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Former U.S. Sen. Helms dead at age 86

RALEIGH, N.C., July 4 (UPI) -- Former arch-conservative U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina died Friday at age 86 after battling cancer and heart disease, hospital officials said.

Officials at the Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, N.C., said Helms died of natural causes in Raleigh at 1:15 a.m., CBS News reported.

Heralded by older conservatives as the last of the "Old South" politicians, Helms, who started out as a stalwart segregationist, later reached out to African-Americans and at times was a public voice for young conservative voters.

During his highly publicized Senate campaigns, Helms defeated such politicians as former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt and former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt, the TV network noted.

Despite his dominant run in the Senate, Helms is credited by some as helping North Carolina become a competitive two-party state, WTVD-TV in Raleigh, N.C., reported.

Helms, who retired from the Senate in 2003, is survived by his wife Dot; three children and seven grandchildren.

Consistently opposing communism, feminism and affirmative action, Helms, who rose to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, became known as "Senator No," CBS noted.

"He sticks to his guns and he doesn't mind firing them, either," former Senate leader Bob Dole said of Helms.

Asked late in his career how he would like to be remembered, Helms responded: "I would like for them to say, 'Well, he did the best he could.' If they say that, that'd be enough."

Israel closes all Gaza Strip crossings

JERUSALEM, July 4 (UPI) -- ll crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip have been closed in response to this week's rocket attack, Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.

Barak said after Thursday's rocket attack on Israel violated the region's precarious cease-fire, he ordered all Gaza crossings to be closed immediately, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The crossing closures came after more than 70 trucks delivered much-needed supplies to the region following the crossings' reopening on Wednesday.

Rocket and mortar attacks had closed the regional crossings for two days prior to the reopening, the Post said.

An unidentified defense official told the newspaper that closing the Gaza crossings was the best way to force Hamas to stop any attacks on Israel in the future.

"Hamas is desperate to have the crossings opened," the official told the Post. "This is the only way to pressure them to curb the other factions and prevent the rocket fire."

Second bomb found after Belarus blast

MINSK, Belarus, July 4 (UPI) -- An unexploded bomb has been found in the Belarusian capital of Minsk near the site of this week's concert bombing, the interior minster said Friday.

Interior Minster Vladimir Naumov said fingerprints were found on the second bomb, giving investigators hope they may be able to learn the identities of those responsible for Thursday's bombing, RIA Novosti said.

Nearly 50 people were injured, none seriously a police source said, when a bomb exploded at an open-air Belarusian Independence Day concert in Minsk.

Police said the incident near the Hero City Minsk Stele was likely caused by hooligans, but all possible theories would be considered.

"At present the scene has been cordoned off and an investigation team is working at the scene," police said. "We are considering a number of versions, of which hooliganism is the most probable."

Interior Ministry officials told RIA Novosti that festive events in Minsk would continue despite the explosion and discovery of a second bomb.

Audit: Passport privacy controls absent

WASHINGTON, July 4 (UPI) -- Nosy government workers repeatedly viewed high profile but private passport records at the U.S. State Department without authorization, a federal report said.

The report by the State Department's inspector general documented a lack of controls on the personal data of the 127 million Americans with passports, finding numerous "weaknesses, including a general lack of policies, procedures, guidance and training," The Washington Post reported Friday.

The State Department initiated the audit after it was revealed three of the department's contract workers accessed private passport files of Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., and a trainee examined the file of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

The audit indicated some workers were simply fascinated with the private lives of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans, none of whom were identified. One celebrity's records were accessed 356 times by more than 72 people.

The inspector general made 22 recommendations for improving security, but many were blacked out for fear they would offer a guide for further abuse, the Post said.

Five department contractors have been fired and dozens of other people are under investigation.

When the scandal broke in March, officials said the department maintained a list of "flagged files" to ensure records of high-profile individuals weren't breached. Investigators found the list, since expanded, contained only 38 people, and lacked a specific process for inclusion.

Alert after tick bite kills farm worker

ATHENS, Greece, July 4 (UPI) -- A farm worker's death from Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever from a tick bite in northern Greece put hospitals on alert Friday, Greek health officials said.

Autopsy results on an unidentified 49-year-old woman in Komotini confirmed she had triggered an infection by removing the tick herself that led to fatal organ failure, the Kathimerini news service reported.

Six other workers who had been bitten went to doctors to have the ticks removed and didn't contract the condition, the report said.

State health officials issued a public advisory about tick bites, and dispatched inspectors to cattle and ostrich farms in the area.

The fever is most common among livestock and can be contracted by humans through blood contact. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control said it is most prevalent in Russia, Eastern Europe and the Congo.

Judge says Sharia aspects OK in Britain

LONDON, July 4 (UPI) -- Muslims living in Britain should be able to live under Sharia, the body of Islamic religious law, Britain's most senior judge said.

Chief Lord Justice Nicholas Phillips' remarks support Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who previously suggested aspects of Sharia be adopted in Britain, stirring national debate and prompting calls for his resignation, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Phillips said Muslims in Britain should be able to use Sharia to decide financial and marital disputes, but criminal courts should decide when a crime has occurred and impose punishment.

"It is possible in this country for those who are entering into a contractual agreement to agree that the agreement shall be governed by law other than English law," Phillips said during a speech at the East London Muslim Center. "There is no reason why principles of Sharia law, or any other religious code, should not be the basis for mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution."

Critics said encouraging Muslims to live by a different set of rules would be divisive.

"This would create a two-tier society," said Khalid Mahmood, a lawmaker and practicing Muslim. "It will segregate and alienate the Muslim community from the rest of British society."