Machine Guns

When wildlife agents infiltrated the home of a small-town Alaska couple suspected of dealing illegal animal parts, they didn't expect to find fine art among the couple's loot. But amid the machine guns and illegal ivory, the pot and coca plants, sat five pricey Victorian paintings pilfered from a New England woman's home in 2005. Now that the Glennallen residents targeted in the investigation are behind bars, the government is trying to reunite the paintings with their rightful owner.

Gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns early Monday in intense street battles in the Lebanese capital, wounding six people as fears mounted that the conflict in neighboring Syria was bleeding across the border. The fighting appeared to be among the worst clashes in Beirut since 2008. The clashes erupted hours after an anti-Syrian cleric and his bodyguard were shot dead in northern Lebanon. Lebanon and Syria share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries, which are easily enflamed.

Kenya's Red Cross says gunmen have attacked a civilian vehicle with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns near the Kenya-Somali border, killing four people. Kenyan Red Cross spokeswoman Nelly Muluka-Oluoch says that Red Cross personnel who went to the site of the attack in far northeast Kenya say that four people died. The Red Cross personnel say machine guns and rocket propelled grenades were used against the vehicle, which was carrying school examination papers. The attack comes a little less than two weeks after Kenya sent hundreds of troops into Somalia to attack...

When wildlife agents infiltrated the home of a small-town Alaska couple suspected of dealing illegal animal parts, they didn't expect to find fine art among the couple's loot. But amid the machine guns and illegal ivory, the pot and coca plants, sat five pricey Victorian paintings pilfered from a New England woman's home in 2005. Now that the Glennallen residents targeted in the investigation are behind bars, the government is trying to reunite the paintings with their rightful owner.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Thai and Cambodian soldiers revived a long-simmering dispute over an 11th-century temple near their border, trading fire yesterday with machine guns and rocket launchers in clashes that left as many as four people dead. The latest flare-up, if not quickly resolved, could overshadow a summit of Asian leaders opening next week in the Thai coastal town of Pattaya. The summit already was delayed once in December after antigovernment demonstrators took over Thailand's two main airports in Bangkok.

SPRINGFIELD — The gun club where an 8-year-old boy accidentally killed himself with an Uzi had first agreed to hold a machine gun shoot a decade ago when the organizer told club officials it was legal and safe, one of those officials testified yesterday. Steven Sklarski, recording secretary for the Westfield Sportsman’s Club, testified on the fifth day of the manslaughter trial of Edward Fleury, the former Pelham police chief. The club had held the event for seven years without a problem before Christopher Bizilj of Ashford, Conn., accidentally shot himself in the...

BAGHDAD -- The US military introduced more photographs yesterday to bolster its contention that American aircraft attacked a safehouse for foreign fighters near the Syrian border -- not a wedding party, as contended by Iraqi survivors and police and suggested by footage from the scene. The military presented its case at a news conference. Elsewhere in the capital, the widow of a popular Baghdad wedding singer, who was among up to 45 people killed in Wednesday's attack, said, "he was an example of beauty.

A Massachusetts man accused of plotting to fly explosive-packed remote-controlled model planes into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol is expected to be in federal court for a bail hearing. A detention hearing for Rezwan Ferdaus of Ashland is scheduled Monday in U.S. District Court in Worcester (WUS'-tur). Prosecutors plan to ask that Ferdaus be held without bail as he awaits trial on a string of charges, including attempting to damage and destroy national defense premises and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

A Massachusetts man accused of plotting to fly remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol is returning to court for a bail hearing. The hearing for Rezwan Ferdaus of Ashland is scheduled in U.S. District Court in Worcester on Friday. Prosecutors plan to ask that Ferdaus be held without bail as he awaits trial on numerous charges, including attempting to damage and destroy national defense premises and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

The leader of a Michigan militia is returning to court with his son to face a few remaining charges, two days after a judge erased the government's conspiracy case. David Stone and son Joshua Stone are accused of possessing illegal rifles and machine guns. The Stones and five other members of the Hutaree militia have been cleared of more serious charges of conspiring to use bombs and launch a rebellion against the government. Detroit federal Judge Victoria Roberts on Tuesday said the government failed to prove its case.

The leader of a Michigan militia is returning to court with his son to face a few remaining charges, two days after a judge erased the government's conspiracy case. David Stone and son Joshua Stone are accused of possessing illegal rifles and machine guns. The Stones and five other members of the Hutaree militia have been cleared of more serious charges of conspiring to use bombs and launch a rebellion against the government. Detroit federal Judge Victoria Roberts on Tuesday said the government failed to prove its case.

A Massachusetts man accused of plotting to fly remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol is returning to court for a bail hearing. The hearing for Rezwan Ferdaus of Ashland is scheduled in U.S. District Court in Worcester on Friday. Prosecutors plan to ask that Ferdaus be held without bail as he awaits trial on numerous charges, including attempting to damage and destroy national defense premises and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

Kenya's Red Cross says gunmen have attacked a civilian vehicle with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns near the Kenya-Somali border, killing four people. Kenyan Red Cross spokeswoman Nelly Muluka-Oluoch says that Red Cross personnel who went to the site of the attack in far northeast Kenya say that four people died. The Red Cross personnel say machine guns and rocket propelled grenades were used against the vehicle, which was carrying school examination papers. The attack comes a little less than two weeks after Kenya sent hundreds of troops into Somalia to attack...

A Massachusetts man accused of plotting to fly explosive-packed remote-controlled model planes into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol is expected to be in federal court for a bail hearing. A detention hearing for Rezwan Ferdaus of Ashland is scheduled Monday in U.S. District Court in Worcester (WUS'-tur). Prosecutors plan to ask that Ferdaus be held without bail as he awaits trial on a string of charges, including attempting to damage and destroy national defense premises and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

** MACHINE GUN PREACHER Directed by: Marc Forster Written by: Jason Keller Starring: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon, Souleymane Sy Savane At: Kendall Square Running time: 127 minutes Rated: R (violent content including disturbing images, language, some drug use, and a scene of sexuality) "Machine Gun Preacher" is crude and ham-handed from its ridiculous title on down, but it still gets to some interesting places. Based on the life of Sam Childers, a Pennsylvania biker who found God and became a Christian warrior for Sudanese orphans, the film's mealy...

In a dramatic return to the neighborhood he once ruled as a mob boss, James “Whitey’’ Bulger appeared in federal court in South Boston yesterday on charges of racketeering, extortion, and 19 counts of murder during a savage criminal reign that cast a shadow over the city. In perhaps the highest-profile court appearance in the city’s history, the former gangster returned to Boston after 16 years hiding from an international manhunt, finally brought back to answer to his alleged crimes by the same law enforcement agency that had allowed his criminal enterprise to flourish.

KUWAIT CITY -- Police have set up checkpoints and are toting machine guns and wearing body armor for the first time. Hotels have installed metal detectors. And the US Embassy has warned Americans to keep away from Western hangouts. Security in this tiny desert emirate has been ratcheted up since a series of government raids in recent weeks against Islamic militants. The government also has begun blocking Internet sites espousing jihad, and police have seized radical books from mosques and warned teachers not to preach intolerance.

SPRINGFIELD — Reckless and illegal actions by a former police chief led to the accidental death of a boy who shot himself in the face with an Uzi submachine gun at a gun show, a prosecutor said yesterday. But others, including the boy’s father, made the fatal decisions, a defense attorney said. Edward Fleury, the former Pelham police chief whose company cosponsored the event, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and furnishing a weapon to a minor in connection with the 2008 death of Christopher Bizilj (buh-SEEL’)

SPRINGFIELD — A jury failed to reach a verdict on the first day of deliberations yesterday in the manslaughter case against a gun fair organizer charged in the death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself with an Uzi at a machine gun expo in 2008. Jurors in Hampden Superior Court heard testimony over seven days during the trial of former police chief Edward Fleury. Deliberations began yesterday after the defense lawyer and prosecutor delivered closing arguments. The jury is scheduled to continue work today.

SPRINGFIELD — The gun club where an 8-year-old boy accidentally killed himself with an Uzi had first agreed to hold a machine gun shoot a decade ago when the organizer told club officials it was legal and safe, one of those officials testified yesterday. Steven Sklarski, recording secretary for the Westfield Sportsman’s Club, testified on the fifth day of the manslaughter trial of Edward Fleury, the former Pelham police chief. The club had held the event for seven years without a problem before Christopher Bizilj of Ashford, Conn., accidentally shot...