Free Republic

NEW YORK (AFP) – A dual US-Lebanese citizen has been extradited from Paraguay and charged with supporting Lebanon's Hezbollah militant force, US officials said Friday. Moussa Ali Hamdan, 38, appeared in court in Philadelphia following his extradition and has been charged with providing "material support to Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization," the federal prosecutor's office in Pennsylvania said in a statement. Hamdan was arrested by Paraguayan authorities June 15 on suspicion of supporting terrorism and was subsequently handed over to US custody. He is accused in the United States on 28 counts including conspiring to supply Hezbollah with proceeds...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― Authorities seized thousands of counterfeit movie DVDs, music CDs and other merchandise -- collectively valued at more than $8 million -- in a raid on vendors on Santee Alley near downtown Los Angeles, city officials said Friday. The raid, conducted Thursday by the Los Angeles Anti-Piracy Task Force, netted more than 25,000 counterfeit DVDs and CDs and 50,000 purses, watches, T-shirts and perfumes. "People who make counterfeit DVDs, CDs and apparel are stealing, plain and simple. It's the same as picking someone's pocket or shoplifting," said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, chair of the task force. "Every dollar...

More indictments are expected in the probe, which has centered on L.A.'s garment district. A dozen people were arrested Tuesday on charges of narcotics trafficking, money laundering and selling counterfeit goods after a two-year counter-terrorism and drug investigation centered in Los Angeles' downtown garment district. The focus of the federal investigation was Ali Khalil Elreda, 32, who was detained at Los Angeles International Airport last year, accused of trying to smuggle $120,000 in money orders and cashier's checks, hidden in a child's toy, to Lebanon, according to an indictment and an affidavit filed in the case. In 2005, a Los...

Woodstock Creator Tells DA That Funds Have Gone Missing A $40 Million Shortfall Where did Norman Hsu get his money? That has been one of the big questions hanging over the prominent Democratic fund-raiser, as reports have surfaced about hundreds of thousands of dollars he made in political donations, plus lavish parties, fancy apartments and a $2 million bond he posted to get out of jail earlier this month. New documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal may help point to an answer: A company controlled by Mr. Hsu recently received $40 million from a Madison Avenue investment fund run...

Asia is seeing an “epidemic of counterfeits” of life-saving drugs, experts say, and the problem is spreading. Malaria medicines have been particularly hard hit; in a recent sampling in Southeast Asia, 53 percent of the antimalarials bought were fakes. Bogus antibiotics, tuberculosis drugs, AIDS drugs and even meningitis vaccines have also been found. Estimates of the deaths caused by fakes run from tens of thousands a year to 200,000 or more. The World Health Organization has estimated that a fifth of the one million annual deaths from malaria would be prevented if all medicines for it were genuine and taken...