Muhammad

Three members of a family - two of them children - were killed after a blaze swept through a Baltimore apartment complex early yesterday morning. The deadly fire, which witnesses said began before 3 a.m. in one unit and quickly spread throughout the small apartment building at 1903 N. Forest Park Ave. in Franklintown, also displaced about a dozen other families. The victims were found by firefighters in a basement apartment and identified by a family member as Raheem Muhammad, 28, and her son, Royelle Riley, whose 10th birthday would have been today.

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi political leaders warned yesterday that sectarian violence is likely to increase if thousands of Shiites gather next week at the damaged Golden Mosque in Samarra. Their warnings came on a day in which at least 38 Iraqis died in bombings in the capital. Iraqi leaders have been pressuring Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to abandon plans to lead a July 5 procession to the Golden Mosque, also known as the Askariya Shrine, in the heart of the mostly Sunni Arab city of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

John Allen Muhammad failed to persuade Maryland's second-highest court to overturn his six murder convictions this week, but the sniper did inspire it to issue one colorful legal opinion. "For 22 days in October of 2002, Montgomery County, Maryland, was gripped by a paroxysm of fear, a fear as paralyzing as that which froze the London district of Whitechapel in 1888," it began. "In Whitechapel, however, the terror came only at night. In Montgomery County, it struck at any hour of the day or night.

WHEN KHALID Muhammad, the deposed Nation of Islam hatchet man, applied for a permit to hold another 2,000-screwball march today, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani applied the "fool me once, shame on you/fool me twice, shame on me" adage.No way was Muhammad getting another permit to march this year, Giuliani declared. Not after last year's debacle when Muhammad exhorted marchers to engage in violence against police officers if they moved in to lawfully disperse the rally that was supposed to end at 4 p.m. Last year, Giuliani called Muhammad's event a "hate march" but -- contrary to most media reports -- granted a permit for it.Not so this year.

BaseballAL: Named Angels OF Tim Salmon Player of the Week.NL: Suspended Giants 3B Charlie Hayes four games for charging Diamondbacks' Todd Stottlemyre on Friday and instigating brawl. Fined Hayes and Stottlemyre $2,000 each. Named Diamondbacks 2B Jay Bell Player of the Week.Blue Jays: Recalled OF Anthony Sanders from Triple-A Syracuse.Dodgers: Purchased contract of P Jamie Arnold from Triple-A Albuquerque. Designated C Rick Wilkins for assignment.Giants: Recalled P Joe Nathan from Double-A Shreveport.

WHAT IS important about Khalid Abdul Muhammad and the Million Youth March II that he's planning for New York City on Saturday is the courage shown by City Councilman Bill Perkins in standing up to him and the backup that fellow Harlem Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel is giving Mr. Perkins.The significance of this was made clear to me last week when I was on a panel about race and identity organized by the New York chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.One fellow said Mr. Muhammad's name-calling reminded him of a very bad time 30 years ago. He recalled the black power mess that was kicked off when integration was rejected and one so-called leader after another began embracing a totalitarian blacker-than-thou attitude.

NAACP President Kweisi Mfume showed uncommon wisdom in declining to run for mayor of Baltimore. Now those of us concerned about the future of the nearly century-old civil rights organization can heave a sigh of relief.Mfume's leadership is needed more in the NAACP than as mayor Baltimore. Any of the politicians who have expressed an interest in running for mayor can lead Baltimore. The NAACP requires special leadership -- as Benjamin Chavis Muhammad, who preceded Mfume at the helm of the organization, proved.

A decade after kidnapping Christine J. Doerfler and shotgunning her to death during a robbery that netted $3, Tyrone X Gilliam was executed by lethal injection last night, proclaiming his innocence and asking God to forgive those who took his life.The execution ended a 10-year legal fight for Gilliam, 32, who claimed he didn't pull the trigger that ended the life of Doerfler, a 21-year-old Baltimore accountant who dreamed of working with children and entertained her nieces and nephews by impersonating Donald Duck.

Recalling FBI harassment, harrowing missionary trips and the spellbinding teaching of Elijah Muhammad, five "pioneers" yesterday recounted their role in the founding more than 50 years ago of the Black Muslim movement in Baltimore.The pioneers, now in their 70s, held forth for nearly three hours before several dozen rapt members who sat listening on the dark green carpet of the Walter Omar Muslim Cultural Center in West Baltimore, a mosque of the American Muslim Society."In the beginning, I was known as Wali 2X," said Wali Abdul Hamid Aquil, 78, who converted to Islam in 1948, two years after the temple was founded in Baltimore.

NEW YORK -- A peaceful rally in Harlem was brought to an abrupt end yesterday when march leader Khallid Abdul Muhammad urged participants to defend themselves against possible attack from police as hundreds of officers in riot gear converged on the crowd.About 16 police officers -- of the estimated 3,000 on duty at the event -- and one civilian were injured, two of the officers requiring hospitalization but not reported in critical condition. One person was arrested after police insisted that march leaders leave the stage and the approximately 6,000 participants disperse at p.m., the time a judge set for the end of what was billed as the Million Youth March.

The use of Islam to justify killing is "an innovation" in the religion, a Muslim scholar told a Baltimore conference Saturday, and warned: "Most innovations lead to hellfire." "The Satan always has people that he will be able to deceive," Dr. Waleed Basyouni said during a presentation he called "Reclaiming Islam from the Jihadists." Hundreds of Muslims went to the Baltimore Convention Center on Saturday to hear Basyouni and others promote what organizers described as a moderate, modern interpretation of Islam for the United States and the West.

A Northern Virginia judge Wednesday set Nov. 10 as the execution date for sniper John Allen Muhammad, whose wave of random shootings terrified the Washington region in 2002. Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Mary Grace O'Brien chose the date during a teleconference with lawyers in the case Wednesday morning, said Jon Sheldon, an attorney for Muhammad. He said Muhammad plans to ask Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency and to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. A federal appellate court rejected his latest appeal last month.

Police probe 2 shootings that left five people injured Baltimore police are investigating two separate shootings. One man was shot in the face and another in the foot about 11:30 p.m. Thursday in the 200 block of S. Dallas Court in the Perkins Homes public housing complex in East Baltimore, police said. No further information was available. About an hour later, three men were shot in the 3700 block of Glenmore Ave. in Northeast Baltimore, police said. Officers responding to reports of gunfire found the first victim, 19, with gunshot wounds to his back and foot.

Patient information theft investigated 3 Federal authorities are investigating the theft of patient information, possibly by a former Johns Hopkins Hospital employee, as part of a scheme to make fraudulent Virginia driver's licenses. The employee, who worked in the patient registration area, would have had access to information such as names, addresses, parents' names and Social Security numbers as part of her job duties, according to a letter the hospital sent to the identity theft unit of the state attorney general's office last month.

America I AM: The African American Imprint Where:: National Constitution Center, Independence Mall, 525 Arch St., Philadelphia When:: Noon-5 p.m. Sunday What:: This is the final day of the 15,000-square-foot exhibit celebrating almost 500 years of African-American contributions to this country. Among the many items showcased in the exhibit are the typewriter used by Alex Haley to write Roots; a first edition of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and Malcolm X's diary and Koran.

Muhammad Ali fought with his hands lowered. In doing so, he broke a cardinal rule of boxing. He also did the Ali Shuffle. Again, it went against all logic. He's crazy, people said about him (among other things). Doing that unnecessary showboating, taking those pointless risks - he'll never get away with it. For the first 17 years or so, he did. Yes, it's borderline blasphemous to mention Ali and Ed Reed in the same sentence. But how much longer are we going to wait for that moment of Armageddon when one of his laterals lands in the hands of an opposing player, who turns it into a touchdown in the final seconds to beat the Ravens and destroy their season?

Jonathan Luna. Robert Clay. Kenneth N. Harris Sr. A federal prosecutor. A prominent businessman. A former city councilman. Did they all die as simply as authorities say - in eerie succession in 2003, 2005 and 2008 - the first two by suicide, the third in a botched robbery at a jazz club? Or were they killed, as some now claim, as part of a conspiracy to silence those who knew too much about Baltimore's underworld, about how, it is quietly alleged, a culture of drugs and corruption survives and helps build parts of this city while turning the rest into wastelands of addiction and despair?

D aren Muhammad has been kicked off the WOLB airwaves and, wouldn't you know it, there's a conspiracy there. For years, Muhammad has had a public-affairs show, the radio equivalent of vanity publishing: He paid the station to air it. He offered city politics chitchat juiced up with cloak-and-dagger stuff, like how the deaths of former City Councilman Ken Harris in September, city contractor Robert Lee Clay in 2005 and federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna...

Judge rejects latest appeal from sniper McLEAN, Va. : A federal judge rejected an appeal yesterday from convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad, who was sentenced to death for masterminding a 2002 killing spree in the Washington region that left 10 people dead. Muhammad, now on death row in Virginia, claimed numerous errors at his 2003 trial. But U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady in Alexandria, Va., rejected all of Muhammad's claims challenging his conviction and sentence. The Virginia Supreme Court had already rejected Muhammad's appeal.

Mr. Flip supposes he could say Lance Armstrong's judgment has been in question ever since his splits with Sheryl Crow and then Kate Hudson. However, did you ever consider that the guy needs a break from hanging out with gorgeous, famous women? And what better way to get your mind off those beauties than hopping on a bike and pedaling until you feel like your thighs are going to explode? Mr. Flip also could assume the orthodox view that any athlete who has been on top and retires should not come back and risk tarnishing his legacy.