In the Nation

NEW YORK - A former member of Guyana's parliament was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for plotting to blow up fuel tanks at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

U.S. District Judge Dora Irizarry said there was ample evidence that Abdul Kadir was a key player in "a plan that would have caused devastation unimaginable."

Kadir and Russell Defreitas, a former JFK cargo handler, were charged with conspiracy in 2007 after an informant infiltrated the plot and recorded them discussing it.

Prosecutors said the pair wanted to kill thousands of people and cripple the U.S. economy by using explosives to blow up the fuel tanks and the underground pipelines that run through an adjacent Queens neighborhood. Sentencing for Defreitas is set for Jan. 21.

- AP

DETROIT - Imprisoned former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was indicted Wednesday on new corruption charges, and his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, also was implicated in what a federal prosecutor called a "pattern of extortion, bribery, and fraud" among some of the city's most prominent officials.

The indictment also listed longtime Kwame Kilpatrick associate Bobby Ferguson, ex-city water director Victor Mercado, and ex-mayoral aide Derrick Miller.

Kwame Kilpatrick's lawyer Jim Thomas said: "These are very serious charges. . . . We're going to fight this."

Kilpatrick resigned as mayor in 2008 after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in state court. He is in prison for violating probation in that case and is awaiting trial in federal court on tax and fraud charges related to how he spent money from a nonprofit fund.

- AP

NOGALES, Ariz. - A U.S. Border Patrol agent was fatally shot north of the Arizona-Mexico border while trying to catch bandits who target illegal immigrants, the leader of a union representing agents said Wednesday.

Agent Brian A. Terry, 40, was waiting with three other agents in a remote area north of Nogales late Tuesday night when a gun battle with the bandits began, said National Border Patrol Council President T.J. Bonner.

The FBI is investigating the shooting. Border Patrol spokesman Eric Cantu and FBI spokeswoman Brenda Lee Nath declined to confirm Bonner's account but said that authorities had four suspects in custody and were searching for a fifth.

- AP

Officials in North Topsail Beach, N.C., say more than 60 pelicans have washed ashore shot, bludgeoned, and decapitated since the beginning of November. Pelicans are protected by federal and state laws, and wildlife officials are investigating.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said a missile-intercept test failed Wednesday. The test involved the launch of a ground-based interceptor rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The agency said an extensive investigation was planned to determine the cause of the failure.