"Yes, al Qaeda is an Islamic organization," affirmed Imam Zaid Shakir to a group in Logan Hall on Tuesday night, "in the sense that it is an organization associated with Muslims." But Shakir was anxious to divert the audience's attention to "the very real question of whether such an organization actually exists, or whether the U.

It was a gloomy day on Wall Street yesterday as well as in the Annenberg Center, as a panel of Wharton professors delivered a bleak outlook for the current economic situation.

Students in one section of Math 104 were forced to retake an exam this month after the professor suspected cheating had occurred as students handed in their tests. According to several students in the class, the alleged cheating occurred on Wednesday, Oct.

For all those diehard Phillies fans out there, this coming week should be special. For the first time in 15 years your Phils are back in the Fall Classic. But if you want to make it down to Citizens Bank Park to watch the Series in person, it's going to cost you - listings on the ticket resale Web site StubHub.

Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, held a rally in downtown Philadelphia yesterday morning touting her husband's candidacy and stressing his readiness to "put country first." The rally, held at the National Constitution Center, came just 14 days before the country goes to the polls to vote for president on Nov.

Amira Fawcett is an Engineering senior from Houston, Texas. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.

The whole 2008 election cycle played out in just under two hours at Clark Park on Saturday afternoon. Enormous puppets of elephants, donkeys, oil wells and ballot boxes wheeled and danced around the park's main lawn, as about 200 spectators alternately cheered and hissed.

They say Chuck Bednarik, a Hall of Fame linebacker and center and a Penn grad, was the last "60-Minute Man" in football. Don't look now, but Colgate's Nate Eachus might be inheriting that throne. During the second quarter of the Raiders' 38-22 victory over Cornell on Saturday, the freshman left his spot at linebacker to take over for starting running back Jordan Scott, the leading rusher in the Football Championship Subdivision.

It might seem easy for a school located in a city surrounded by great farmland to source its food locally. I'm talking, of course, about Penn, located in Philadelphia, a fairly quick drive from Lancaster County, Bucks County and New Jersey. But try finding enough lettuce to feed thousands of salad-eaters several times a day, every day of the week, for eight and a half months of the year.

Starting with a banquet in Houston Hall Sunday night and a musical performance last night, the Muslim Students Association is working to increase knowledge about Islam. It is Islam Awareness Week, an event held annually on college and university campuses nationwide in an effort to raise awareness and eliminate any existing misconceptions of Islam.

In late July, Sen. Barack Obama held a Missouri town hall in which he contemplated the final weeks of the presidential race: "[My opponents] will say, 'He's not patriotic enough,' 'He's got a funny name,' 'He doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.

Judging by the number of gray hairs Al Bagnoli must have sprouted after Saturday's painful-to-watch stalemate, you'd think the 2008 Ivy League football season was about to wrap up in advance of a long winter of R&R.; Nope. It's only halftime for the year - five games down, five to go, and time to hand out the annual mid-season awards for both Penn and the conference: Offensive player of the half-year Penn: Hard to say, considering the Quakers have produced the second fewest first downs in the league but lead it in red zone offense.

Penn students, it turns out, aren't lighting up as much as your average college kid. Four percent of Penn students smoke tobacco at least 10 times a month, according to last year's Penn Health and Wellness Survey. American Lung Association figures show that the national average is 20 percent, five times the Penn average.

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission convenes today to review legislation that would allow the controversial Foxwoods Casino to open in the Gallery at 11th and Market streets. City Councilman Frank DiCicco, whose district includes the Gallery, proposed the city block containing the Gallery be designated a commercial entertainment district at an open Council session last Thursday.

On Sunday, the Undergraduate Assembly did not pass any new proposals but did discuss recent work on the redesign of the Penn InTouch system and updated the body about the University's new policy for dealing with copyright infringement by students. In its new policy, Penn will no longer act as a buffer between its students and the Recording Industry Association of America.

Engineering senior Ryan Goldstein is set to be sentenced today for his involvement in hacking into the School of Engineering and Applied Science's computer system in February 2006. Goldstein pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting another person to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer in March.