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Updated: The law firm Sidley Austin has rescinded an employment offer to a Harvard law graduate who has turned himself in to police for allegedly setting fire to a Sept. 11 memorial in Manhattan. The suspect, 26-year-old Brian Schroeder, is a 2009 graduate of Harvard Law School, the Harvard Law Record reports. He was a 2008 summer associate at Sidley Austin; a permanent offer of employment has been rescinded, Sidley Austin partner Bill Conlon told the ABA Journal. Schroeder turned himself in for the blaze at the Memorial Park chapel housing the remains of unidentified Sept. 11 victims on Saturday...

A recent Harvard Law School graduate has been accused of setting fire to a New York City chapel that houses the remains of unidentified victims of the 9/11 attacks, leading to public outrage from the victims’ families. Classmates of Schroeder at the Law School contacted by The Crimson either did not return repeated requests for comment or declined to comment. But according to media reports the act surprised those who know Schroeder, who served as co-president of Lambda, the school’s LGBT student organization, during his time as a student.

A Harvard law grad surrendered to cops yesterday after allegedly setting fire to an East Side chapel that houses remains of 9/11 victims as part of a drunken dare, sources said. Brian Schroeder, 26, originally from Texas, walked into the 13th Precinct station house at about 7 p.m. in connection with the blaze at Memorial Park, on East 30th Street. Charges were pending, police said. None of the remains, which are destined for a memorial at the World Trade Center, were damaged but "mementos and candles left by family members in honor of 9/11 victims were destroyed or possibly stolen,"...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A judge on Wednesday dismissed murder charges against two men awaiting retrial in the 1991 slayings of four teens at an Austin yogurt shop, after prosecutors admitted they weren't ready to take the case to a jury. Robert Springsteen was sent to death row in 2001 after he was convicted in capital murder slaying of one of the girls. Michael Scott had been convicted in her death previously and sentenced to life in prison. Both convictions were overturned when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said Springsteen and Scott were unfairly denied the chance to cross-examine...

Retired accountant James McDermith's mad dash to retrieve a camper and pack it with belongings as a wildfire chewed closer to his home six years ago may have cost him his life. But it wasn't the flames or smoke that got him. The 70-year-old church deacon was one of five men to have a heart attack during the 2003 blaze that surged through the San Bernardino Mountain foothills. With evidence that stress from the wildfire led to the deaths, prosecutors took the unusual step this week of charging a suspected arsonist with five counts of first-degree murder that could signal...

"AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday defended his removal of three commissioners looking into whether the state used bad science to execute an innocent man, suggesting too much was being made of his move. On Wednesday, Perry decided to replace three members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, including its chairman, just two days before it conducted a hearing to examine the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. The new chairman canceled the meeting."

LACONIA – Police said a Laconia woman obsessed with a city police officer attempted to set fire to his house while his family was sleeping. Bail was set at $100,000 cash yesterday for Patricia Halsey-Carter, 41, of 33 Avery St., who works at the local Dunkin' Donuts. She is charged with four counts of arson, violation and contempt of a protective order and criminal mischief.

SICK of vandalism and violence in his home town, John Genetzakis waged a one-man war to wipe out the thugs. Now the business owner has paid the price, losing his house and everything in it in a frightening arson attack. Mr Genetzakis, 37, who lives in the Hunter Valley town of Cessnock, said yesterday he had no doubt the blaze was started by youths seeking retribution. For more than two years he has called for a police crackdown on youth gangs who smash shop windows, wreck public spaces with graffiti and harass residents in Cessnock's business centre. Mr Genetzakis' cinema...

ORANGEVALE, Calif. -- A 15-year-old girl who allegedly worships Satan was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of lighting a fire at her Orangevale church. The blaze occurred at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at the corner of Hazel and Cherry avenues. Christian Pebbles of Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said the teen made it clear why she started the blaze, which damaged church pews. "She hates the church and she worships the devil," Pebbles said. "That's the reason why." Pebbles said the teen was taken into custody on suspicion of felony arson. "Well, you know, kids sometimes don't always...

As the fire and homicide investigation continues, officials say several firefighters were exposed to cyanide gas in two separate incidents as they were mopping up hot spots near the small city of Acton on the northern edge of the massive blaze. The poisonous cyanide fumes are suspected in acute breathing problems suffered by Los Angeles firefighters battling the Station Fire in the Aliso Canyon. One firefighters suffered life-threatening respiratory arrest and remains in hospital after she was knocked out by noxious fumes on Sept. 1 near Acton. Two days later, six firefighters suffered severe breathing difficulties in another part of...

LAKE VIEW TERRACE, Calif. (KABC) -- It was an emotional tribute for the 1,200 to 1,500 firefighters that gathered early Friday morning to say their personal goodbyes to the two firefighters killed in the Station Fire. Capt. Ted Hall and firefighters Arnie Quinones both died Sunday afternoon when their vehicle went over the side of a mountain. ..."It was just important to bring closure," said Paul Lowenthal from the Santa Rosa Fire Department. "It's not only a family within your own station. It's a family across the state, across the country, so we all look out for one another, and...

A wildfire in the foothills north of Los Angeles that has claimed the lives of two firefighters, ravaged more than 250 square miles and destroyed more than 60 homes was caused by arson, the federal Forest Service said. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has begun a homicide inquiry looking for the person or people responsible for the wildfire, which continues to burn. The blaze, known as the Station Fire, has burned for over a week in the Angeles National Forest outside Los Angeles. After a forensic investigation, officials with the U.S. Forest Service determined on Thursday that the fire...

LOS ANGELES, Sept 3 (Reuters) - A huge wildfire burning in the mountains above Los Angeles, the largest ever in the county, was started by arson and will be investigated as a homicide, authorities said on Thursday. The arson declaration was made after investigators found evidence of arson at the point of origin for the so-called Station Fire, which has blackened an area the size of Chicago, started. "Arson investigators from the U.S. Forest Service (and other agencies) ... have concluded that the Station Fire was the result of an arson," Forest Service Commander Rita Wears told reporters at a...

The monster Station Fire burning north of Los Angeles was human-caused, a U.S. Forest Service official said Wednesday. Meanwhile, fire crews prepared for potential setbacks because of returning drier conditions, MSNBC.com reported. Investigators don't know specifically how the Station Fire was started but have enough information to determine it was caused by a person, the Forest Service's deputy incident commander Carlton Joseph said during a news conference. Investigators were determining whether the fire was accidental or arson and identified the point of origin as mile marker 29 on Angeles Crest Highway. Firefighters caught a weather break Tuesday when moister, cooler...

In a withering critique, a nationally known fire scientist has told a state commission on forensics that Texas fire investigators had no basis to rule a deadly house fire was an arson -- a finding that led to the murder conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.

County dispatcher wanted tragedy of fire to help reunite pair, Burnet police say.

In Texas, they're conducting the first state-sponsored review of a capital punishment case. Specifically, they're looking into the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted and executed for setting a house fire that killed his three children. An expert on fire science says there was "no basis" to rule the fire an arson, the Chicago Tribune reports. The state fire marshal on the case, Beyler concluded in his report, had "limited understanding" of fire science. The fire marshal "seems to be wholly without any realistic understanding of fires and how fire injuries are created," he wrote. The marshal's findings,...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Wildfire investigators in California are looking for marijuana growers tied to a Mexican drug cartel whom they suspect ignited a blaze that has charred more than 87,000 acres of a national forest. The La Brea Fire, which erupted August 8 in the Los Padres National Forest in the remote Santa Barbara County mountains northwest of Los Angeles, is believed to be the first major wildfire in the state caused by drug traffickers, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jim Turner said on Monday. A joint statement issued Saturday night by the Santa Barbara County sheriff's office and the...

Ex-wife 'admits starting' Kuwait wedding party blaze that killed 43 Many of those who died were killed in the stampede for the exit of the tent, in which 180 women and children were celebrating James Hider, Middle East Correspondent A fire in a wedding party tent that killed 43 women and children in Kuwait was started deliberately by the ex-wife of the bridegroom, a Kuwaiti newspaper said today. Al-Qabbas said that the 23-year-old former wife had admitted pouring petrol on the cotton tent and setting it on fire, furious at what she called her “bad treatment” by her former partner...

BAGNOLET, France – Restive youths in a Paris suburb torched a tourist bus and nearly a half-dozen cars and hurled objects at police early Tuesday, a night after fullblown unrest prompted by the death of a teen fleeing police. The local prefecture, the administrative center for the region, said the situation was under control despite the scattered torchings. An Associated Press Television News crew saw at least five torched cars and a burned-out tourist bus near a housing project. Groups of youths set street fires, sometimes fueling them with garbage cans or a mattress in one case and hurled stones...

The holiday home of Novartis chairman and CEO Daniel Vasella has been badly damaged by fire, a week after his mother's grave was desecrated by animal rights militants. Although police do not know who or what caused the fire early on Monday morning in the Tyrol, there is speculation that it is the work of the same group that took the urn of Vasella's mother on July 27. Her gravestone was defiled with a message saying the Basel pharmaceutical company must sever its ties with Britain's Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the largest contract animal-testing company in Europe. The recent attacks...

BERN, Switzerland – Drug maker Novartis AG said Tuesday that animal rights activists have stolen the ashes of its CEO's mother and set fire to his Austrian hunting lodge. Swiss authorities, however, said they didn't know who was behind the attacks. In the latest incident, CEO Daniel Vasella's Tyrollean lodge in Bach, Austria, was badly burned early Monday morning. "It was arson with a professional fire accelerator," Novartis spokeswoman Isabel Guerra said in Basel.

Note: The following text is a quote: Saturday, August 1, 2009 Eight Pakistani Christians burned to death as Muslims torched 50 houses -- Local Christians have refused to bury dead until Punjab Chief Minister visits them -- Pakistan Provincial Law Minister blames violence and killings on Police apathy By Dan Wooding and Sheraz Khurram Khan Special to ASSIST News Service GOJRA, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- In a fresh incident of violence by hardline Muslims against Pakistani Christians at least eight Christians have been burned alive and many others injured as a Muslim mob estimated to be over 1500 in number set...

Firefighters in Spain, France, Greece and Italy are continuing to battle forest fires as speculation grows many were sparked deliberately. Skip related content Related photos / videos Arson fears over European wildfires Enlarge photo More photos: Weather Thousands of acres of land have been destroyed across southern Europe. In Spain, where six firefighters have been killed, a new blaze has broken out in Las Hurdes, Extremadura. In the country's Aragon region, water planes have brought most of the fires under control. More than 15 people have reportedly been arrested by Spanish authorities and there are also suspicions surrounding the blaze...

Three men have been jailed for an arson attack at the home of a publisher days before his novel about the Prophet Mohammed was due to be published. Martin Rynja's home in Lonsdale Square, Islington, north London, was targeted on 27 September last year. Abbas Taj, 30, Ali Beheshti, 41, and Abrar Mirza, 23, from east London, were each jailed for four-and-a-half years. They were convicted of conspiracy to commit arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered. The attack took place as the Jewel of Medina, a novel about the Prophet's child bride A'isha, was to be published...

'If You Choose To Live In This Country, You Live By Its Rules', Says Judge As She Jails Muslim Extremists For Arson Attack On Publisher's Home By Daily Mail Reporter 07th July 2009. Three men were today jailed for an arson attack on a publisher after discovering he was going to produce a book about the Prophet Mohammed and his child bride. Martin Rynja had the door to his home in Lonsdale Square, Islington, north London, doused in diesel and set ablaze in September last year. Ali Beheshti and Abrar Mirza admitted, and Abbas Taj was found guilty of, planning...

Note: Photos included. Note: The following text is a quote: Thursday, July 2, 2009 Victims of June 30 Muslim violence continue to receive threats About 100 Christian homes and churches were set on fire By Dan Wooding and Sheraz Khurram Khan Special to ASSIST News Service KASUR, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- The Muslim anger over a blasphemy accusation against Christians has not apparently subsided, as Christian villagers from Bhamniwala, which is located in the district of Kasur in Punjab province, Pakistan, continue to face threats from radical Islamists. Christians of Bhamniwala village await justice The local Christians were attacked by 500...

ust as many North Texans are flying U.S. flags in anticipation of the Fourth of July, vandals are torching them in a far North Dallas neighborhood. A far North Dallas man says all that remains of his flags is a pile of charred fabric. A pile of charred fabric is all that remains of the two flags that once flew outside Ed Jordan's house in a quaint cul-de-sac off Spring Valley and Preston roads. "I think this border might have been the American flag," Jordan said as he sifted through the scorched remains. On Friday, he hung a flag honoring...

PHOENIX — The Rev. Al Sharpton on Friday called for opponents of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has aggressively cracked down on illegal immigration, to videotape alleged racial profiling by the sheriff’s office. The civil rights leader said the videos will help the U.S. Department of Justice in an investigation of alleged civil rights abuses by Arpaio’s office. “We’re gonna start some freedom rides around this county, to show how people of a certain skin color are treated different than other people,” Sharpton told a crowd of several hundred people at the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in Phoenix. Sharpton...

On the night of December 12, 2008, the Wasilla Bible Church was set ablaze by arsonists. At the time, several women and children were inside working on a craft project. They were alerted to the fire when the alarm began sounding, by that time, the front of the church was engulfed in flames. Firefighters began arriving shortly after 9:40 p.m. It took crews from several local communities until 5 a.m. to fully extinguish the blaze. The fire caused close to $1 million in damages. It did not take long for investigators to determine that the fire was an act of...

A convicted arsonist was sentenced to death Friday for setting a Southern California wildfire that killed five federal firefighters struggling to defend a rural home from raging, wind-driven flames.

ELIZABETHTOWN – Fire damaged a Lincoln landmark at Freeman Lake Park in Elizabethtown early Friday morning, and police are baffled as to the motive behind the what they believe to be intentional damage to the historic site. According to Elizabethtown Police Department spokesman Virgil Willoughy, Kenneth R. Bennett, a 34-year-old Elizabethtown resident, is believed to have started the fire. Willoughby said police deduced from investigation that Bennett lit a container of trash and placed it inside the Lincoln Heritage House Friday morning while taking his regular walk. “He walks this area frequently,” Willoughby said. “We can only guess as to...

Assailants have carried out arson attacks on four separate mosques in Istanbul, Turkish media reported on Tuesday. According to a report on HaberTurk television, no one was wounded in the attacks, and damage to the mosques was minimal. Mustafa Cagrici, the mufti or chief cleric for Istanbul, confirmed Tuesday that fires had broken out in four mosques. He would not say if they had been caused by arson. Last year, police arrested a mentally unstable man for a series of arson attacks on mosques in Istanbul.

Barker Ranch, an abandoned desert cabin that was Charles Manson's last hideout following his notorious cult murders, was gutted by fire, a park spokesman said Thursday. The isolated cabin was discovered burned on Tuesday, Terry Baldino said. "We don't know the cause. We don't know if it was an accident or on purpose," he said. The cabin was last seen intact last Friday and may have burned over the weekend, he said. The ranch, which included a main building and a guesthouse, was built of wood, stone and cement. The fire burned most of the wood and damaged the tin...

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Gusty winds have driven a wildfire into outlying neighborhoods of Santa Barbara, Calif., and residents of more homes have been told to leave. ... The fire lay dormant most of the day. But strong winds with gusts up to 50 mph arrived in the afternoon and stoked the fire. The sheriff's office says an evacuation order covering 1,200 homes has been expanded to 2,000 homes.

<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An end-of-year college block party spiraled out of control when police fired baton rounds and used pepper spray to break up hundreds of rioting students who sparked a string of street fires at Kent State University.</p>

A CFA volunteer is the prime suspect for lighting the fire that devastated Marysville, killing 39 people. The Herald Sun reports sources have revealed a man has been interviewed and released over the Marysville blaze by the Phoenix Taskforce investigating the Black Saturday fires. The man, who has not been named, was formally interviewed in the weeks after the catastrophe, but has not been charged as investigators gather more evidence. A police spokesman said the force would not confirm or deny a lead suspect had been identified. On April 1, Assistant Commissioner Dannye Moloney said police were close to pinning...

04/13/2009 SNIPPET: "A home-made fire-bomb exploded at 3:25 a.m. at the KAPA Marines showcase, and the ensuing fire quickly spread throughout the two land plots where the company's pleasure craft are on display, totally destroying or causing extensive damage to more than 20 boats." SNIPPET: "Police bomb disposal experts are investigating the site, and have so far come up with two propane canisters."

Bushfire Jihad in Australia? by Daniel Pipes March 26, 2009 As fires swept through a hot and dry Victoria State, Australia in February 2009, some observers (including myself) wondered if this might not be an Islamist attack on the country. But one stayed quiet, not having proof. Now, Mervyn F. Bendle, a senior lecturer in History and Communications at James Cook University, Queensland, has come out and made the argument in a 6,000-word article, "Australia's nightmare: bushfire jihad and pyroterrorism," in the National Observer. Bendle marshals an impressive body of evidence. But first, a review of what happened:

Two environmental extremists have been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $4.1 million in restitution for their role in a Michigan State University (MSU) arson that caused more than $1 million in damage. Marie Mason, of Cincinnati, and Frank Ambrose, of Detroit, were sentenced in February 2009 and October 2008, respectively, on charges relating to an explosion and fire at MSU's Agriculture Hall on New Year's Eve 1999. The arson was the most serious incident in a series of criminal acts the couple carried out on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), the most...

When I was last in France I stayed with a friend in the M Back in 2005, when I was last there, it seemed like Paris was a tiny jewel surrounding by a sewer on all sides. Well it seems the fecid sewer is lapping at the gates of what was once a jewel. The gifted journalist and regular Atlas contributor Nidra Poller gives on the street reportage on the lastet outbreak of low grade civil war in the streets of the Marais. Baked on the premises- TOAST! Paris, March 16, 2009 Nidra Poller Car burning comes to the Marais!...

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese man who set fire to a hotel in a bid to buy himself time to chose whether to stay with his wife or marry his girlfriend was sentenced to five years jail Thursday, a court official said. Presiding Judge Yasushi Watanabe called 40-year-old defendant Tatsuhiko Kawata "egoistic and short-sighted" and dismissed the defence argument that no-one was hurt in the fire, the Kyodo news agency reported.

Breaking: Beaumont man convicted of five counts of murder in 2006 Esperanza fire After a week of deliberation a jury returned a verdict of guilty against Raymond Lee Oyler for first degree murder in the deaths of five firefighters killed in the 2006 Esperanza Fire near Cabazon. The jury of eight women and four men deadlocked on three counts involving smaller fires not related to Esperanza. Oyler, 38, now faces the death penalty for the five murder counts. There will be a hearing next week on penalty phase. The courtroom was jammed with firefighters and families of the victims. Oyler's...

They killed my babies: Breeder mourns horses burned alive after yobs set fire to stables By JAYA NARAIN 25th February 2009 A devastated horse breeder tonight told of her horror after four of her beloved animals were burned alive in an apparent arson attack. Youths are thought to have started a blaze at Vicki Marsh's farm which turned the stables into an inferno. Seven Arab horses were trapped in their stalls, unable to escape.

Early Saturday morning, someone crept into the New Fellowship Baptist Church, walked past thousands of dollars worth of audio equipment and computers and set fire to the balcony and altar, then fled as the Dorchester building went up in flames, fire officials and the church's pastor said yesterday.

THE death toll from Victoria's worst ever bushfires has climbed from 189 to 200. A full report will follow shortly. Meanwhile, anger at accused bushfire arsonist Brendan Sokaluk has led to threats against a member of his family and harassment of a former girlfriend. Mr Sokaluk, 39, is charged with lighting the Churchill fire, which killed at least 10 people, and is in custody at a secret location amid fears vigilantes will harm him. He has been charged with one count each of arson causing death, intentionally lighting a bushfire and possessing child pornography. Victoria's Supreme Court today heard there...

MELBOURNE, Australia - A court lifted the ban Monday on identifying the only arson suspect so far in Australia's recent deadly wildfires, and authorities urged people not to target him in their rage over the disaster's more than 180 deaths.

GIPPSLAND firefighters are outraged at the jail sentence handed down to a pregnant arsonist in Morwell Magistrates' Court this morning. Rosemary Ann Harris, 31, of Moe, was refused bail this afternoon after she was sentenced to three years with a minimum of two-and-a-half behind bars for lighting two fires at Tyers, near Traralgon, and Driffield, near Morwell on a total fire ban day in December 2006. "In the circumstances the application for bail is refused," Magistrate John Dugdale said, explaining the refusal was based on "the nature of the offending and the prevailing bushfire situation in Victoria". The bail hearing...

THE man accused of starting one of the deadly Victoria fires, which killed at least 21 people in Gippsland on Black Saturday, has failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing in Melbourne. The hearing was held without 39-year-old Brendan Sokaluk. He was remanded in custody until a committal hearing, which will be held on May 25. The man, who faces charges including arson causing death and possession of child pornography, can now be named after a court order banning publication of his name was lifted. However the order remains barring publication of his address or a photo of him....

THE public has been urged not to threaten the safety of an accused firebug scheduled to appear in court today on a deadly arson charge. A 39-year-old man accused of starting the Churchill-Jeerelang bushfire in Gippsland, in Victoria's east, has been remanded in custody and is due to appear in court today. "Coming to court and protesting is not an appropriate thing to do,'' Police Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said today. "Obviously, we will make sure this person is well protected. "We hope that we don't have to deal with a gang of people who are angry and concerned...