AP - A federal judge in Southern California has declared the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional because the ban violates the First Amendment rights of gays and lesbians.

AP - An anti-Islamic preacher backed off and then threatened to reconsider burning the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, angrily accusing a Muslim leader of lying to him Thursday with a promise to move an Islamic center and mosque away from New York's ground zero. The imam planning the center denied there was ever such a deal.