Daniel Pearl

Now the world will turn to them again, the parents of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Today, in Pakistan, a verdict is expected in the trial of four Islamic militants accused of kidnapping and killing Pearl earlier this year. Prosecutors have asked for the death penalty. Since their son disappeared in Karachi on Jan. 23, Judea and Ruth Pearl have tried to avoid the media, and have been declining requests to go before the cameras following the judge's ruling.

What better way than with music to remember Daniel Pearl, the boy who could read notes before he read words, the classically trained violinist who loved bluegrass and the blues, the foreign correspondent who seemed to know the right song to befriend strangers wherever he went? After their son was abducted and killed in Pakistan in 2002, Judea and Ruth Pearl hoped someone would write a piece inspired by his passion for life rather than by the grimness of his death.

Can a high-profile film about a horrific event, the 2002 kidnapping and killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl, serve as a vehicle to promote religious and cultural understanding? For many who attended an interfaith discussion that followed a screening of "A Mighty Heart" at Paramount Studios this week, the answer appeared to be yes, with panelists and audience alike generally praising the film for its sensitive depiction of the events surrounding Pearl's death.

As French-American relations lie deep in the doldrums, Bernard-Henri Levy, France's omnipresent philosopher-celebrity, is once more at the center of the most fashionable French issue of the day: anti-Americanism. Levy cannot say it too often: He is passionately "anti-anti-Americanism," or, as he has said, he opposes those who are anti-America "for what it is rather than for what it does."

A movie based on a book about the slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is scheduled to begin filming in the fall. Beacon Pictures has signed Josh Lucas for the starring role. Kip Williams, who directed "Door in the Floor," will helm the as-yet-untitled movie. The film is based on the book "Who Killed Daniel Pearl?" in which French author Bernard-Henri Levy details his one-year investigation into the circumstances behind Pearl's kidnapping and slaying in Pakistan in 2002.

The father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl donated a prize awarded to him Thursday by the London School of Economics to a foundation established in memory of his son. Judea Pearl of Encino received 10,000 pounds--about $15,000--with the Lakatos Award, a prize given for outstanding work in the philosophy of science.

DNA tests have confirmed that a body found in a shallow grave in Pakistan is that of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. Pakistani police have been informed of the results, the official said in Washington. Pearl disappeared Jan. 23 in Karachi while researching links between Pakistani extremists and Richard C. Reid, arrested in December on a flight from Paris to Miami with explosives in his shoes. Pearl's body was found in May.

PAKISTAN A Pakistani judge adjourned for two more days the trial of Muslim militants in the kidnapping and slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The trial had been set to resume Monday after the Supreme Court in the morning denied a defense request for a stay pending a hearing on its petition to move the trial from Hyderabad back to Karachi, where Pearl disappeared Jan. 23.

An Islamic militant, suspected of helping plan the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, told police that he had Pakistani politicians on a hit list and was organizing suicide attacks, an official said. Qari Abdul Hai, alleged leader of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, was arrested at a bus station Thursday.