A closed Catholic church in the US state of Pennsylvania has been sold to a Muslim cultural group for nearly two million dollars to clear debts, a media report said today. The Immaculate Conception BVM Church, situated in Bristol township in Bucks county, was sold for USD 1,775,000 on Friday to the United American Muslim Society (UAMS) of Brooklyn, LevittownNow.com reported.

When Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, a bandleader and composer, returns to Rockport this Sunday to debut his new jazz album at the Shalin Liu Performance Center, his thoughts will be on Gloucester’s late jazz genius Herb Pomeroy, whose influence can be heard in the new CD “Resolution,” which fuses American jazz with Turkish rhythms. “In the very first piece in the album, I am using this movement where I am using one of the techniques I learned in my first class with him,” said Sanlikol, a multi-instrumentalist. The Turkish-born musician came to America as a teenager to study at Berklee College of Music, where he was the final student taught by Pomeroy nearly two decades ago.

The U.S. government illegally gained access to a Turkish businessman's iPhone and computer when he was arrested at a Florida airport in the spring, defense lawyers argued Wednesday as they asked a federal judge in New York to toss out the evidence and charges against him. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lockard responded to the cellphone argument by one of defendant Reza Zarrab's lawyers by saying it was a "perfectly legitimate" practice by U.S. Customs agents at airports to request passcodes. He said it enables agents, for example, to know if somebody has an Islamic State flag as a screensaver.