Visa

A Jordanian man yanked from his obscure life as a flower vendor in East Baltimore with the disclosure during the summer that he lived briefly with two of the Sept. 11 hijackers admitted yesterday that he bought his way into the United States with a fraudulent visa. Rasmi Al-Shannaq, 28, who had lived most recently with family members in the 600 block of S. Lehigh St., pleaded guilty to one count of obtaining a fake visa from the U.S. Embassy in Qatar. He was sentenced to time served and is expected to be deported to Jordan shortly.

Weary after an Atlantic crossing that took more than two weeks, the Filipino crew of the Express Phaethon could see the lights of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. From their berth at Rukert Terminals in Canton, they were almost close enough to smell the crab cakes and oversized cheesecake. But that's the closest most of them would ever get to Charm City's shopping and night life. Immigration officials denied most of the 19 crew members permission to come ashore during the nearly eight days it took to unload a cargo of rolled steel.

Hunting world-class talent for a new multimillion-dollar medical research center, Johns Hopkins University officials thought last spring that they had found the ideal candidate in a Yale molecular biologist named Heng Zhu. A rising star in the new field of proteomics, Zhu was being courted by laboratories in Canada and Germany. So Hopkins wasted no time. They whisked the 35-year-old Chinese scientist to Baltimore to meet the faculty, enlisted a real estate agent to sell him on the city, then handed over an offer described as "very generous."

A Jordanian man arrested last week in Baltimore, who said he roomed with two of the Sept. 11 hijackers last summer in Northern Virginia, was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday on visa fraud charges. Rasmi Al-Shannaq, 27, who has been in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service since his arrest June 24 in Southeast Baltimore on charges of overstaying his visa, illegally obtained a fake visa in October from the U.S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar, federal officials said in the one-sentence indictment.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -Outfielder Felix Pie was a no-show for the first full-squad workout yesterday. The Orioles confirmed that he is having visa problems in the Dominican Republic and that there is no timetable for his arrival in camp. Manager Dave Trembley said he doesn't expect Pie's absence to be a big problem if it lasts only a few days and added he's hopeful it does not stretch into the exhibition season, which begins Wednesday. "I don't know when he's going to get here," Trembley said.

When Peter Kasprzyk and several other students from Poland and Slovakia arrived in Harford County in late June to work for the McDonald's restaurant chain, they said they'd been told they would make a lot of money, "more money than you could imagine." But Kasprzyk couldn't buy an item from the dollar menu with his first paycheck. It was zero. That's because he and four fellow students were being docked for $2,000 monthly rent on a two-bedroom apartment they share in Abingdon that normally goes for $750 in a longer-term lease.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Maybe it wouldn't be so awful in nicer weather, but it rained buckets all night long. The sleeping bags were cold and soggy. By sunrise, the dream of visiting America for 70 Czechs recently camped on a sidewalk outside the U.S. Embassy here was becoming a nightmare."This is humiliating," says Eva Svozilova, 20, a weary-eyed computer technician hoping to spend two weeks in the United States. "It is crazy having to do this, in the rain and all. But what other choice do we have?"

In their commentary, Zainab Choudry and Saqib Ali ("Don't let Israel discriminate," April 30) objected to Senate Bill 462 (the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013) introduced recently in the U.S. Senate that advocates Israel's right to deny entry into its country of certain people. Therefore, according to them, this bill would allow Israel to "discriminate against select groups of Americans, including Americans who expressed criticism of its policies. " Ms. Choudry and Mr. Ali also misguidedly disapproved of U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin for supporting the bill.

I appreciated reading the commentary, "Don't let Israel discriminate," (April 30) This is a concern that has been long documented by the State Department and a new bill in Congress has been written to provide a "look the other way" response to these racial policies and afford Israel visa waiver status. Rather than supporting this legislation, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin should be promoting the interests and needs of Maryland residents first. If there are citizens of Maryland who are discriminated against and refused entry into Israel (or any other country for that matter)

Berend Weijs was a favorite of Maryland men's basketball coach Mark Turgeon. It's not that the 6-foot-10 center was a top scorer. But he was affable, worked hard in practice and was a shot blocker. Weijs had an eventful two years. He played under two coaches - Gary Williams and Turgeon - and has witnessed the recent departures from the program of Terrell Stoglin, Ashton Pankey and Mychal Parker. Forward Hawk Palsson, who left before last season to play overseas, was also part of the class that entered with Weijs in 2010.  Point guard Pe'Shon Howard, who is trying to come back from knee surgery, is the only class member remaining with the Terps.