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Wow this is sad.

FOXNews.com – Texas High School Student Told Rosary Is ‘Gang Symbol’ – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
A Texas teen claims she is forbidden from wearing a rosary around her neck in school because the Catholic prayer beads are a gang symbol, MyFOXDFW.com reported.

Tabitha Ruiz was stopped by security guards at Seagoville High School in Dallas last week and told to take off the silver and ruby beaded rosary, a gift from her mother. On Monday, the same thing happened when she again came to the school wearing the beads.

“I went to school, walked through the metal detectors and they told me to take it off,” the teen said. “I asked them why and they said because it’s gang-related.”

Ruiz and her mother, Taire Ferguson, said they had no idea that rosary beads were a gang symbol. Police, however, are well aware.

“Lately they’ve been seen wearing religious jewelry such as the rosary worn by gang members, so it is a factor,” Sr. Cpl Kevin Janse of the Dallas Police Department told the FOX affiliate.

While rosaries are not specifically banned in area schools, a spokesman for the Dallas Independent School District said that whether or not they’re allowed is at the principal’s discretion.

Ruiz and her mother have vowed to take the district to court if necessary.

This is not good what else can go wrong.

FOXNews.com – Report: N. Korea Tests Long-Range Missile Engine – International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has carried out an engine ignition test for a long-range missile capable of striking the western United States, a South Korean newspaper reported Tuesday.

A U.S. reconnaissance satellite detected the North testing the engine of what appears to be a Taepodong-2 missile — or an upgraded version of it — at a west coast missile base it began building several years ago, the mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported, quoting an unnamed South Korean government official.

The test took place earlier this year, the report said, without providing a date.

It would be a key step in development, and would confirm that the North has been working on a long-range missile. The entire missile base in North Pyongan Province in western North Korea is expected to be operational next year, the report said.

The Taepodong-2 missile can fly as far as 4,160 miles, and the upgraded version would take that range to more than 6,210 miles — within reach of the western United States.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday it could not confirm the report because it involves intelligence affairs on North Korea.

Officials with the U.S. military command and U.S. Embassy in Seoul were not immediately available to confirm the report.

Construction of the North’s new missile base is about 80 percent complete, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee told a parliamentary committee last Thursday. He said the ministry is keeping a close eye on its construction.

Jane’s Defence Weekly reported last week that the system is about one or two years from first-stage completion, but said the launch pad likely has had “emergency launch capability” since 2006.

North Korea’s missile programs has been a key regional concern along with its nuclear weapons programs.

In 2006, the North conducted a series of missiles — including the Taepodong-2 — but experts said the Taepodong-2 missile plunged into the ocean shortly after liftoff.

Later in 2006, the North again rattled the world by conducting its first-ever test of a nuclear device. However, experts believe it does not have a bomb design advanced enough to be placed on a missile.

What else can the airlines do, They are going to charge us like crazy for everything.

FOXNews.com – United Doubles Second-Bag Fee to $50 – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
CHICAGO — United Airlines has doubled its fee for a second checked bag to $50, citing volatile fuel prices.

United says the $50 one-way fee will apply for tickets bought beginning Tuesday for travel beginning November 10 within the U.S. or to or from Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Travelers in first or business classes, “Premier” frequent fliers and active-duty military personnel traveling on orders will be exempt. United estimated the $50 fee would apply to about one out of every seven customers.

Fuel prices have declined in recent weeks as oil prices have fallen, from a high of $147 a barrel to below $96 a barrel on Monday. But United says fuel prices remain more than 50 percent higher than last year.

This is great news, I hope it continues to fall some more so everyone can feel the savings.

FOXNews.com – Oil Plunges to $91 in Asia on U.S. Credit Fears – International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News
SINGAPORE — Oil prices plummeted Tuesday in Asia, falling below $92 a barrel as investors feared the U.S. credit crisis that brought down brokerage giant Lehman Brothers will drag on global economic growth and restrain demand for crude.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery tumbled $3.77 to $91.94 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midday in Singapore. The contract fell $5.47 overnight to settle at $95.71, the first time oil closed below $100 since March 4.

In a stunning turn of events Monday on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., a 158-year-old investment bank, filed for bankruptcy after failing to find a buyer and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be bought out by Bank of America Corp.

“People are selling everything. It’s a bit of panic,” said Jonathan Kornafel, Asia director for market maker Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. “We may not have seen the end of demand destruction. It’s scary what going on economic-wise right now, and that’s why oil is selling off.”

The Dow Jones industrials lost 504 points, or 4.4 percent, on Monday in their worst point drop since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and Asian stock markets tumbled Tuesday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tried to calm markets, saying the American people can remain confident in the “soundness and resilience in the American financial system.”

Crude fell despite an attack by militants on an oil-pumping station operated by the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC in southern Nigeria with dynamite and other explosives Monday which killed at least one guard in the third day of heavy battles between the armed forces and militants fighters.

Shell said one guard died and four others suffered injuries in the battle, which prompted an evacuation of some facilities in the southern region. No details were given about any effect on oil production.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the region’s main militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack. Since it emerged nearly three years ago, the group has mostly focused on hobbling Nigeria’s oil industry, bombing pipelines in hopes of forcing the federal government to send more revenues to the impoverished oil-producing south.

“When you start to see the market not paying attention to what’s going on around it, the fundamentals are not being closely looked at,” Kornafel said. “This drop since mid-July seems a bit overdone.”

Crude has fallen about $55 — or 37 percent — from its all-time trading record of $147.27 reached July 11.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 8.08 cents to $2.7104 a gallon, while gasoline prices dropped 7.0 cents to $2.4914 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 8.4 cents to $7.29 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, October Brent crude fell $2.33 to $90.27 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Maguire Pulling in $50 Million for ‘Spider-Man 4′ and ‘5′ | Rumor Monger | RopeofSilicon.com Entertainment News
According to Times Online Tobey Maguire will receive approximately 5,000,000,000 pennies to reprise his role as Spider-Man/Peter Parker in Spider-Man 4 and 5, which the Times says will be shot “back-to-back over six months next year.” On top of the $50 million the site reports Maguire will also receive profit shares from the two films. The site compares it to what Keanu Reeves earned for filming Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions back-to-back, a shoot that Reeves said left him exhausted.

From what I could dig up during an online search it looks as if Reeves received $30 million and 15% profits on the two Matrix sequels, which truly would mean Maguire is earning some serious additional dough. On top of the money Tobey is said to have asked for some family time with his 22-month daughter, Ruby Sweetheart. Word is he will be taking early mornings and evenings off so he can play with his “favorite blonde”.

This is the second time recently we have heard word on the two Spider-Man sequels being shot back-to-back and furthers the confirmation that Maguire is signed.

Back on September 5, Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood set the fanboys’ into a frenzy as she reported director Sam Raimi and star Tobery Maguire were “locked” to star in and direct the next two installments. As of now it is only reported screenwriter James Vanderbilt has penned Spider-Man 4 and there is no word on plot even though online speculation leads many to believe Dylan Baker, who played Dr. Curt Connors in Spider-Man 2 and 3, will play The Lizard. For more on that story click here.

Spider-Man 4 is tentatively set for a May 2011 release.