Student files lawsuit over FBI’s tracking

Student files lawsuit over FBI’s tracking

WASHINGTON

A community college student who says he’s never done anything that should raise the attention of federal law enforcement is suing the FBI for secretly putting a GPS on his car.

Yasir Afifi, 20, says a mechanic doing an oil change in October discovered the device stuck under his car with magnets. His friend posted pictures online to see if anyone could identify it. Afifi says two days later, agents showed up outside his apartment in San Jose, Calif., and demanded their property back.

Afifi’s lawsuit filed Wednesday claims the FBI violated his civil rights by putting the device on his car without a warrant. Afifi, an American by birth, says he suspects he was targeted because he’s a young man of Egyptian descent who calls frequently overseas.

Fleeing Gadhafi forces cornered

BREGA, Libya

Rebel forces routed troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in a fierce battle over an oil port Wednesday, scrambling over the dunes of a Mediterranean beach through shelling and an airstrike to corner their attackers. While they thwarted the regime’s first counteroffensive in eastern Libya, opposition leaders still pleaded for outside airstrikes to help them oust the longtime leader.

The attack on Brega, a strategic oil facility 460 miles east of Gadhafi’s stronghold in Tripoli, illustrated the deep difficulties the Libyan leader’s armed forces — an array of militiamen, mercenaries and military units — have had in rolling back the uprising that has swept over the entire eastern half of Libya since Feb. 15.

In the capital of Tripoli, Gadhafi warned against U.S. or other Western intervention, vowing to turn Libya into “another Vietnam,” and saying any foreign troops coming into his country “will be entering hell and they will drown in blood.”

House explodes, killing two

SUFFIELD, ohio

A home exploded into flames early Wednesday, killing a woman and her grandson and throwing them from the house in a blast that was heard miles away and left nothing at the site but a large crater filled with debris.

As firefighters doused the smoking wreckage in Suffield Township, a community of about 7,000 residents in the northeastern part of the state, the victims’ relatives walked through the debris in shock. Killed in the explosion were Regina Proudfoot, 63, and Robert Croft, 21, said Portage County Sheriff David Doak. No one else was injured.

Investigators have confirmed the explosion was related to a propane tank in the home, but the cause is still under investigation, state fire marshal’s spokesman Shane Cartmill said.

The bodies of Proudfoot and Croft were found next to the home, and debris was spread for more than 1,000 yards, Doak said. Several other homes were damaged, including a neighboring house left uninhabitable, he said.

Two wells may be closed amid quakes

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.

The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission will consider temporarily shutting down two injection wells that have been linked to recent earthquakes in the region when it holds an emergency meeting later this week.

The wells are used by the natural gas industry for wastewater from production. The Oil and Gas Commission’s staff requested that two wells be shut down until the panel can reconsider the matter at a March 29 meeting. The emergency meeting is scheduled for Friday.

Associated Press