Around the Nation

Suspicious name forces flight diversion

CHICAGO — An Air France flight en route to O’Hare International Airport was ordered to return to Paris about two hours into its trip after a passenger’s name showed up on the federal no-fly list.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents found the passenger’s name while reviewing the manifest for Flight AF050 against the government’s no-fly list, which they do for all international flights, said Lara Uselding, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration.

Four persons were taken off the plane, the flight’s captain, Dominique Mure, told the Chicago Tribune. All four were later released by French officials, but none re-boarded the plane, he said. The flight, originally carrying 291 passengers, arrived in Chicago early yesterday.

FBI investigating mosque fire

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Someone tried to set fire to a mosque early yesterday, and the FBI was investigating it as a hate crime, officials said.

No one was inside the Islamic Center of Bloomington when the fire occurred about 2 a.m., and damage was confined to the kitchen area, said Nathan Ainslie, president of the Islamic Center.

A burned Koran was found outside, he said.

The timing of the fire, so soon after Thursday’s bombings in London that killed more than 50 people, was suspicious, said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. Mr. Hooper said his group had been receiving hate e-mail and phone calls since Thursday.

Faulty data found on offender registry

LANSING, Mich. — The state’s sex offender registries contain inaccurate and incomplete information that may give the public a false sense of security, according to a state audit released Friday.

Auditors said the Michigan State Police did not have procedures to verify the accuracy of data including sex offenders’ names and addresses.

They also found that information on Michigan’s two registries — one for the public, the other a complete listing for law enforcement — did not always match.

The report by the state’s auditor general covered records from October 2001 to August 2004.

Boy convicted in beating death

LANCASTER, Calif. — A 13-year-old boy was convicted Friday of beating another teen to death with a baseball bat after his team lost its first game of the season.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Richard Naranjo found the teen guilty of second-degree murder in juvenile court.

The boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor, struck 15-year-old Jeremy Rourke in the knee and again in the head after an April 12 youth league game. Jeremy died later that night.

Weather does little to ease wildfires

WETMORE, Colo. — A wildfire that had forced more than 80 people to flee their homes continued spreading yesterday, and more homeowners were put on alert for possible evacuations.

Yesterday’s weather forecast provided little hope of relief from temperatures in the 90s, gusty wind and dry storms packed with lightning.

Some residents left sprinklers going on their roofs, and fire crews were stationed through Greenwood, a small community near Wetmore, about 25 miles west of Pueblo.

The fire in the Wet Mountains had covered up to 2,000 acres, officials said yesterday.

The fire also had entered Pueblo County, where residents of about 40 houses were put on alert and told to make preparations in case they needed to be evacuated.

Dealer charged in rare map thefts

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A prominent dealer in antique maps and atlases is charged with stealing rare maps from Yale University, and the FBI says he may have targeted other libraries that have items missing from their collections.

E. Forbes Smiley III, 49, of Chilmark, Mass., faces three larceny charges. State Judge Richard Damiani set bail at $175,000 when Mr. Smiley appeared in New Haven Superior Court on Friday. He also is being prohibited from leaving the country.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Mr. Smiley was caught June 8 stealing maps worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, including one published in 1614 that other dealers say is one of the earliest accurate maps of New England.

Neither Mr. Smiley nor his lawyer returned calls for comment.

From staff reports and wire dispatches