NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST November 1, 2007

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NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-San-Francisco-Halloween.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

Quiet Halloween Night in San Francisco

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 1, 2007
Filed at 7:22 a.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A heavy police presence in the city's Castro districtseemed enough to spook revelers away from what was once home to the SanFrancisco Bay area's largest Halloween street party.

City officials canceled the event after nine people were shot at last year'scostume bash.

On Wednesday night, bars and restaurants closed early, public transportationhalted nighttime service to the area and sidewalk barricades were set up todiscourage pedestrians from spilling into the road. The landmark CastroTheatre stood with its lights shut off, guarded by barricades and ninepolice officers.

However, more than 250 uniformed officers patrolling the area weren't enoughto keep some people from checking out their favorite Halloween haunt. Alight crowd of costumed revelers wandered through the neighborhood Wednesdaynight, and six people were arrested for public drunkenness, said police Sgt.Steve Mannina.

The party, which began in the 1960s as a spontaneous and unsanctioned eventin the heart of the gay and lesbian community, was taken over by the cityafter 2002, when five people were stabbed and police found aman wielding a chain saw among the crowd of nearly 500,000.

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NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/world/middleeast/01dubai.html?pagewanted=print

In Rape Case, a French Youth Takes On Dubai

By THANASSIS CAMBANIS
November 1, 2007

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 31 - Alexandre Robert, a French15-year-old, was having a fine summer in this tourist paradise on thePersian Gulf. It was Bastille Day and he and a classmate had escaped theJuly heat at the beach for an air-conditioned arcade.

Just after sunset, Alex says he was rushing to meet his father for dinnerwhen he bumped into an acquaintance, a 17-year-old native-born student atthe American school, who said he and his cousin could drop Alex off at home.

There were, in fact, three Emirati men in the car, including a pair offormer convicts ages 35 and 18, according to Alex. He says they drove himpast his house and into a dark patch of desert, between a row of new villasand a power plant, took away his cellphone, threatened him with a knife anda club, and told him they would kill his family if he ever reported them.

Then they stripped off his pants and one by one sodomized him in the backseat of the car. They dumped Alex across from one of Dubai's luxury hoteltowers.

Alex and his family were about to learn that despite Dubai's status as theArab world's paragon of modernity and wealth, and its well-earned reputationfor protecting foreign investors, its criminal legal system remains aperilous gantlet when it comes to homosexuality and protection offoreigners.

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WashingtonPost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/31/AR2007103100116_pf.html

Judgment Day for Loudoun Board
Incumbents Face Verdict on Growth

By Sandhya Somashekhar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 1, 2007; LZ01

Four years ago, six Republicans swept into office on the Loudoun Board ofSupervisors promising to change the way the county did business.

On Tuesday, voters will decide whether the legacy shaped by that GOPmajority should continue another four years.

Eleven challengers and nine incumbents are running in an election that willhinge in part on how the board has managed the rapid growth of the county,whose population has nearly doubled in seven years to 270,000. The electionalso will touch on illegal immigration, traffic woes, ballooning propertytaxes and ethics.

It is shaping up to be the most expensive board race in county history. Asof Sept. 30, the 20 candidates had raised a combined $1.4 million, $250,000shy of the final tally after the 2003 election. At least $320,000 of theamount raised in this campaign has come from the development and real estatecommunity, according to an analysis by the nonprofit group Virginia PublicAccess Project, which covered only those contributions greater than $100.

The board has been mired in acrimonious debates for four years, with five ofthe Republicans often voting to allow more residential development and thetwo independents and lone Democrat favoring slower growth. Supervisor LoriL. Waters (R-Broad Run), who campaigned on a pro-growth platform, haschanged her attitude on that subject.

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WashingtonPost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/31/AR2007103102822.html

WORKING

Gay Gap
Thursday, November 1, 2007; Page D02

Gay men who live together earn 23 percent less than married heterosexualmen, research by a University of New Hampshire economics professor shows.They also earn less than unmarried men living with women.

The wage gap was most pronounced in management jobs and in male-dominatedfields such as construction, manufacturing and maintenance. Most occupationswhere workers have direct contact with customers -- health care, sales,education -- did not show disparities, according to Prof. Bruce Elmslie."It's heterosexual men who really discriminate against gay men," he said.

The salaries of lesbians don't reveal similar discrimination when comparedwith those of other women, except in management jobs.

The research is based on analysis of 2004 salary data from the CensusBureau's Current Population Survey, using reports by individuals who livetogether to indicate sexual orientation. It was co-authored by EdinaldoTebaldi, now at Bryant University, and published in the Journal of LaborResearch. Elmslie said the "marriage premium" accounts for only half thegap. Workplace culture also contributes.


-- Vickie Elmer



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flathirdparty1101nbnov01,0,757016,print.story

Evangelicals tilt toward third party

The associated press
November 1, 2007

WASHINGTON

More than half of white evangelical Republicans would consider voting for aconservative third-party candidate should the 2008 presidential race pitHillary Rodham Clinton against Rudy Giuliani, a poll said Wednesday.

The finding, in a survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, was thelatest reading of discontent among one of the GOP's cornerstone votingblocs. Giuliani, the leading Republican contender in most national polls, isa former New York mayor whose views on abortion, gays and guns areconsidered too moderate by many conservatives.

According to the poll, 55 percent of white evangelical Republicans said theywould consider a conservative who ran as a third-party candidate. Forty-twopercent said they would not.

Evangelicals comprise 34 percent of Republican and Republican-leaningvoters, according to Pew. They are divided about evenly among Giuliani, FredThompson and Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

It is unclear whether a third-party bid would be launched should Giuliani benominated. Conservative Christian leaders met privately in September todiscuss that possibility.



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ExpressGayNews.com

http://expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=15034

Clinton supporters downplay ties to anti-gay ministers
Some say Obama 'crossed a line' with gospel event

By JOSHUA LYNSEN | Oct 31, 2:39 PM

Just one week after criticizing Sen. Barack Obama's ties to an "ex-gay"minister, supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) are downplayingher connection to anti-gay figures.

Obama was assailed last week for allowing gospel singer Donnie McClurkin toappear at a South Carolina campaign event, but the endorsement of Clinton byat least two anti-gay black ministers has so far not generated similaroutrage.

"I don't know if that's the same as, 'Here's a microphone - you can speakfor my campaign,'" said Ryan Wilson of the South Carolina Gay & LesbianPride Movement.

Some of Clinton's gay supporters, along with unaligned gays such as Wilson,said they're generally unconcerned that anti-gay ministers Bishop Eddie Longand Rev. Harold Mayberry are supporting the campaign.

Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in suburban Atlanta once marchedagainst gay marriage and hosts an "ex-gay" ministry. Mayberry has preachedagainst homosexuality to his First African Methodist Episcopal Church inOakland, Calif.

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