Northwest U.S. hit with snow, ice
NEW YORK, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The northeastern United States was recovering Friday from a large winter storm as forecasters warned of stronger weather systems to come.
"It's going to be pretty ugly," Tom Moore, senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel, said Friday. "The next storm is much more powerful, windier and messier."
The storm comes the day after a large winter storm hit the northeastern United States and caused snow-related travel delays in the Boston area, AccuWeather reported. The storm also dropped heavy snow and sleet on the northern suburbs of New York and caused rain in Philadelphia.
The New York Times reported that Thursday's storm caused railway and airport delays, traffic accidents and school closings with snow and ice. The Times said Albany, N.Y., had experienced 4 1/2 inches of snowfall by 4 p.m. Thursday and Bridgeport, Conn., reported 1 1/2 inches.
The newest snowstorm is expected to reach toward the mid-Mississippi Valley Friday night before moving on into the northern Ohio River Valley, Weatherchannel.com reported Friday.
Heavy snows were expected Saturday night and Sunday morning in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, southeastern New York and southern New England. Warmer temperatures are expected to cause the storm to drop rain on Boston, Providence, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington.
U.S. top Iraq inspector faces probes
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. government has opened four probes into alleged overspending and mismanagement at the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
The FBI, the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the Presidential Council on Integrity and Efficiency and the Army's Equal Employment Opportunity Office are each conducting investigations into allegations made by current and former staff working under Inspector General Stuart Bowen Jr., The Washington Post reported Friday.
The overspending allegations include claims that overtime policies allowed 10 of the office's staff members to take home more than $250,000 each in wages last year and concerns about oversight of a $3.5 million book project detailing the reconstruction of Iraq.
SIGIR staff members claimed Bowen and his deputy have engaged in mismanagement that includes improperly reading staff e-mail messages, the Post said.
The Post said the employee complaints accuse the office's leadership of firing a whistle-blower in retaliation and engaging in "sustained patterns of inappropriate behavior."
Failed British terror attacks tied to Iraq
LONDON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Sources familiar with the British investigation into failed terrorist attacks in London and Scotland said the plots have been linked to al-Qaida in Mesopotamia.
The sources, senior officials from three countries who have been briefed on the investigation, said the failed attacks six months ago appear to be the first known plots the terrorist group has participated in outside of the Middle East, The New York Times reported Friday.
A senior U.S. intelligence official said evidence linking alleged plotters Bilal Abdulla and Kafeel Ahmed to al-Qaida in Mesopotamia included stored phone numbers of known members of the group on the two men's cell phones.
Abdulla, a British doctor of Iraqi descent, and Ahmed, an aeronautical engineer from India, allegedly attempted to ignite two cars filled with gas canisters and explosives near a popular London nightclub but they failed to detonate. The two men allegedly drove a Jeep Cherokee filled with gas canisters into the Glasgow, Scotland, airport the following day. Ahmed suffered severe burns and died of his injuries weeks after the incident.
5 arrested in connection with brush fire
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Arson investigators in Los Angeles County, Calif., said five men have been arrested in connection with a brush fire that destroyed 53 homes.
Officials with the Los Angeles district attorney's office said each of the suspects arrested Thursday has been charged with felony counts of recklessly causing a fire resulting in great bodily injury and recklessly causing a fire to an inhabited structure stemming from the Nov. 24 incident, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
Investigators said they believe the suspects had built an illegal late-night campfire near a cave when the brush fire broke out and spread. Authorities were led to the suspects, who range in age from 18 to 27, when they tracked a debit card used to purchase items found at the scene of the campfire.
The fire, which burned through 4,900 acres, left six firefighters injured, including one who had a second-degree burn on his face.
U.S. poll: Iran still dangerous
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A new poll suggested that a majority of U.S. voters don't believe the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate finding that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program.
The telephone poll of 800 likely voters, conducted Sunday-Wednesday, found 69 percent of respondents said they believe Iran is actively seeking to create nuclear weapons, The Israel Project, an Israeli advocacy group that commissioned the poll, reported Friday.
The poll suggested that 75 percent of likely voters in the United States have heard a "great deal" or "some" about the NIE report, but 27 percent agree with its conclusion that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.
Sixty-four percent of those polled expressed fears that the United States "will be less safe" due to the estimate "because it might lead to reduced pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear capacity for good."
In contrast, only 27 percent said they believe "we are more safe" after the estimate "because it shows the threat from Iran is not as imminent as had been believed."
