Chicago

U.S. Muslim leaders make civil rights their top issue

National Muslim leaders at their largest convention of the year announced plans to register 1 million Muslim voters and make civil rights a top issue in any endorsement of a presidential candidate.

Upset by government scrutiny of their community in the domestic hunt for terrorists, they are mobilizing to express their anger at the polls.

“A defining moment of Islam in America is approaching,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group based in Washington. “We cannot surrender our future and our destiny to hate in this country.”

Austria

Study: Blood pressure drug may help coronary disease

Adding a single pill to standard treatment for coronary artery disease can save lives and reduce heart attacks, doctors said Sunday.

New research has shown that a common blood pressure pill could save hundreds of thousands of coronary patients from dying from heart disease or suffering a heart attack in a four-year period.

The study, presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Vienna, is the largest experiment ever to test the power of so-called ACE inhibitor drugs — already recommended for coronary heart patients over 55, those with heart failure and others at high risk of dying from complications, such as people with diabetes or high blood pressure.

Dallas

U.S. priest promoted despite molestation report

The Vatican promoted a U.S. Roman Catholic priest through its diplomatic corps despite warnings he had molested a girl in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, according to a newspaper report.

A spokeswoman for the archdiocese, Tricia Hempel, told the Dallas Morning News that the Vatican knew of the allegations against the diplomat, Monsignor Daniel Pater. Pater had acknowledged molesting the girl when he was confronted about a decade ago, she said.

“The Vatican knew the status of the case,” Hempel said.

Pater had settled a lawsuit in 1995 that the woman had brought alleging he repeatedly abused her in the 1980s. The Cincinnati archdiocese had publicly reported the settlement but did not release specifics.

Honolulu

Hurricane Jimena headed for Hawaiian islands

Hurricane Jimena plowed across the Pacific with 100 mph wind Sunday, heading for a glancing blow on the Big Island of Hawaii with high wind, strong surf and heavy rain.

The hurricane, about 300 miles southeast of Hilo at 4 p.m. CDT Sunday, was moving westward about 20 mph, the National Weather Service said. The hurricane was slated to pass just south of the Big Island late Sunday night until late this morning.

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center posted a hurricane watch for Hawaii, the state’s biggest and southernmost island, and a high surf warning was issued for the southern coast of Maui.