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Partial Solar Eclipse Tonight
grouchomarxist writes "There is going to be a partial solar eclipse tonight. It will mainly be visible by people in the southwest of the United States. People in Mexico will have the best view, there it will approach a full eclipse." Space.com has a nice page on it too. Enjoy this solar event!
We're all going to die! Run for your lives!
Oh wait, this is a normal celestial thing... not a sign from the gods. Nevermind.
I'll show you an annular eclipse. Talk about a ring of fire!
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal officials captured a U.S. citizen with suspected ties to al Qaeda who allegedly planned to build and explode a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States, the Justice Department announced Monday.
U.S. officials said Washington was the probable target of the plot. FBI Director Robert Mueller said the plot was in the "discussion stage" when the suspect, Abdullah Al Muhajir, was arrested. Mueller said the plot had not gone any further, to the knowledge of U.S. authorities.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said Al Muhajir -- who was born Jose Padilla -- was captured May 8 as he flew into O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, from Pakistan. Officials said that in the weeks before he flew to Chicago, Al Muhajir was tracked flying between Pakistan, Egypt and Switzerland.
U.S. officials later said an "associate" of Al Muhajir had been arrested in Pakistan, prior to May 8. It wasn't clear whether this was the "associate" Ashcroft referred to when, in announcing Al Muhajir's capture, he said Al Muhajir was working with someone in Pakistan on plans to build a dirty bomb. (Full story)
A dirty bomb is a conventional bomb equipped with radioactive material designed to spread over a wide area. Depending on the circumstances of the explosion, the number of deaths and injuries from a dirty bomb might not be substantially greater than from a conventional bomb explosion. But panic over radioactivity and evacuation measures could snarl a city, and the area struck would be off-limits for at least several months during cleanup efforts. (More on dirty bombs)
Ashcroft said Al Muhajir, 31, would be treated as an "enemy combatant" of the United States, a move that means he has fewer legal rights than an ordinary defendant in a criminal case.
President Bush signed off Sunday night on the decision to treat Al Muhajir as an enemy combatant, senior U.S. officials said, adding that the government faced a Tuesday deadline to decide whether to charge Al Muhajir in the federal court system or turn him over to the Defense Department.
Bush accepted the recommendations of Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the officials said, and the transfer from Justice Department to Defense Department custody was made Monday morning.
Suspect 'trained with the enemy'The Justice Department said that Al Muhajir, who was born in New York, served time in prison in the United States in the early 1990s, when he took on his new name. After his release, he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and met with senior al Qaeda officials, Ashcroft said.
"While in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Al Muhajir trained with the enemy, including studying how to wire explosive devices and researching radiological dispersion devices," Ashcroft said. "Al Qaeda officials knew that as a citizen of the United States, as a citizen of the United States holding a valid U.S. passport, Al Muhajir would be able to travel freely in the United States without drawing attention to himself."
U.S. officials said the primary information about Al Muhajir came from Abu Zubaydah, the most senior al Qaeda figure captured by U.S. authorities.
Al Muhajir is being held at the Consolidated Naval Brig in Charleston, South Carolina, according to Pentagon officials. They said the suspect was being held separate from the regular brig population.
"We have acted under the laws of war and under the clear Supreme Court precedent which established that the military may detain a United States citizen who has joined the enemy and has entered our country to carry out hostile acts," Ashcroft said.
Ashcroft made the announcement in Moscow, Russia, where he is meeting with Russian officials to discuss the war on terrorism. (Read transcript)
"To our enemies, I say we will continue to be vigilant against all threats, whether they come from overseas or at home in America," he said.
-- National Security Correspondent David Ensor, Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena, Senior White House Correspondent John King and terrorism consultant Peter Bergen contributed to this report.