Thursday, April 24, 2008

Miami Man Pleads Guilty In Venezuela Spy Case

MIAMI -- A Miami man with links to a Venezuelan spy agency pleaded guilty on Wednesday to being an illegal agent in an alleged coverup of Venezuela's $800,000 campaign donation to an Argentine presidential candidate.

Rodolfo Edgardo Wanseele Paciello, 40, admitted in federal court to providing counter-surveillance for a Venezuelan intelligence (DISIP) official who traveled to South Florida last October to organize the alleged coverup.

Wanseele was among five defendants -- including two wealthy oil men, a lawyer and a DISIP official from Venezuela -- who participated in the alleged plot to silence a Key Biscayne man caught with the money in Argentina in August, prosecutors said.

But the campaign money, stashed in a suitcase, did not belong to the businessman, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, prosecutors said. Antonini, who assisted the FBI in the South Florida spy probe, is wanted on related customs charges in Argentina. He was a passenger on a privately chartered plane that delivered the cash to Buenos Aires.

Testimony in Alleged Terrorist Plot

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Three men accused of plotting to recruit and train terrorists to attack U.S. and allied troops met only once during the two years an undercover informant investigated them, the informant testified Wednesday. The informant, Darren Griffin, is the key witness in the case against Mohammad Amawi, Marwan El-Hindi and Wassim Mazloum, who are charged with conspiring to kill or maim people outside the United States.

Greenhouse Gases Building Fast

Major greenhouse gases in the air are accumulating faster than in the past despite efforts to curtail their growth. Carbon dioxide concentration in the air increased by 2.4 parts per million last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported, and methane concentrations also rose rapidly. Concern has grown about these gases, with most atmospheric scientists worried that the increasing accumulation is causing the Earth's temperature to rise, potentially disrupting climate and changing patterns of rainfall, drought and storms.

Five Bodies Found in South Side

CHICAGO -- Chicago's police superintendent said five bodies have been found inside a house on the city's South Side. Superintendent Jody Weis said a cause of death for each of the three men and two women was not immediately available. Police said the deaths were isolated to the house and investigators do not think an offender is on the loose.

FDA Sets Rule on Animal Food

The Food and Drug Administration said it has made final a rule banning certain cattle parts from animal and pet food as part of the effort to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. The regulation originally was instituted in 2005. Materials prohibited from the feed are tissues that have the highest risk for carrying bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the technical term for the disease.

-- From News Services