Saturday, June 14, 2008

Three Are Convicted In Terrorism Trial

CLEVELAND -- Three Ohio men were convicted Friday of plotting to recruit and train terrorists to kill American soldiers in Iraq, a case put together with help from a former soldier who posed as a radical bent on violence.

Mohammad Amawi, 28, Marwan El-Hindi, 45, and Wassim Mazloum, 27, face maximum sentences of life in prison after a federal jury in Toledo returned its verdict. Prosecutors said the men were learning to shoot guns and make explosives while raising money to fund their plans to wage a holy war against U.S. troops.

U.S. District Judge James G. Carr did not set a sentencing date, said Bill Edwards, acting U.S. attorney.

An undercover FBI informant and former Army Special Forces soldier recorded the men for about two years beginning in 2004 while they talked about training in explosives, guns, and sniper tactics. They often met in their homes and at a tiny storefront mosque.

Student Agrees to Terror Support Plea

TAMPA -- An Egyptian college student who made a video demonstrating how to turn remote-controlled devices into bomb detonators has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of providing material support to terrorists, according to a plea agreement. Prosecutors have agreed to dismiss other charges against Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 26. He was one of two students arrested after a traffic stop in South Carolina in August, after deputies said they found explosives in the trunk of the car Mohamed was driving. The other former University of South Florida student, Youssef Samir Megahed, still faces charges of illegally transporting explosives and possession of a destructive device.

NASA: Missing Clip Is No Threat

CAPE CANAVERAL -- A metal clip broke off Discovery's rudder, but space shuttle astronauts were told that the missing part poses no danger for Saturday's reentry and landing. Mission Control reassured commander Mark Kelly and his crew that the missing clip -- one of three that hold down thermal blankets on the rudder and speed brake -- would not affect anything. The clip broke loose during a routine checkout of the flight systems needed for Saturday's descent.

Bishops Condemn Embryo Studies

ORLANDO -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops warned against what they consider the moral dangers of embryonic stem cell research, saying it treats humans as commodities and reduces procreation to manufacturing. The bishops said in a statement, approved 191 to 1, that "no commitment to a hoped-for 'greater good' can erase or diminish the wrong of directly taking innocent human lives here and now." Stem cells, created soon after conception, give rise to organs and specialized tissues.

Navy: Pilot Killed in Jet Collision

FALLON, Nev. -- A Navy pilot was killed after his jet collided with another over northern Nevada's high desert during a training mission, the service said. Two pilots safely ejected from an F-5 Tiger and were rescued. But the pilot of an F/A-18C Hornet, based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, was killed, a Fallon Naval Air Station spokesman said.

-- From News Services