Police place suspect under suicide watch

Police place suspect under suicide watch
BOSTON -- The man who authorities say hid explosives in his shoes and tried to ignite them during a trans-Atlantic flight has been placed under a suicide watch pending a psychological examination.
Chief Deputy Timothy Bane of the U.S. Marshal's office said the suspect, identified as Richard C. Reid, was under the watch at the Plymouth House of Correction. A bond hearing was scheduled for Friday.
Authorities said they were still trying to determine a motive. The material hidden in his shoes could have caused a "major disaster" had he set it off the American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, authorities said.
During the flight, Reid reportedly tried to touch a lit match to a fuse protruding from one of his shoes. Flight attendants and passengers restrained him and sedated him with drugs from an airplane medical kit. The jetliner was diverted to Boston with an escort of two fighter jets.
FBI Special Agent Charles Prouty in Boston said the agency was investigating whether Reid had links to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida and hadn't ruled anything out.
The Times of London reported today that Reid attended the same London mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui, the Frenchman charged with conspiracy in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Times also reported that Reid was a British petty criminal who converted to Islam in jail.
Refugees make attemptto cross through tunnel
PARIS -- French police used tear gas today to stop hundreds of refugees from crossing illegally into Britain through the Channel Tunnel. The tunnel was temporarily shut to traffic.
In all, about 550 refugees from a nearby Red Cross center attempted to cross through the tunnel on foot in two waves. Most were arrested, but police were still searching the tunnel. The 31-mile tunnel beneath the English Channel connects France and England by rail.
Dozens of refugees try to enter Britain illegally every week through the tunnel, but such mass attempts are rare. The refugees apparently were trying to take advantage of decreased holiday train traffic.
About 1,000 refugees are housed at the Red Cross center in the coastal town of Sangatte, about a mile from the tunnel entrance. Many are Kurds or Afghans. They dream of a better life in Britain, where immigration laws are relatively liberal and they have an easier path to becoming legal residents.
Eurotunnel says it intercepted about 18,500 refugees trying to cross the tunnel in the first half of 2001 alone. The refugees either try to hop trains in the tunnel or cross by foot.
Mom makes tearful pleafor return of toddler
CHICAGO -- The mother of a missing 16-month-old girl publicly pleaded for her safe return, while police searched for a woman suspected of kidnapping the child from a Greyhound bus station.
Police Sgt. Mark Hawkins said officers are doing a "massive canvass" of the downtown area hoping the woman and toddler are still in the vicinity.
Marcella Anderson, 21, said she and her daughters, Alicia, 3, and Jasmine, 16 months, were waiting for a bus home to Milwaukee Monday night to spend Christmas with the girls' father.
"My 3-year-old was having a fit," Anderson said tearfully at a Tuesday news conference, "and Jasmine was getting restless. ... I was stressed. I needed help."
She said a woman with a tattoo on her neck came up and offered to give the family a ride to Milwaukee. Anderson said the woman, who said her name was Christina, suggested she hold Jasmine while Anderson cashed in her bus tickets.
Anderson said she was waiting in line at the ticket counted when she turned around to see the woman walking away. She said she called out to her, but the woman kept walking.
A man who earlier had helped Anderson with her luggage tried to chase them, but "in a split second, they were gone," Officer Thomas Donegan said.
Associated Press