Free Republic

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Pakistani convicted of supporting an al Qaeda plot to blow up U.S. gas stations was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday in a case Washington has called a victory in its war on terror. Uzair Paracha, 26, has said he falsely confessed under the pressure of three days of interrogation by the FBI, but U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein said Paracha "knew what he was doing" in lending support to al Qaeda. Paracha remained calm after the sentence was read and waved to relatives as he left the courtroom wearing a blue...

A Georgia man allegedly used an AR-15-style rifle in shootings at two Orlando resorts and multiple apartments on Wednesday night, injuring two people. Jailen Rasheed Houston, 19, was arrested in relation to the shootings and was booked into jail on a count of first-degree murder, according to FOX 35.... ...Houston was arrested after he crashed his car near the Osceola County line at about 7 a.m. on Thursday..."When asked how he felt about the shootings, he stated he felt good while shooting at people, and it provided him a sense of relief. When asked if he would conduct similar shootings...

A Connecticut hotel where a woman was raped at gunpoint in front of her children says the victim was careless and negligent. The papers filed last month in Superior Court by the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa say the victim "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities."Prosecutors say Gary Fricker assaulted the woman in her minivan in the hotel's parking garage in front of her two children, then ages 3 and 5.

Two Indonesian Muslim militants, who have confessed to bombing the Marriott hotel in Jakarta, have expressed remorse for the attack and apologised to families of the victims. "I admit that I did it - I apologise to families of the victims sincerely without any pressure from others and to the Muslim community who have felt the slander and negative impacts of my actions," Tohir told SCTV television. The August 5 car bombing at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta killed 12 people, including a Dutch banker. Tohir and his alleged accomplice Ismail were arrested on Wednesday local time in their...