The Sudanese woman who once faced a public flogging for wearing her pants too tight was jailed Monday for neglecting to pay a court-ordered fine, CNN reports. Lubna al-Hussein was spared the 40 lashes and issued a fine of 500 Sudanese pounds (about $206) amid an international uproar among human rights and women rights advocates because of the tight pants and a blouse that was deemed too sheer. She is refusing to pay the fine as a matter of principle. “She is now in jail,” her attorney Nabil Adib told CNN. “She refused to pay the fine as a matter of principal.” Al-Hussein will appeal her verdict in an effort to have the conservative Muslim government’s decency law declared unconstitutional, Adib said by phone from Khartoum. “We intend to file an appeal within the next three days, but we do not know how long it will take the court of appeals to decide on the case,” Adib said. “We expect it will happen in the next two to three weeks.” He said al-Hussein could be in jail for a month unless her verdict is overturned. Al-Hussein, who was arrested in July, pleaded not guilty during her one-day trial Monday, he said. She was not allowed to call defense witnesses or present a defense case, he added.”She thinks that she did not have fair trial and a conviction was wrong so she did not want to pay the fine nor let anyone else pay on her behalf,” Nadib said. Al-Hussein, a journalist who worked in the media department of the United Nations mission in Sudan, resigned from her U.N. position in order to waive her immunity as an international worker and face trial.

Four Die in Nigerian Muslim-Christian Fighting
In Nigeria, disagreements between Muslim and Christian communities led to violent clashes, in which four were killed and 28 injured, reports the BBC. The fighting happened in the city of Bauchi, which is in the northern part of the West African nation. Mosques and churches were set ablaze during the fighting. Nigerian troops rapidly descended on the scene to control the situation. “The security agencies have been directed to deal decisively with the perpetrators of this mayhem,” Bauchi Gov. Isa Yuguda said. “The military has been drafted in now, and everything is coming back to normal,” a Bauchi resident told Reuters. Unfortunately, this area isn’t a stranger to violence of this sort. Last year, hundreds were killed in the nearby city of Jos by religious gangs. But, as a whole, Nigeria’s Muslims and Christians generally coexist peacefully. The nation’s population is split almost evenly between the two religious groups, reports the BBC.
Caribbean Bank Takes Over Stanford Bank
When American financier, Sir Allen Stanford was accused of fraud, depositors from his Antigua-based bank rushed to withdraw their funds, reports the BBC. Now, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has decided to take over one of Stanford’s banks, the Bank of Antigua, to stop its downfall. In a statement, the ECCB said it “will take exclusive custody, control and possession of the funds, assets and other property of the Bank of Antigua.” The Bank also said it would “raise or borrow money that may be required” to make sure the bank survives. Sanford, who was knighted by the Caribbean island nation, is being investigated by U.S. authorities for the way his bank, Sanford International Bank Ltd, managed $8 billion.

Muslims are angry over headscarf ruling. Muslim rights activists are outraged at an Atlanta judge who ordered a 40-year-old Muslim woman to serve 10 days in jail for refusing to remove her headscarf before attending a hearing in his courtroom. Although she was released before serving a full day, critics want the Justice Department to look into what sparked the incident in the Atlanta suburb of Douglasville, Ga., a community of about 20,000 people.  We can deal with whether people knew about policies or whether they handled things correctly, but the bottom line is, can a Muslim woman walk into this courtroom wearing religious attire?” said Council on American-Islamic Relations spokesman Ibrahim. City court workers will now be required to undergo sensitivity training and post courtroom dress code signs.

N.Y. Pastor celebrates his 106^th birthday. The Rev. Charles Leonard, pastor of Mount Zion Church of Christ, celebrated his 106^th birthday on Christmas Day. He said that his friends, family and God has been the source of his longevity. “My generation coming up, young people, they were brought up in church,” said Leonard, who was born in Philadelphia in 1902. “This is the way it was with me. The secret is God. He keeps me alert. He keeps me active.” Leonard’s grandmother lived to be 108. He was reared in segregated North Carolina and Georgia. In 1933, he moved to New York, where he landed a job as a high-steam engineer for the Washington Heights Laundry Co. Leonard began preaching more than 50 years ago. “He travels by himself, he goes out on his own, he’s totally independent,” said his 48-year-old great-niece, Brenda Greene. “If he doesn’t hear from us, he calls and checks on us. Sometimes he’s more alert than we are.”

Rev. Jackson makes Christmas jail visit. On Christmas Day, the Rev. Jesse Jackson did what he has done for the past two decades – visited inmates in Chicago’s Cook County Jail. During his visit, he described U.S. corrections facilities as “Jail hotels” and said that people must stop thinking of prison as “free meals, medicine, heat and recreational activities.” It’s time to vote and get tested for HIV, he told the 500 inmates who gathered to hear him speak. Jackson, whose Rainbow PUSH Coalition turned 43 on Christmas, urged his audience to “make better choices.”

At least 300 die in political fighting in Nigeria. Fighting has calmed in Jos, Nigeria, after days of clashes between supporters of political parties left hundreds dead, reports CNN. Crowds of people, upset that the results of a local election (the first in Jos in over 10 years) were not posted yet gathered Thursday near ballot collation centers. Riots hit the area the next morning and after local leaders made pleas for peace on Saturday, the streets were mostly clear by that afternoon. At least 300 dead bodies were brought to the local mosque for burial, according to the imam, and it’s likely the final death toll will be a lot higher since many Christians are believed to have died during the clashes as well. Police arrested hundreds of people since the riots started, they say. Fighting between the groups of supporters fell along religious and ethnic lines and the country is no stranger to religious violence. Clashes between Muslims and Christians in 2004 led to 700 people being killed in Plateau State and rioting in Jos in 2001 killed more than 1,000.  In a country where Muslims live in the north and Christians in the south, the city of Jos lies in the middle of the nation and in many areas Muslims and Christians live side by side. After the streets were calmed, hundreds of women and children set out in search of water while thousands took shelter in schools and army barracks.

Zimbabwe drought leaves hundreds dead. Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare, is suffering from an extreme water shortage, reports the BBC. This comes as the nation is suffering from an outbreak of cholera, which has killed 425 people in the last few months. The disease has also infected 11,000 people in the nation since August. Cholera is spread by water that is contaminated and a lack of water purification chemicals is the reason behind the water shortage, local authorities said. The nation’s Health Minister David Parirenyatwa suggested citizens stop shaking hands to stop the spread. “I want to stress the issue shaking hands. Although it’s part of our tradition to shake hands, it’s high time people stopped shaking hands,” he said.

Judge rules in Kwame Kilpatrick’s favor this time around

Embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick remains free after facing the same judge on Tuesday who ordered him to jail last week on a bond violation. A Detroit news outlet had published a photo of Kilpatrick at his mother’s home at the same time that his sister visited the house, raising questions of whether his presence there violated court restrictions.  Get the latest details at BET.com/News.

Money for MLK Memorial pours in.

The money keeps on pouring in for the historic Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, organizers announced that donors, including $3 million from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, had compelled them to raise the fundraising goal from $100 million to $120 million. Contributions for the memorial, which will be built on the National Mall, already has reached $99 million, according to Harry E. Johnson, Sr., president of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, the private group in charge of the effort. So why the new money goal? There are “a number of variables,” including changes in the structural plan, the addition of a bookstore and security costs as well as inflation for the rising cost estimate, Johnson says. After a stormy past few months over the design of the 28-foot statue of King, to be sculpted by Chinese artist Lei Yixin, the project appears on a positive track. Still, the project must win final approval for all aspects of the memorial site before construction can begin. The memorial is expected to take about 18-20 months to complete.

Muslim hate-crime victim leaves the hospital. The Muslim native of Uzbekistan, who was shot repeatedly while pumping gas at a Cleveland gas station, left the hospital Monday, nearly eight weeks after the tragic episode was captured on videotape. Police have been investigating the incident as a hate crime. As he left the MetroHealth Medical Center, 49-year-old Fazliddin Yakubov offered “a million, million thanks” for all the support he has received, The Plain Dealer newspaper reported Tuesday. He had been shot three times in the abdomen while his son was pumping gas. The video led to the arrest of 18-year-old William Neal of Cleveland, who’s charged with felonious assault and attempted murder. He’s being held in a Cuyahoga County jail on $250,000 bond.

Trial for Civil Rights Era suspect is delayed. James Bonard Fowler, the White Alabama trooper who will stand trial for killing a Black man at a civil rights rally a half century ago must wait another month or so before facing his accusers. The trial, originally scheduled for Sept. 11, will be held on Oct 20. Fowler allegedly shot Jimmie Lee Jackson in cold blood in Marion, Ala., in 1965 following civil rights demonstration. Fowler, who was indicted last year, says the shooting was self-defense.

Abercrombie is sued over a Muslim head scarf. Arguing that Abercrombie & Fitch violated the civil rights of a Muslim job applicant by denying her application because of her head scarf, a Muslim civil rights group has sued the popular clothing outlet. According to the lawsuit, filed at the Oklahoma City branch of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the district manager for the clothing store at Woodland Hills Mall told a young woman in late June that her hijab, a head scarf worn observant Muslim women, did not fit the Abercrombie image. “Employers have a clear legal duty to accommodate the religious practices of their workers,” said Razi Hashmi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Oklahoma, which helped the girl file the complaint. “To deny someone employment because of apparent religious bias goes against long-standing American traditions of tolerance and inclusion.” The council declined to release the name of the plaintiff; she is younger than 18. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 stipulates that employers must attempt to accommodate the religious practices of an employee unless doing so would create an undue hardship for the employer.

Ohio man is charged with a hate crime

An Ohio man has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly sending threatening letters to a respected Muslim man who was brutally beaten in his home a month earlier. Michael Coon is accused of sending 10 threatening emails to Dr. Amjad Hussain, a retired heart surgeon, trustee of the University of Toledo and the writer of a guest column for the Toledo Blade. Last month, according to sheriff’s deputies, someone pistol-whipped Hussain and sprayed him with mace. Police say the hate mail is nothing new. “This guy has just been the victim of a violent crime and now he receives another crazy email from this guy,” Det. Mark Woodruff. Deputies say they don’t think Coon is connected to the beating.

Columbia professor who got a noose has been fired
The Columbia University professor who drew national attention after being targeted with a noose on her door has been fired amid plagiarism charges. Madonna G. Constantine, who taught psychology and education with an emphasis on ethnic issues at Columbia’s Teacher’s College, received a reprimand four months ago following a year and a half investigation into whether she stole the writings of two former students and a former colleague. Although she had been censured, she was allowed to keep her job. But acrimony grew as Constantine defended herself and filed a grievance against the university president, Susan Fuhrman. Constantine’s firing, announced in a letter to faculty Monday, was “purely retaliatory,” her attorney, Paul Giacomo, said. “During the months since the college levied sanctions against her, Professor Constantine continued to make accusations of plagiarism, including in at least one instance to the press, against those whose works she had plagiarized,” the letter stated. “We are terminating Madonna Constantine’s employment with Teachers College for cause, subject to a hearing before a faculty committee,” it said. “In the interim Professor Constantine is suspended, effective immediately.” Regarding the noose incident of February, a criminal investigation is ongoing. Constantine initially linked it with the plagiarism case. “I believe that nothing that has happened to me this year is coincidental, particularly when I reflect upon the hate crime I experienced last semester involving a noose on my office door,” she said in a February email to faculty and students. “As one of only two tenured Black women full professors at Teachers College, it pains me to conclude that I have been specifically and systematically targeted.”