$30M bail set for Calif. man suspected in kidnapping

$30M bail set for Calif. man suspected in kidnapping

PLACERVILLE, Calif. — A judge Monday set bail at $30 million for a Northern California man accused of kidnapping a girl and holding her captive for 18 years.

In setting the high amount, El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister cited the serious nature of the charges, injuries to the girl and the fact that Phillip Garrido was on parole at the time of the alleged abduction.

Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy Garrido, 54, have pleaded not guilty to 29 charges of kidnapping, rape and false imprisonment charges and have been held without bail in an El Dorado County jail.

The couple are accused of kidnapping 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard from her home in 1991 then holding her captive in a backyard jumble of tents and sheds for nearly two decades. Authorities say Phillip Garrido fathered two daughters with Dugard.

Iran to meet world powers over nuclear program

VIENNA — Iran will sit down with the United States and five other world powers next month for wide-ranging discussions after more than a year without talks, Iranian and European officials said Monday.

The U.S., Iran and European Union expressed hope that the talks could lead to substantive negotiations.

But Iran also sounded a tough note — accusing the U.S. of amassing “frightening and dreadful weaponry in ... the Persian Gulf” and warning Israel and the United States that it is ready to defend itself against any attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Bin Laden prods U.S. to end ‘hopeless’ Afghan war

CAIRO — Osama bin Laden said in a new audiotape that President Barack Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan is “hopeless” and called on Americans to resolve the conflict with al-Qaida by ending the war there and breaking the U.S. alliance with Israel.

In the message marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the al-Qaida leader avoided his usual rhetoric of jihad and instead took a more analytical tone, claiming its differences with the U.S. stemmed from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But analysts said Monday that the message’s tone and its unusually short length — only 11 minutes, far shorter than others released by al-Qaida to mark the anniversary — was an indication that al-Qaida was struggling to maintain interest eight years after its most shattering terror attacks.

Muslims sentenced in plot

LONDON — In a case that altered airport security worldwide, three British Muslims were imprisoned Monday for at least 30 years each for a plot to kill thousands by blowing up trans-Atlantic airliners with liquid explosives hidden in soda bottles.

The judge described the foiled suicide bombings — meant to rival the Sept. 11 attacks — as “a grave and wicked” conspiracy, likely the most serious terrorist case ever dealt with by a British court. The plot’s disclosure prompted an immediate ban on taking some liquids onboard passenger jets, a measure that remains in place, inconveniencing passengers throughout the world.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali — the plot’s ringleader — was given a minimum of 40 years in prison, one of the longest sentences ever handed out by a British court. Assad Sarwar, 29, and Tanvir Hussain, 28, were imprisoned for a minimum of 36 years and 32 years respectively at London’s high security Woolwich Crown Court.

Former Carter press secretary Powell dies

WASHINGTON — Jody Powell, who was White House press secretary and among the closest and most trusted advisers to President Jimmy Carter, died Monday of a heart attack. He was 65.

Powell, a member of the so-called Georgia Mafia that descended on Washington after Carter was elected president, was stricken at his home near Cambridge on Maryland’s eastern shore, said Jack Nelson, a retired reporter and close friend of Powell’s.

Authorities raid homes

WASHINGTON — New York authorities raided several homes early Monday as part of an effort to dismantle a suspected cell of locally based Islamist militants, according to law enforcement officials and a U.S. lawmaker.

There were no arrests in the raids, which took place in Queens, and authorities would not comment on whether they were seeking suspects to question or charge.

Local and federal officials said they do not believe any specific terrorist plot was disrupted by the action. They said officials had been monitoring a small group that espoused radical ideologies aligned with al-Qaida and other jihadist groups.

Combined dispatches