Federal authorities charged an Ashland man with plotting to damage the Pentagon and US Capitol with a remote-controlled aircraft filled with explosives.

Rezwan Ferdaus, a 26-year-old US citizen, was arrested today.  He was also charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization, in this case Al Qaeda, in order to carry out attacks on US soldiers overseas, Boston.com reports.

Prosecutors urged that Ferdaus be detained without bail until his trial at a US District Court in Worcester during a status hearing earlier today.  His detention hearing will be held on Monday at 3 p.m.

“The conduct alleged today shows that Mr. Ferdaus had long planned to commit violent acts against our country,” US Attorney Carmen Ortiz said, the Globe reports. “Thanks to the diligence of the FBI and our many other law enforcement partners, that plan was thwarted.”

In a statement from Ortiz, she said that the public was never in danger from the explosives.  Ferdaus was closely monitored by the FBI throughout his alleged plot.

“I want the public to understand that Mr. Ferdaus’ conduct, as alleged in the complaint, is not reflective of a particular culture, community or religion,” Ortiz said. “In addition to protecting our citizens from the threats and violence alleged today, we also have an obligation to protect members of every community, race, and religion against violence and other unlawful conduct.”

Federal prosecutors said that Ferdaus graduated from Northeastern University with a physics degree, and began planning to commit “jihad” acts in early 2010.

In his plot against the Pentagon, Ferdaus allegedly got mobile phones and changed them to act as switches for improvised explosive devices, and gave them to FBI undercover agents to use against soldiers overseas.

The FBI recorded phone conversations beginning in January during which Ferdaus allegedly said that he planned to attack the Pentagon using something similar to “small drone airplanes” filled with explosives.  He also told an undercover agent that he wanted to put six gunmen with automatic firearms in the Pentagon during the attack.

Prosecutors allege that Ferdaus ordered his supplies between May and September, including a remote-controlled aircraft. He also received today “(what he believed to be) C-4 explosives, six fully-automatic AK-47 assault rifles and grenades,” said prosecutors.  He locked the supplies in a storage unit in Framingham and was subsequently arrested by federal agents.

“Although Ferdaus was presented with multiple opportunities to back out of his plan, including being told that his attack would likely kill women and children …. Ferdaus never wavered in his desire to carry out the attacks,” prosecutors said.

NEW YORK — Residents of the Lower East Side were treated to police digging up a cemetery today, but as night falls across the city, zombies and vampires are yet to emerge.

This disturbance of the dead follows the police receiving a call about a suspicious package, which turned out to be a plastic garbage bag containing eight sticks of C-4 explosives.

A New York City Marble Cemetery volunteer placed the call to the police early Monday. Police discerned that a caretaker had dug up the package in fall 2009, but left the mysterious bag near a back fence without notifying authorities.

C-4 is a military grade explosive more powerful than TNT. A single stick can blow up a car or topple a large tree, but the substance is considerably stable without a detonator to set it off.

The bag found at Marble Cemetery did not include a blasting cap or detonator so was unlikely to explode on its own.

Who buried the bag—and when—remains under investigation. “We believe it’s been there for a significant period of time,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

As noted by the New York Daily News, the historic cemetery abuts several brownstones and is approximately 100 feet from a notorious 3^rd Street Hell’s Angels clubhouse. According Yves Lavigne’s 1987 book “Hell’s Angels: Three Can Keep a Secret if Two Are Dead,” the motorcycle gang stockpiled C-4 in the 1980s.

Kelly stated that there is no suspicion of terrorists connected to the explosive at this time.

Further befuddling investigators, a chalk note found on the sidewalk outside the cemetery reads, “I really hope one of you finds this.”

He likes to be called Cesar. He’s a prominent member of the leftist ultra-violent Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, otherwise known as FARC, the number one manufacturer of cocaine in the world. A former “comandante” of the 1^st Front of FARC, Gerardo Aguilar Ramirez has been extradited to the United States on “cocaine importation conspiracy charges” the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reports.

Ramirez was arrested on July 2, 2008 during a high-profile hostage rescue mission. At the time of his capture Ramirez was holding 15 hostages including anti-corruption activist and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who had been held captive for more than six years. Three Americans were also being held by FARC.

While in command of the hostages Ramirez tried to barter their release for the liberation of FARC terrorists held in the U.S. and Columbia, as well as other political and safety demands. None were accepted, and eventually, thanks to Operation Jaque, Ramirez was arrested and the hostages freed.

His extradition to Washington comes after an indictment filed by the United States against 50 of the highest-ranking FARC members. The file, released by the DEA, accuses Ramirez of leading the 1^st Front of FARC and as such, being responsible for all criminal acts it carried out.

The acts include manufacturing and distributing thousands of tons of cocaine with the knowledge that they would enter the U.S. drug market, as well as plotting with other FARC members to kidnap and kill U.S. citizens to discourage the United States from fumigating and disturbing FARC’s cocaine plants and distribution efforts.

Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin reiterated the United States’ commitment to fighting narco-terrorism. “We are committed, together with Colombian authorities and United States law enforcement agencies, to attacking FARC’s criminal leadership. The extradition of Aguilar Ramirez, alleged to be a high-level FARC commander, is another milestone in this office’s fight against narco-terrorism worldwide” he said, the DEA reports.

Ramirez, 50, is also charged with four counts of hostage taking for the kidnapping of Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, Keith Stensell and Tom Janis after their plane crashed in FARC-occupied jungle territory in early 2003.

Janis was executed while the rest were held captive with Betancourt and 11 others until their release in the summer of 2008.

Ramirez will be tried in Washington D.C. federal court scheduled to begin on Jan. 5, 2010. The DEA reports that Special Assistant Attorneys from the Southern District of New York will be prosecuting the case in D.C.

The State Department is also offering $75 million in rewards for any information that leads to the capture of high-ranking FARC members.

Pakistani media is reporting that the country’s military is now on “high alert” over a possible attack by neighbour India, Al Jazeera reports.

The announcement came Monday after Indian officials handed over a letter by the last surviving terrorist from November’s Mumbai tragedy that killed nearly 170 people.

The letter confirmed accusations that all 10 terrorists hailed from Pakistan, India’s Foreign ministry reports.

The navy, air force and army are all on “red alert.”

Obviously, I don’t think attacking Pakistan is the answer. ‚ These two countries have enough problems, starting a string of attacks between the two isn’t going to solve anything.

Then again, the people of India are demanding some sort of action be taken in response to these attacks, especially now since it has been confirmed that all attackers were from Pakistan.

Indian officials have said that they will “explore all options” to ensure Pakistan cracks down on these kinds of cross-border attacks. ‚ They also called for more international pressure to be put on Pakistan, in an effort to make them co-operate in investigations.

I agree with that, there’s a lot more Pakistan can do. ‚ They’ve‚ arrested‚ some people but refuse to really do anything with them. ‚ Extraditing them to India makes sense to me, but not for them, since the arrested are citizens of Pakistan and many of them have no direct connection to the attacks.

No matter what happens, tensions are increasing between these two rivals, and will continue to increase until something groundbreaking happens.

So there’s this guy,‚ Amit Karkhanis, who went to a court in India and pleaded that Google Earth be banned in the country, TimesOnline reports.

For those who don’t know, it is suspected that the terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks used Google Earth to help plan their mission last month, which led to the deaths of nearly 180 and the injuries of more than 300.

This isn’t the only time GE has been used for evil. ‚ British officials learned that the program was used to plan the attacks on a British base in Basra, Iraq last year. ‚ The Iraqi insurgents used the images to plan a detailed attack on the base as clear images of individual building were accessible.

After that, Google replaced the images with predated ones, before the base was even constructed.

As of two days ago, India’s most important atomic facility, the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC)‚ remained‚ viewable on GE, even after a complaint was filed last year.

Indian officials have increased security at airports amid hijacking threats. ‚ It is one possibility, sources say, that someone could hijack a plane and fly it into BARC, which would cause a huge nuclear explosion.

Makes sense to replace some images, like the one of BARC, with less‚ compromising‚ ones. ‚ That being said, should the whole program be banned in a country where terrorist attacks have been so prevalent, especially over the last few years?

Not a bad pre-emptive strike.

As India struggles to answer questions regarding last week’s tragedy, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, India’s highest-ranking security official, resigned Sunday, taking responsibility for the failure of the country’s intelligence services to stop the attacks, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Patil, who had been under wide scrutiny even before the attacks, was responsible for public safety and internal security. He fell under the radar after it became evident Parliament received a report last year indicating that Mumbai could be easily infiltrated by water.

The terrorists sneaked into the country by sea.

Officials told news media that the terrorists had planned a much larger attack than the one they were able to carry out.

“We found bullets with them, hand grenades, bombs” said R. R. Patil, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located. “Based on our investigation, we believe they had planned to kill 5,000.”

Patil’s resignation could hamper the investigation; his departure could possibly delay aid from external police agencies like Interpol, who’ve offered their help and are currently waiting for official permission to enter the country.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh replaced Patil with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who has immediately started to overhaul India’s security forces by doubling the size of the 7,400-member National Security Guard, reports IHT.

Ever since the attacks, Indian officials have been investigating the terrorists and their possible ties to Pakistan.

An Indian news network recently showed photographs of a phone log revealing calls to Pakistan. The log had been taken from telephones that were found aboard an abandoned boat off the coast of Mumbai, the same boat that had been used the terrorists to enter the country.

Security forces at the Taj hotel have also come under some scrutiny. Many believe that, since they did receive indication of an impending attack, it could have been prevented.

Ratan Tata, chairman of Taj hotels and Tata group, told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that measures to protect the entrance of his hotel would not have stopped the terrorists.

“They came from somewhere in the back. They planned everything” he said of the attackers. “I believe the first thing they did, they shot a sniffer dog and his handler. They went through the kitchen, they knew what they were doing.”

It is believed that the lax increase in security at the Taj following the indication of an impending attack is what largely led to Patil’s resignation.

Several media outlets, including India’s NDTV, are reporting that the last remaining perpetrators of attacks that claimed the lives of more than 150 people have been killed in Mumbai’s Taj Palace and Tower Hotel.

However, the Director general of the National Security Guard (NSG) indicated that while the terrorists have been killed, the operation is not yet over.‚  “I can’t say that our operation is over,” he said, according to the CNN-IBN. “To make sure that there is no other threat, we are still searching each and every room of the hotel.”

Stick with Blast for more.

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At least 80 people have been killed, 250 injured and more held hostage in Mumbai, India, in coordinated terror attacks, according to news agencies.

The attackers, armed with machine guns, bombs and grenades struck at least seven sites throughout Mumbai Wednesday and were holding Western hostages at two hotels, according to NBC news.

“We have reports of 80 people dead and at least 250 injured. Many have serious injuries and the toll will go up,” P.D. Ghadge, a police officer in the main control room in Mumbai, told Reuters.

The locations included luxury hotels, a police station and a train station.

Indian television reported that one of the victims is Hemant Karkare, the chief of India’s anti-terrorist squad in Mumbai.

Authorities are saying that Westerners, especially British and American civilians, have been targeted.

Blast will bring more details forth as they emerge.