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VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Wednesday (Sept. 8) joined Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other high-level U.S. officials in denouncing a Florida pastor's plans to burn the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

A statement from the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue called the Rev. Terry Jones' plan to burn up to 200 copies of the Quran on Saturday (Sept. 11) "an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community."

(RNS) For this year's Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday that concludes
the holy month of Ramadan, Nakia Jackson received an unusual present
from a Jewish friend: cab fare.

"She doesn't want me taking the bus," said Jackson, of Wichita,
Kan., whose headscarf clearly identifies her as a Muslim. "She recalls
not only violence against black churches during the civil rights era,
but the security that synagogues have needed for decades."