Hakim

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's most powerful Shiite leader rejected yesterday making major changes to the new constitution, diminishing Sunni Arab hopes of amending the charter to avoid being shut out of the nation's vast oil wealth. Sunnis were reluctant to sign on to the constitution last fall, fearing that provisions granting wide powers to autonomous regions would leave oil in the hands of Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south. Sunnis dominate in western, and much of northwestern and north-central Iraq, but the oil lies beneath Kurdistan and parts of southern Iraq that one day may be subsumed in a semi-independent region controlled by Shiites.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The car bombing that killed one of Iraq's most important spiritual leaders yesterday was met by an apparent political vacuum in the nation's capital, where the Iraqi and U.S. officials charting the country's future seemed unsure who should respond and how. Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim, a symbol of moderation in this restive land, was dead. Religious leaders called for blood and vengeance, and in some places the ayatollah's mourners took to the streets. Yet here in Baghdad, the Iraqi and U.S. officials charged with shepherding this country toward democratic rule went about their business as if little had changed.

NAJAF, Iraq - Amid grief-enraged crowds, police in this holy city arrested several suspects yesterday in the car-bomb attack that killed about 100 people, including a leading Shiite cleric, and shook Iraq to its core. Officials with the U.S.-led occupation authority said in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, that at least four of the suspects were believed to have ties to al-Qaida. The officials declined to offer details. If true, it would establish a critical link between the widely reported presence in Iraq of foreign subversives and a specific act of terrorism.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - For local enemies of the Taliban, last week began with high hopes. Abdul Haq, a charismatic tribal leader and seasoned guerrilla fighter, had just sneaked back into Afghanistan with a handful of followers, vowing to rally thousands to the cause of toppling the regime. In Peshawar, 600 Afghan chieftains, village elders and former commanders were gathering in a rare show of unity for a peace conference, where they would begin piecing together the country's post-Taliban future.

Before gangsta raps there were raps about libraries and teen-age pregnancy; before Dannemora State Prison and the killing bullets, there were pillow fights and the exuberance of youth.Tupac Amaru Shakur did not grow up in Baltimore. He was not a finished product when he left. But his years here encompassed that crucial time when childhood ends and self-discovery begins.He was 14 when he and his mother moved here from the Bronx in 1985. He called himself MC New York and won a rap contest sponsored by the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

For nine days, Ross Hakim Telp asked police and news reporters to help him find his missing mother. The entire time, Baltimore prosecutors said at Telp's sentencing hearing yesterday, the 18-year-old knew precisely what had happened to Margo Antoinette Baker, 52, because he had stabbed her to death and dumped her body in Leakin Park. "Other relatives were hoping for a happy ending, when he knew all along there would not be one," Assistant State's Attorney Amir Gibbs said while asking a judge to sentence Telp to 33 years in prison -- the maximum penalty allowed under his agreement to plead guilty to second-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon.

ATLANTA -- Motivated by a perceived lack of respect, the Tennessee Titans continue to do a slow burn this week. "It's like pouring gasoline onto the fire," said defensive end Josh Evans. Evans was upset that the Titans were forced to participate in Wednesday's Super Bowl media session in an unheated tent. "People still are not respecting us, so there is an extra motivation to go out and play hard," he said. "Until we win, people are not going to respect us. I think after three wins against Jacksonville, and after beating St. Louis, we beat all the top teams in the NFL, people still don't have their eyes open.

NAJAF, Iraq - A top Shiite leader and more than 90 other people were killed yesterday in a huge car bomb explosion outside a mosque in this Shiite holy city soon after Friday prayers. The explosion occurred moments after the Shiite leader, Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim, had left the site, which houses the tomb of Imam Ali and is considered the holiest shrine in Shiite Islam. Witnesses at the scene indicated the casualty toll could be far larger. But beyond the scale of human losses, the blast was particularly significant because of who its target apparently was. Al-Hakim was an important Shiite ally of the American occupying force, and his death will likely undermine the coalition's efforts to build stability in Iraq.

On June 15, 2003, CARRIE E., of Baltimore, MD., the loving daughter of Clarence and Mary Johnson, mother of Hakim and Britani and Cierra. She was the sister of Jewel Johnson, Tocoma Powell, Jonathan, Michael, Mark, Joeseph and Clarence Johnson. Relatives and friends may call at the Gary P. March Funeral Home, 270 Fredhilton Pass, Baltimore, MD (21229) on Saturday, June 21st at 12 P.M. Funeral to follow in the chapel. Interment will be private.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A car bomb exploded yesterday outside a building that housed Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a leading Shiite Muslim politician and likely candidate for prime minister, killing at least 10 people, including Iraqis passing by at morning rush hour. Al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was in the SCIRI building but was not injured in the suicide attack, police said. The blast wounded more than 50 people, left a 10-foot crater and destroyed several passing cars, but did little damage to the building.