NYC subway attack suspect is ordered to be held without bail
Frank R. James, who federal prosecutors said carried out a violent and well-planned attack on New York’s subway system this week, was ordered to be held without bail Thursday during his first appearance in federal court. His lawyers asked a judge to ensure James received psychiatric care in jail, and later said their client had called a tip line to turn himself in. Prosecutors say James set off a smoke bomb on a crowded subway car, then unleashed a barrage of bullets into the crowd, turning a morning commute into a scene of bloody chaos. At least 30 people were injured, according to federal prosecutors.
British militant convicted for role in deaths of Americans
A federal jury Thursday convicted a British militant accused of being a member of the brutal Islamic State cell known as the Beatles in the abduction, abuse and deaths of four Americans. The jury found El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, guilty on four counts of hostage-taking and four counts of conspiracy related to the deaths of three American men and a young woman who were captured during the Islamic State group’s rampage through Syria in 2012 and 2013. Elsheikh, who faces multiple life sentences, is the most prominent member of the Islamic State group to be brought to trial in the United States.
Ohio man who blamed Trump for storming the Capitol is found guilty
An Ohio man who claimed that Donald Trump was legally responsible for his decision to break into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and make off with a bottle of bourbon and a coat rack was convicted Thursday in the first trial connected to the riot to feature a defense that blamed the former president. The defendant, Dustin Thompson, an unemployed exterminator from Columbus, based his defense on the argument that he had merely been following orders from Trump last year when he walked up to the Capitol after the former president’s speech, broke into the building and stole the items from the Senate parliamentarian’s office.
CIA director concerned about Putin and nukes
The director of the CIA said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “potential desperation” to extract a victory in Ukraine could tempt him to order the use of a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon, publicly discussing for the first time a concern that has coursed through the White House. William Burns, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia, said the potential detonation of such a weapon — even as a warning shot — was a possibility that the U.S. remained “very concerned” about. But he quickly cautioned that so far he had seen no “practical evidence” that such a move was imminent.
UK plans to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda
Britain on Thursday said it planned to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda for processing and settlement there, becoming one of the few major powers to plan legislation that would turn away migrants without even considering their cases. The policy, if implemented, would take to a new level the hard-line immigration stance of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government. Human rights groups immediately denounced the policy, saying it is inhumane, violates international agreements on refugees and could set a precedent that encourages other nations to send migrants to other countries, a tactic known as “offshoring.”
LA political donor gets 30 years in prison for fetish deaths
A wealthy Democratic donor has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for injecting two men with lethal doses of methamphetamine as part of a fetish that turned fatal. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Ed Buck. The judge issued the sentence Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles. Buck is 67 and prosecutors have said he preyed mostly on vulnerable young gay Black men he paid for sex and injected with massive doses of drugs. Buck’s lawyers have said he deserved a shorter term because he was sexually abused as a child and that health problems led to his drug addiction.
Fuel leak thwarts NASA’s dress rehearsal for moon rocket
NASA’s latest attempt to fuel its huge moon rocket for a countdown test has been thwarted by a hazardous hydrogen leak. NASA had just begun loading fuel into the core stage of the rocket Thursday when the leak cropped up at the Florida launch pad. This was NASA’s third attempt at a dress rehearsal, a required step ahead of a test flight to the moon. The first two tries were also marred by vexing equipment trouble. Before all these problems, NASA had been targeting June for the launch debut of the Space Launch System rocket. Officials say they’re assessing their next steps.
By wire sources
