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06-24-2006

FBI Says Suspects Sought to Form Own Army

Maria Audevert, sister of Stanley Grant Phanor, one of the seven men arrested in an alleged plot to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago and a federal building in Miami, stands outside federal court as five of the seven were in court, Friday, June 23, 2006 in Miami. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)

MIAMI (AP) _ Seven men accused of trying to blow up the Sears Tower with help from al-Qaida never actually made contact with the terrorist network and were instead caught in an FBI sting involving an informant who posed as an al-Qaida operative, authorities said Friday. Federal prosecutors said the men _ who operated out of a warehouse in Miami's blighted Liberty City section _ took an oath to al-Qaida and plotted to create an "Islamic Army" bent on violence against the United States. Five of those arrested are U.S. citizens.

Sailors' Social Security Nos. on Web Site

In this photo released by the U.S. Navy on Monday June 19, 2006, USS Cowpens (CG 63), foreground, is followed by USS Lassen (DDG 82), USS John S. McCain (DDG 56), USS Vandegrift (FFG 48) and USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO 199) during a photo exercise to kick off Exercise Valiant Shield 2006 in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday June 18, 2006.The Kitty Hawk Carrier Strike Group is currently participating in Valiant Shield 2006, the largest joint exercise in recent exercise Valiant Shield. Held in the Guam operating area June 19-23, the exercise involves 28 Naval vessels including three carrier strike groups. Nearly 300 aircraft and approximately 22,000 service members from the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are also participating in the exercise. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Navy has begun a criminal investigation after Social Security numbers and other personal data for 28,000 sailors and family members were found on a civilian Web site. The Navy said Friday the information was in five documents and included people's names, birth dates and Social Security numbers. Navy spokesman Lt. Justin Cole would not identify the Web site or its owner, but said the information had been removed. He would not provide any details about how the information ended up on the site.

E. Pierce Marshall Dies Unexpectedly at 67

DALLAS (AP) _ E. Pierce Marshall, who feuded for years with former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith over his father's oil fortune, has died, his spokesman said Friday. He was 67. Marshall died unexpectedly Tuesday evening in the Dallas area from a brief and extremely aggressive infection, the family said in a written statement released through spokesman David Margulies. He declined to provide additional details.

Iraqis Call State of Emergency in Baghdad

A man walks through the scene of a blaze started when a roadside bomb exploded in the predominantly Shiite area of Kazimiyah, sparking a fire in two discount clothing stores in Baghdad, Iraq Friday, June 23, 2006. No casualties were reported. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ Iraq's government clamped a state of emergency on Baghdad and ordered everyone off the streets Friday after U.S. and Iraqi forces battled insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and rifles near the heavily fortified Green Zone. The military also announced the deaths of five more U.S. troops in a particularly violent week for American forces that included the discovery of the brutalized bodies of two soldiers. Twelve U.S. servicemembers have died or been found dead this week.

Transportation Chief Norman Mineta Resigns

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta is shown at a research center for auto supplier TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., in Livonia, Mich., in this Feb. 22, 2006 file photo. Mineta, the only Democrat in President Bush's Cabinet, will step down next month. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who helped rebuild confidence in U.S. airports and flying after the Sept. 11 attacks, said Friday he's leaving the Bush administration. "It is time for me to move on to other challenges," Mineta said in a letter to President Bush.

al-Qaida No. 2 Mentions Al-Zarqawi's Death

Al-Qaida's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is seen in this image made from videotape posted on Internet on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005. A new video broadcast Friday showed al-Zawahri's first public ackowledgement of the death of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. (AP Photo/AP Television News/ho, FILE)

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader paid tribute to the slain Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a video Friday, extolling him as "the prince of martyrs" despite the rocky relationship that the terrorist leader in Iraq had with the al-Qaida command. The video, aired on the Qatari-based TV channel Al-Jazeera, was the first acknowledgment by al-Qaida's central leadership of the death of al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad on June 7.

Snow: Program Vital to War on Terrorism

Treasury Secretary John Snow during a news conference at the Treasury Department in Washington, Friday, June 23, 2006. Snow said a program tracking millions of financial transactions was not invasion of privacy of Americans but "government at its best" and vital to the war on terrorism. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Bush administration said Friday an anti-terrorism program that taps into an immense international database of confidential financial records has adequate safeguards to protect Americans' privacy. Democrats and civil liberties groups said the effort had disturbing similarities to another controversial anti-terrorism program of warrantless spying on telephone calls and e-mails.

Chertoff Says Homeland Security No '24'

Actor Gregory Itzin speaks at a program called "24" and America's Image in Fighting Terrorism: Fact, Fiction or Does it Matter ?, sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, Friday, June 23, 2006 in Washington. Itzin plays President Charles Logan on the TV series "24".(AP Photo/Nick Wass)

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Take it from Michael Chertoff: The Homeland Security Department is no "24." Chertoff, the department's secretary, said Friday he doesn't have a way-cool, state-of-the-art Counter Terrorist Unit like the one on the Fox TV show. Bad guys aren't foiled on an hourly basis. And not everybody is romantically involved with co-workers. So by the time the clock stopped on a two-hour panel that included "24" cast members, Washington policy wonks and Rush Limbaugh, some mythical similarities between the show and the government's counterterrorism campaign had been debunked. And that was none too soon for Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays techno-chick Chloe O'Brian on "24," and clearly had her fill of those who take the show a mite too seriously.

Baby Pelicans Starving Along Calif. Coast

Brown pelicans are seen preening themselves on Monday, June 19, 2006, at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Fairfield, Calif. Scores of starving baby pelicans - emaciated, cold, and too weak to fly - are washing up on California beaches in disturbing numbers this spring, according to wildlife rescuers and state officials. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

CORDELIA, Calif. (AP) _ Miles from the shoreline, 10 baby brown pelicans lounge by a pool in a roomy cage, large buckets of fish there for the taking. Just days ago, these birds could not feed themselves at all. Scores of starving baby pelicans _ emaciated, cold and too weak to fly _ are washing up on California beaches in disturbing numbers this spring. The underfed California brown pelicans have stirred concerns over the endangered species, which in recent years has shown strong signs of recovery. Biologists say the recovery could actually be the source of the problem: There are more pelicans competing for food.

France Tattoos Togo 2-0 to Advance at Cup

Soccer fans in Paris, France react as they watch the World Cup 2006 soccer match between France and Togo Friday, June 23, 2006 in World Cup Group G where France scored a 2-0 victory over Togo. The other teams in the group are Switzerland and South Korea. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) _ France finally won its game of brinkmanship and a World Cup game for the first time since capturing the title eight years ago. Teetering on the edge of another embarrassing first-round elimination from the World Cup, the 1998 champion beat Togo 2-0 on Friday to advance to the final 16 for a game against Spain. Patrick Vieira, leading the team in place of suspended star Zinedine Zidane, scored the first goal on his 30th birthday and set up the second for Thierry Henry in a six-minute span in the second half to help France advance as the second-place team in Group G with five points. Switzerland finished first after beating South Korea 2-0.

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