LOS ANGELES
Fund-raisers arrested for financing terror group
Seven members of an anti-Iranian terror group have been arrested for collecting money that was used for weapons including mortars and rockets, the FBI said Wednesday.
The seven members of the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization of Iran, or the People's Holy Warriors, were arrested Tuesday following a three-year international investigation, the FBI's James DeSarno told reporters.
"The subjects in this case targeted (for fund-raising) travelers, primarily of Asian descent, as they arrived at Los Angeles International Airport. They dressed in business attire and used binders containing photographs of starving children and other documents," DeSarno said. As much as $10,000 a day was collected in this manner, he said.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Pork promotion preserved
The Agriculture Department reached a settlement with a hog producers group to continue a farmer-funded promotion of pork. The deal announced Wednesday reverses a Clinton administration decision made following a vote by producers.
The government-supervised program, best known for promoting pork as the "Other White Meat," is financed through a fee on hogs.
Farmers voted 15,951 to 14,396 to kill the program in a referendum last fall. But the National Pork Producers Council, which has been partially funded through the fee, contended the referendum was unfair and convinced a federal judge in Michigan to temporarily block the department from shutting down the program. Under the agreement announced by the department, the council no longer will receive any of the fees, which total about $54 million a year.
Connecticut
Teen beaten unconscious
A teen-ager who was throwing candy at passing cars was beaten unconscious by three men, Hartford police said.
Angel "Shaggy" Rodriguez, 14, and a friend were walking home from an after-school program Monday when they began tossing Skittles at passing vehicles, police said.
The men punched Rodriguez in the face until he fell, then stomped and kicked him in the head, police said.
Rodriguez's friend ran for help, and when he returned, Rodriguez was on a street corner unconscious. The seventh-grader was taken to a Hartford hospital where he was in serious condition under police guard on Tuesday.
NEW YORK CITY
Mechanics slowdown blamed for canceled flights
A work slowdown by aircraft mechanics at Kennedy Airport on Wednesday forced American Airlines to cancel more than 120 flights and delay many others, the airline said.
"We believe this activity is deliberate, illegal and unwarranted, and it is totally unexpected," the company said in a statement.
Airline spokeswoman Laura Mayo said 86 of 122 flights serving Kennedy Airport on Wednesday were canceled. The airline also canceled 39 flights scheduled for this morning.
The airline is in contract talks with the mechanics and airport ground workers, represented by the Transport Workers Union, as well as with its flight attendants.
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