Five Muslims convicted of plotting to kill soldiers

Five Muslims convicted of plotting to kill soldiers

CAMDEN, N.J. — Five Muslim immigrants accused of scheming to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were convicted of conspiracy Monday in a case that tested the FBI’s post-Sept. 11 strategy of infiltrating and breaking up terrorist plots in their earliest stages.

The men could get life in prison when they are sentenced in April.

The five, who lived in and around Philadelphia for years, were found guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. military personnel. But they were acquitted of attempted murder after prosecutors acknowledged the men were probably months away from an attack and did not necessarily have a specific plan. Four defendants were also convicted of weapons charges.

The federal jury deliberated for 38 hours over six days.

‘Sopranos’ actor cleared in policeman’s death

NEW YORK — Lillo Brancato, who played a bumbling aspiring mobster on “The Sopranos,” was cleared Monday of second-degree murder in the shooting death of an off-duty policeman during a drunken, late-night search for drugs.

The jury convicted Brancato of a lesser charge of attempted burglary. He faces a minimum of three years in prison on that count, but the former actor could get credit for time served because he has been behind bars about that long.

Brancato showed no reaction as the verdict was read — his face impassive, his fingers pressed together. His mother, seated a couple of rows back in the gallery, began sobbing.

Iraqi prime minister tries to discredit shoe-thrower

BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki moved Monday to undermine the popularity of the Iraqi who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush, saying the journalist confessed that the mastermind of the attack was a militant known for slitting his victims’ throats.

Tensions over the case also spilled into parliament, as a move to oust the abrasive Sunni speaker delayed a key decision on whether non-U.S. foreign troops will be allowed to stay in Iraq beyond New Year’s Eve.

Al-Maliki said that in a letter of apology to him, Muntadhar al-Zeidi wrote that a known militant had induced him to throw the shoes.

“He revealed ... that a person provoked him to commit this act, and that person is known to us for slitting throats,” al-Maliki said, according to the prime minister’s Web site.

Al Franken holds lead in recount, but it’s not over

MINNEAPOLIS — Democrat Al Franken is poised to hold on to a 48-vote lead over Republican Sen. Norm Coleman as the state Canvassing Board prepares to award a final pile of votes in Minnesota’s unsettled U.S. Senate race.

The board was scheduled to meet today and award votes from a remaining group of about 5,000 challenges that had been withdrawn by both campaigns.

Judging by a draft report released late Monday by the secretary of state’s office, Franken will have earned 48 more votes than Coleman once those votes are allotted. That’s out of almost 3 million votes cast in the race in November.

Several outstanding issues could still affect the final vote count. The two campaigns and the secretary of state’s office are negotiating how to handle an estimated 1,600 improperly rejected absentee ballots. In addition, the state Supreme Court will hear arguments today over a Coleman claim that about 130 ballots were counted twice.

Contaminated food sickens health department workers

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ill. — Some health department workers in southern Illinois think they may have discovered some contaminated food — at their own office Christmas gathering.

After the Lawrence County Health Department had a buffet for 72 people at a restaurant last week, 42 of the attendees suffered stomach problems, including the head of the department, Phyllis Wells.

“I’m telling you, it got me down. I about passed out and everything else,” Wells said Monday. “It’s not been funny. It’s taken the punch out of my whole Christmas.”

Wells says the cause of the outbreak hasn’t been pinpointed. But she suspects the culprit was a norovirus — something people get from contact with those infected, ingesting contaminated food or drink, or by touching contaminated items and then their mouths.

Associated Press