Syrian tied to terror group arrested in rocket attack
Amman, Jordan – A Syrian linked to an Iraq-based terrorist group has been arrested as the prime suspect in the rocket attack Friday that barely missed U.S. warships docked in the port of Aqaba, the Jordanian government said Monday.
The government statement said Mohammed Hassan Abdullah al-Sihly plotted and carried out the attack along with two of his sons and an Iraqi.
The statement said the plotters were part of an Iraq-based terrorist group, which was not named.
Al-Sihly, who lives in Amman, had been surveying sites for the Katyusha rocket attack in Aqaba since Aug. 6, the statement said.
In the Friday attack, three rockets were fired from a window at a warehouse in a poor industrial area of Aqaba, a usually quiet Red Sea resort frequented by Western and Israeli tourists.
The warehouse was rented to four Egyptians and Iraqis early last week, police said.
One rocket flew across the bow of a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship and crashed into a warehouse, killing a Jordanian soldier. Two other missiles flew in another direction, toward Israel; one landed near a Jordanian hospital, the other on the outskirts of an Israeli airport.
MIAMI
Fla. Straits searched for Cuban survivors
The U.S. Coast Guard searched the Florida Straits on Monday after three Cubans rescued at sea said they had been on a boat that sank with 31 others aboard.
Coast Guard crews located a capsized boat matching the Cubans’ description about 16 miles from where the three were picked up, but they didn’t find any bodies.
The three were rescued Sunday by a merchant ship about 30 miles north of Matanzas, Cuba, and taken back to Cuba.
NORTH PLATTE, Neb.
“GoodFellas” figure guilty in drug case
Former mobster Henry Hill, whose experiences inspired the 1990 movie “GoodFellas,” has been found guilty of attempted possession of methamphetamine, a misdemeanor.
Hill had been charged with two felony counts but was allowed to plead no contest to the lesser charge.
Police said glass tubes with drug residue in them were found during a search of Hill’s luggage at the North Platte Regional Airport last August.
Hill, 62, portrayed by Ray Liotta in “GoodFellas,” sought refuge in the witness-protection program, which he left. He now lives in North Platte with his wife and has been working as a chef and helping to establish an Italian restaurant.
PHILADELPHIA
Police: Ex-beau killed girlfriend last month
A pregnant woman found dead in the brush along a railroad track was strangled by the father of her unborn child more than a month ago, police said Monday.
LaToyia Figueroa’s body was discovered early Saturday after officers followed her former boyfriend, Stephen Poaches, 25, to the tracks near Chester.
The 25-year-old man had killed Figueroa in his apartment July 18, police said, then put her body in a plastic bag, placed it in the trunk of his car and dumped her in the brush. He went back to move the body Saturday, unaware that police were tipped.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.
Televangelist favors hit on Venezuela chief
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson called Monday for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him a “terrific danger” to the United States.
Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate, said on his television program “The 700 Club” that it was the United States’ duty to stop Chavez from making Venezuela a “launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.”
Chavez has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of President Bush, accusing the United States of conspiring to topple his government and possibly backing plots to assassinate him. U.S. officials have called the accusations ridiculous.
“You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it,” Robertson said. “It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war … and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop.”
MEXICO CITY
40 injured during running of the bulls
Agitated animals, excessive drinking and street fights left at least 40 people injured during the annual running of the bulls in the small central state of Tlaxcala, Mexican news media reported Monday.
Hundreds of would-be bullfighters crowded the streets of the city of Huamantla to participate in Sunday’s event, which authorities said drew more than 100,000 spectators. The angry bulls ran through the streets for more than two hours, goring numerous participants. Injuries also resulted from several alcohol-fueled fights that erupted.
