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5 charged with planning to blow up bridge on May Day

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LOS ANGELES — The five men who called themselves anarchists were preparing to commemorate May Day, the international workers holiday, by taking violent political action. They planted what they thought were demolition charges on a bridge crossing the Cuyahoga Valley National Park south of downtown Cleveland and drove to a spot several miles away. There, they punched in the code they thought would detonate the explosives, federal officials allege.

But nothing happened.

Instead, law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies including the FBI arrested the five on Monday night, charging them with conspiracy and trying to bomb property used in interstate commerce. The five appeared in federal court in Cleveland on Tuesday and were ordered jailed without bail pending a hearing scheduled next week.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and 20 years on the attempted bombing charge.

Fannie Mae backed
principal reductions,
documents show

WASHINGTON — Officials at mortgage giant Fannie Mae supported principal reductions for some struggling homeowners in 2009 and believed they would save taxpayer money, according to internal documents obtained by two House Democrats. But a pilot program set to start a year later was abruptly canceled, apparently for ideological reasons.

The documents, said Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and John Tierney of Massachusetts, contradict congressional testimony in November by Fannie Mae regulator Edward DeMarco, who has opposed principal reductions.

The lawmakers also said DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, withheld some of the documents from their request for information about principal-reduction reports and other findings from the agency and from Fannie Mae and its counterpart, Freddie Mac.

White House
expands reach of sanctions on Syria, Iran

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Tuesday granted the Treasury Department authority to blacklist foreign nationals and companies that help Iran and Syria evade U.S. and international sanctions.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order and notified congressional leaders he had given Treasury expanded powers to thwart the evasion of U.S. sanctions. These powers give the accused little chance of seeing the evidence against them, but they don’t run afoul of constitutional due-process rights since they apply to foreign entities.

The administration hopes the ever-tightening financial sanctions will force Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions and the Syrian government to end its oppression of rebels who seek to oust it.

The new executive order allows Treasury to prohibit accused foreign nationals or companies from traveling to the United States and permits the agency to forbid U.S. companies to deal with them.

Israeli commander won’t face charges in 2009 Gaza attack

JERUSALEM — An Israeli military commander who ordered an airstrike against a Gaza Strip home in 2009, killing 21 members of a family that was fleeing fighting in the area, will not face criminal charges, a military prosecutor announced Tuesday.

The attack on the members of the Samouni family — who had had been ordered by Israeli soldiers to take refuge in the home hours before it was attacked — was one of the most controversial incidents of Israel’s 22-day offensive against Gaza militants more than three years ago.

The attack was cited by a United Nations report and several human rights groups as an example of possible war crimes committed by Israel during Operation Cast Lead, which left more than 1,200 Palestinians dead.

After initially denying the incident, Israel launched a criminal investigation that has been pending for more than two years.

In a letter released Tuesday, military prosecutors said they determined that Col. Ilan Malka’s decision to attack the building was “deficient” but that he did not intentionally target civilians or act in haste or with criminal negligence. His decision was apparently based on a mistaken reading of aerial drone photographs showing some family members holding firewood, which Malka interpreted as a shoulder-fired missile.

By wire sources