London: British government has right to detain terror suspects

Britain’s Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the government’s right to detain foreign terrorist suspects without trial. Among the 12 suspects arrested under the measure introduced after the Sept. 11 attacks is a Muslim cleric accused of being Osama bin Laden’s “ambassador” in Europe.

Britain announced the 12th arrest under the law this week, and U.S. officials on Friday confirmed British newspaper reports that it was Abu Qutadah. The British Home Office would not confirm the identity of any of the detainees.

Abu Qutadah, also known as Omar Mahmoud Uthman, was captured by British authorities on Wednesday, said a U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The defense official described him as providing logistical support for al-Qaida. The Bush administration ordered his assets frozen on Oct. 12, 2001.

Utah: Two F-16 fighter jets collide; 1 pilot survives, 1 missing

Two F-16 fighter jets collided Friday in the desert west of a training base, authorities said. One pilot was rescued and in good condition and another was missing, officials said.

The Air Force confirmed an incident over the Utah Test and Training Range about 2:45 p.m. involving two fighter jets from the 388th Fighter Wing. The area is barren, uninhabited desert about 150 miles west of Salt Lake City.

Search and rescue crews were trying to find the second pilot late Friday. His condition was unknown, said base spokeswoman Capt. Angie Chang.

Neither of the jets was carrying weapons, the Air Force said. They were part of a four-aircraft formation flying a routine training mission.

Washington, D.C.: Administration blocks assets of suspected drug kingpins

The Bush administration, trying to topple drug kingpins, moved Friday to block the financial assets of two leaders of the violent North Valle drug cartel in Colombia that has smuggled tons of cocaine into the United States.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added Diego Leon Montoya Sanchez and Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante to the U.S. government’s list of specially designated narcotics traffickers.

The action means that any assets belonging to the two men found in the United States or within its jurisdiction would be frozen and that Americans are forbidden from doing business with them.