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SAN`A, Yemen - Two Yemeni teenagers convicted of trying to kill the U.S. ambassador in 2003 were sentenced Sunday to five years in prison. The judge said the two — 17-year-old Hezam Ali Hassan and 18-year-old Khaled Saleh — would be held in "a special prison" because of their ages. According to an indictment, the two followed the car of then-U.S. Ambassador Edmund Hull in the capital, San`a. Hassan — carrying a pistol and two hand grenades he intended to throw — then climbed the outside wall of a store that Hull had entered. Saleh waited outside with a machine...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2006 – A Multinational Division Baghdad soldier was killed today when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle in eastern Baghdad, military officials reported. The soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. In other news, Iraqi troops disrupted a roadside bomb attempt and coalition forces uncovered an al Qaeda plot to attack a local tribe. As local children led 3rd Iraqi Public Order Brigade troops to a bag containing a bomb in eastern Baghdad Feb. 15, three men were seen running from the site. The suspects eluded capture while a second roadside bomb was...

Police taped terror plot to kill Howard TWO Melbourne terror suspects discussed killing John Howard and his family, launching a large-scale attack at a football game and causing carnage at a train station as part of a religious war in Australia. In a series of chilling conversations caught on police listening devices and revealed yesterday, self-styled Muslim cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 46, and 20-year-old Abdulla Merhi discussed the terror plot as payback for the deaths of Muslims. "For example, if John Howard kills innocent Muslim families do we ... do we have to kill him and his family ... (and)...

NEW YORK – A Lebanese-born Swede has been charged in a plot to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon, prosecutors said. A criminal complaint charging Oussama Kassir with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists was unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The case relates to an indictment in Manhattan already charging Mustafa Kamel Mustafa and Haroon Aswat. Aswat and Mustafa, the radical London cleric also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri, are being detained in England while awaiting extradition to the United States. Kassir, 39, was arrested Sunday in the Czech Republic after a warrant was filed with...

Plot to Rocket Saddam Trial Uncovered 14 minutes ago A Sunni Arab insurgent group was plotting to attack the trial of Saddam Hussein when it resumed Monday, Iraq's national security adviser said Sunday. The statement by national security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie's office said the 1920 Revolution Brigades planned to fire rockets at the court building during Monday's session. Iraqi intelligence uncovered the plot, but the statement did not say whether anyone had been arrested. Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for the 1982 killing of more than 140 Shiite Muslims in the town of Dujail following an assassination attempt...

Two charged with UK bombing plot (Filed: 04/11/2005) Two men suspected of plotting terroists attacks on Britain have been charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion. One of the men is accused of possessing a video showing how to make a car bomb, while the other allegedly had a recipe for rocket propellants and guidance on causing an explosion. A third man was charged with terrorism fundraising offences. All three, who were arrested under the Terrorism Act earlier this month, were remanded in custody at Bow Street Magistrates' Court. Waseem Mughal, 22, of Railway Street, Chatham,...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal judge ruled Monday that prosecutors can use a confession by a man charged with joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush, despite defense claims that the confession was obtained through torture. The ruling came after a six-day hearing in which Ahmed Omar Abu Ali testified that Saudi Arabian security officers whipped his back, kicked him in the stomach and pulled on his beard to obtain a confession. U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee issued a one-page ruling and said he would explain his reasoning in a forthcoming order. Abu Ali's lawyers wanted the confession...

NEWARK, N.J. - A London-based financial manager was sentenced Thursday to 24 months in prison for his role in a plot to smuggle shoulder-fired missiles into the U.S. to aid terrorists. Manthena Raja, 45, pleaded guilty in September to one count of money laundering. He admitted he facilitated two cash transfers from the U.S. worth $86,500 for British businessman Hemant Lakhani, even though he knew the money was for an illegal arms deal. Raja, an Indian citizen, had faced a sentence of between 37 and 46 months under federal guidelines, but the government recommended a lesser term because he cooperated...

The silent tug of war between Islamists and Reformists in the Pakistan army reaches a boiling point as a hapless Musharraf's enlightened moderation yields way to extreme measures. The notion that all is not well in the Pakistan Army has been reinforced with the unprecedented execution on August 20, 2005, of Abdul Islam Siddiqui, a member of the armed forces, on charges of plotting to assassinate President General Pervez Musharraf in collaboration with the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) The Military Court documents identify the executed soldier as Abdul Islam Siddiqui (Army No. 8831068) of the Defence Services Guard Company attached to the Punjab Regiment,...

Suspects in court as Dutch police 'foil terror plot to target MPs' By Joan Clements in Rotterdam (Filed: 18/10/2005) Seven suspected Muslim terrorists appeared before a High Court judge in Rotterdam yesterday accused of plotting terrorist acts. The men, six of whom are of Moroccan origin, were arrested on Friday in an operation to foil an alleged plot to attack politicians. Among those arrested during the sweep in three cities was a 19-year-old Dutch-Moroccan, Samir Azzouz, who had been acquitted of terrorist-related charges earlier this year. Last night the police were said to have obtained an eight-minute recorded farewell message...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A U.S. citizen accused of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush said in a videotaped confession that he was motivated by hatred of American support for Israel. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali also said on the tape, played in court for the first time Tuesday, that a top al-Qaida operative in Saudi Arabia "made it clear I became one of them and that I could speak in the name of al-Qaida." The 13-minute confession was videotaped in 2003 by authorities in Saudi Arabia, where Abu Ali attended college. His attorneys want the confession thrown out. They...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A U.S. citizen accused of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush said in a videotaped confession that he was motivated by hatred of American support for Israel. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali also said on the tape, played in court for the first time Tuesday, that a top al-Qaida operative in Saudi Arabia "made it clear I became one of them and that I could speak in the name of al-Qaida." The 13-minute confession was videotaped in 2003 by authorities in Saudi Arabia, where Abu Ali attended college. His attorneys want the confession thrown out....

The investigation into an alleged plot to bomb the city's subway moved forward on several fronts Friday as a third suspect was arrested in Iraq and authorities looked into whether a fourth person had traveled to New York as part of the scheme, officials said. A law enforcement official familiar with the case said the man's trip to New York was described by an informant who had spent time in Afghanistan and proved reliable in past investigations. "He's been a source of multiple correct information in the past," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the continuing...

A leader of the Jewish Defense League who admitted his role in two criminal conspiracies to manufacture and detonate bombs at a mosque and a Congressman's field office was recently sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, the statutory maximum for his two counts of conviction. Earl Leslie Krugel, 62, of Reseda, California, was sentenced by United States District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew. In sentencing the JDL member, Judge Lew recognized that Krugel's actions contributed to an atmosphere of ethnic hatred in the period following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Krugel pleaded guilty in 2003 to conspiring to bomb...

Moroccan man who was friends with three of the 9/11 suicide hijackers has been found guilty in Germany of belonging to a terrorist organisation. Mounir al-Motassadek, 31, was sentenced to seven years in prison following a year-long retrial. However, the court in Hamburg ruled there was no proof that he knew about the 11 September 2001 plot. Motassadek was originally convicted of those charges in 2003 but the verdict was overturned and a retrial ordered. After the original conviction was quashed by Germany's Supreme Court last year, the retrial heard new evidence - excerpts of interviews with key al-Qaeda suspects...

Methane on Mars may be produced at rates 3000 times higher than previously thought and partially destroyed by dust storms, controversial new research suggests. The work is sure to reignite the debate over a possible biological origin for the gas, but another team reports that subsurface volcanism alone - and not life - can account for the gas. Sunlight is thought to destroy methane molecules in Mars's atmosphere over about 300 years. So recent discoveries of the gas by space- and ground-based instruments suggested it is actively being replenished by geological processes or – possibly – living microbes. The mystery...

Memo lists possible border terror plot Officials play down plan described in secret FBI bulletin 11:03 PM CDT on Saturday, July 16, 2005 By ALFREDO CORCHADO and JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News Dirt roads trace pale lines across a desolate landscape of bald peaks and plunging canyons near Texas' Big Bend and bridge the border at dozens of improvised crossings. For decades, these routes have been used to smuggle drugs and humans. Now there is growing concern they could become deadly conduits for terrorism. The concern is buttressed by a confidential but unclassified FBI intelligence bulletin, obtained by...

Paris anti-Britain plot backfires By David Rennie in Brussels (Filed: 28/06/2005) A French charm offensive aimed at driving a wedge between Britain and new EU member states ran into early trouble yesterday after bullying from top French ministers. First, the French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, demanded that the European Union's future enlargement be "suspended" to allay the fears of French voters. Nicolas Sarkozy Then Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, provoked a row between Paris and Warsaw by hectoring his Polish counterpart over his warm links with London. Emerging from a crisis summit of ministers in Paris, Mr Sarkozy declared...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Somali immigrant accused of conspiring to help terrorists blow up a shopping mall is asking that his statements to investigators – including what he knew about a member of al-Qaeda – be barred from his trial. Attorney Mahir T. Sherif said Nuradin Abdi was arrested without grounds and pressured to answer investigators' questions. On June 1, he asked a federal judge to bar the statements, which are sealed. Agents told Abdi last November they were arresting him for violating immigration laws, but did not specify which laws and did not show him a warrant until three...

An Egyptian historian claimed on Saudi television that the United States helped carry out a Vatican plot to destroy Islam by orchestrating the 9-11 attacks -- on "assignment" by the World Council of Churches. Professor Zaynab Abd Al-Aziz told Saudi Iqra TV in a May 26 interview that the decision to impose one religion over the entire world was made in the Second Vatican Council in 1965," according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which posted a clip of the program.http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=708 Abd Al-Aziz claimed the Vatican's decision to "Christianize the world" included a plan, first, to "absolve the Jews...