California

Unabomber wants papers, bomb released

Unabomber Ted Kaczynski has asked the government to return his personal papers and other materials, including a bomb seized by the FBI.

Kaczynski asked a federal judge in Sacramento to make the government ship the materials to a University of Michigan archive that already contains more than 15,000 of his papers.

On his list are a pipe bomb and his voluminous autobiography, said R. Steven Lapham, one of the federal prosecutors who tried the case. Other items include Kaczynski’s tools, a can of matches, a pair of tweezers and a hatchet confiscated when he was arrested at his Montana cabin.

Kaczynski is serving life without the possibility of parole at a prison in Colorado.

Washington, D.C.

Muslim-American group launches voter drive

The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation said Monday it is launching a national drive to register Muslims, give them a crash course on American civics and mobilize them for the 2004 election cycle.

“Campaign V.I.P: Voting is Power” is aimed at registering about 2.5 million Muslim-Americans, said Mahdi Bray, the group’s executive director. Mosque surveys estimate 750,000 Muslim-Americans are currently registered, he said on the eve of the campaign’s start.

“Many, when they come to this country, tend to become insular,” Bray said. “We’re trying to get people out in the communities and active in the civic process. We want them in parent-teacher associations, rotary clubs, public service organizations.”

He said there are 7 million Muslim-Americans.

Canada

New SARS death reported

A 44-year-old SARS patient died Monday in Toronto, becoming the 43rd person in Canada’s largest city to die from the pneumonia-like illness.

Nine people remain hospitalized with severe acute respiratory syndrome in Toronto, where almost 250 cases were recorded in two outbreaks earlier this year.

The city’s last SARS-related death was July 19.

Toronto had the biggest outbreak outside of Asia. WHO removed the city from its list of SARS-infected areas on July 2, saying the city had contained the outbreak.