) -- The bodies of a father and his 9-year-old daughter were pulled from an ice-covered pond in Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, on Friday, hours after they fell through, authorities said. Authorities suspect the girl fell through to the icy water while skating and her 44-year-old father fell through the ice while trying to pull her out, Sheboygan County Sheriff Michael Helmke said. The girl's sister, 6, witnessed the incident and ran to a nearby house to get help. "We were unable to make a rescue, ...

LONDON, England (AP) -- British retailer Tesco PLC said Friday it was withdrawing several far-right and anti-Semitic publications from its online bookstore after complaints from an anti-fascist magazine. Searchlight magazine said it was "horrified" to discover books from far-right publishers on the Tesco web site. They included "The Hitler We Loved and Why," "The International Jew" and infamous a ...

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- The sweltering heat inside the Capital Female Penitentiary got hotter, as contestants in the Miss Penitentiary pageant were working overtime using hair dryers. Angelica Mazua, a statuesque Angolan facing international drug smuggling charges, was voted Miss Penitentiary 2005 on Thursday after a six-hour contest pitting 40 female inmates from 10 prisons against each other in Brazil's largest city. "People told me, 'You're tall. You should enter the contest,' so that's  ...

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Actor Pat Morita, whose portrayal of the wise and dry-witted Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid" earned him an Oscar nomination, has died. He was 73. Morita died Thursday at his home in Las Vegas of natural causes, said his wife of 12 years, Evelyn. She said in a statement that her husband, who first rose to fame with a role on "Happy Days," had "dedicated his entire life to acting and comedy." In 1984, he appeared in the role that would define his career and spawn c ...

By Olesya Dmitracova LONDON (Reuters) - George Best, whose flamboyant life took him from the heights of sporting success at Manchester United to the depths of alcoholism, died on Friday aged 59. The Northern Irishman, widely regarded as the only British footballer in the same league as Pele, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff, died in the London hospital where he had spent the final two months of his life, drifting in and out of consciousness. "My father has passed away," Best's tearful son Calu ...

By Andrew Hay BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - A 36-year-old Briton imprisoned in Brazil on child abuse charges is on hunger strike to protest his innocence and is beginning to weaken after going 24 days without food. Drinking only water and herbal tea, Craig Alden is demanding Brazil gives him a fair trial after he was imprisoned in 2002 having being found guilty of abusing children at an orphanage he founded in the town of Planaltina, Goias state. "If I'm not allowed to be free and have my huma ...

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A volcano erupted Thursday in southwestern Colombia, spewing smoke and ash, and raising fears for the safety of nearby villagers, officials said. Police and emergency officials were on high alert after the 14,110-foot Galeras volcano became active at dawn and dumped heaps of ash on the city of Pasto, 12 miles away. "It was a brief eruption of ash for 30 minutes that was not preceded by a temblor inside the volcano," said Marta Lucia Calvache of Colombia's Volcanology I ...