Morocco : Three Saudis sentenced to 10 years for al-Qaida plot

Three Saudi Arabians were sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday by a Moroccan court for leading an al-Qaida plot to attack U.S. and British warships.

The Saudis, said by Moroccan authorities to have been firmly enmeshed in al-Qaida, were arrested May 12 in what prosecutors contend was a plot to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives into the Strait of Gibraltar to attack U.S. and British warships.

The plan was similar to one carried out in October 2000, when two suicide bombers in a small boat rammed the USS Cole destroyer in a port in Yemen, killing 17 sailors.

Prosecutor Saoud Grain had sought the death penalty “because of the gravity of the crimes attributed to the accused and to put an end to terrorism, this blight that all societies are fighting,” he said.

Washington, D.C: Bush sends additional troops to Colombia

President Bush this week used his authority to exceed congressional limits on the number of U.S. military personnel allowed to be in Colombia, sending as many as 150 additional specialized troops to assist in the rescue of three American civilians believed to be in the hands of guerrillas since their plane crashed in rebel stronghold last week, senior administration officials said.

For the moment, officials said, the troops’ mission is to provide additional intelligence to Colombian military forces trying to locate and rescue the Americans and their captors in a mountainous jungle region about 220 miles southwest of Bogota.

Denver: Forest Service worker gets six years for wildfire

A former U.S. Forest Service worker tearfully apologized to Coloradans before being sentenced to six years in prison for starting the largest wildfire in state history, a 138,000-acre blaze that destroyed more than 130 homes.

“I’d like to say that I’m sorry and I have not forgiven myself yet,” Terry Lynn Barton, 39, told a federal court Friday. “By my emotional act I have destroyed something that I loved.”

Barton pleaded guilty to federal arson charges in December and to a state arson charge last month. She is scheduled to be sentenced March 5 on the state charge, which could bring up to 12 years in prison.

Germany: Police torture threats cause public uproar

Frankfurt’s deputy police chief admitted Friday that his officers threatened to torture a suspected kidnapper for refusing to tell them the whereabouts of an 11-year-old boy.

Police say they were only trying to save the boy’s life but the case has set off a public debate about law enforcement methods in Germany.

Jakob von Metzler disappeared on his way home from school on Sept. 27. Three days later, police arrested Magnus Gaefgen after observing him pick up $1 million in ransom.

After several hours of unproductive questioning, Deputy Police Chief Wolfgang Daschner says, he decided that threatening force was the only chance to save the child’s life.

Within 10 minutes, Gaefgen admitted that the boy was dead.