Wednesday,  October 10, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 85 • 30 of 36 •  Other Editions

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They said Youssef hasn't been truthful about his identity, using different names after he was convicted in 2010 of bank fraud.
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Moscow court considering Pussy Riot's appeal of 2-year prison sentences for anti-Putin protest

• MOSCOW (AP) -- Three jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot told a Moscow appeals court on Wednesday that they should not be imprisoned for their irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin, insisting that their impromptu performance inside Moscow's main cathedral was political in nature and not an attack on religion.
• Dressed in neon-colored miniskirts and tights, with homemade balaclavas on their heads, the women performed a "punk prayer" asking Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin as he headed into a March election that would hand him a third term. They were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentenced to two years in prison.
• "We didn't mean to offend anyone," said Maria Alekhina, who along with Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich spoke in court from inside a glass cage known colloquially as the "aquarium." She said they were protesting Putin and also the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy for openly supporting his rule.
• "We went to the cathedral to express our protest against the joining of the political and spiritual elites," Alekhina said.
• The case has been condemned in the U.S. and Europe, where it has been seen as an illustration of Putin's intensifying crackdown on dissent after his return to the presidency after four years as prime minister.
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Momentum for miles ahead: Push for healthier truckers includes weight-loss challenges, gyms

• DALLAS (AP) -- In the months after Doug Robinson started driving a truck, he noticed his clothes were increasingly more snug-fitting. He was already overweight but soon realized that spending up to 11 hours behind the wheel, frequently eating fast food and not exercising was a poor combination.
• When his employer, U.S. Xpress, took part in a weight-loss challenge sponsored by the Truckload Carriers Association, the 321-pound, 6-foot-1-inch Robinson signed up.

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