Chinese Muslims

Among the most ignoble legacies of the George W. Bush administration will be the detention center for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

U.S. officials have persuaded the tiny Pacific island nation of Palau to accept some of the Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, representing a major step in the Obama administration's plan to close the prison. In a statement released to the Associated Press today, Palau President Johnson Toribiong said his government had "agreed to accommodate the United States of America's request to temporarily resettle in Palau up to 17 ethnic Uighur detainees . . . subject to periodic review."

The newest building in this dusty, impoverished village of 400 cave dwellers is the mosque erected by an order of Khufiyya Sufi Muslims. Not to be outdone, members of the rival Yihewani Muslim religious order a few hundred feet down the hillside have decided to replace their older mosque, fashioned from adobe, with a new building. Stacks of bricks and timber rest on the ground where the new mosque will be constructed.

A Chinese restaurant where no one eats rice? Eyyaaahhh. Well, listen. Xinjiang, China's rugged westernmost province, is full of Muslims, mostly a people of Turkic extraction known as the Uighurs. I visited the province in 1983 and spent a few days in the city of Turfan, a quiet oasis in the middle of one of China's largest deserts. And no kidding, there was no rice in Turfan. In fact, there was nothing to eat except flat bread and lamb shish kebab.

The Supreme Court agreed today over the objections of the Obama administration to hear a new appeal from Guantanamo Bay prisoners and decide whether a judge has the power to order the release of a detainee who is not a dangerous "enemy combatant." A ruling on this issue could complicate the administration's already troubled plans for closing the Guantanamo prison. Until now, the government and some lower courts have maintained a judge cannot force the release of a Guantanamo prisoner, even one who has won his legal appeal in a court hearing.

A turning point in the Bush administration's counter-terrorism strategy of indefinite confinement at the U.S. detention center here came on a balmy day in February, when two Afghans and three Tajiks were ferried across the bay, shackled and blindfolded, for their flights home. The men's departure reduced the detainee population to 385 -- meaning that of the 777 men brought here over six years as suspected security threats, more prisoners had left than remained.

On a cloudless day near the top of the world, Swiss tourist Claude Balsiger had just finished a late-morning cup of tea and stepped out onto the streets of Tibet's capital. Buddhist monks had been marching against Chinese rule all week, but today seemed calmer. Suddenly, Tibetan youths started hurling paving stones at police, who tried to protect themselves with their riot shields.

Eid al-Adha, the Festival of the Sacrifice, begins at sundown tonight, coinciding with the final observances of the Mecca pilgrimage. Like the pilgrims, observant Muslims around the world who can afford to do so will sacrifice an animal in memory of the sacrifice of Abraham or buy meat, preferably lamb, slaughtered according to Muslim law.

The decision to shut down the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay was a dream come true for many Europeans, including anti-terrorism officials who have largely condemned the facility. But European officials acknowledge that dismantling Guantanamo could be something of a nightmare. The foreign ministers of the European Union recently pledged to help President Obama keep his promise to shutter the prison on the coast of Cuba in a year.

A young rapper dressed in casual hip-hop gear lounges on a couch at the Santa Monica offices of Scotti Bros. Records, her head framed by an autographed poster on the wall behind her that freezes the moment in movie history when battle-weary Rocky Balboa's fist finally connected with Apollo Creed's mahogany chest. Under a small black hat festooned with flowers, almond eyes twinkle mischievously and a warm smile illuminates the wide, heart-shaped face.