In brief: Regulators close Giannoulias bank
Chicago – Regulators shut down the bank owned by Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias’ family on Friday, setting up an expected but daunting challenge in his bid to keep President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat in Democratic hands.
Broadway Bank, which was heavy into real estate loans and lost $75 million last year, had been given until Monday to raise about $85 million in new capital, but the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced at the close of business Friday that Broadway was among four banks, all in Illinois, that had failed.
Giannoulias, 34, worked at the bank as a senior loan officer until he ran for treasurer four years ago.
Al-Qaida ordered attacks, man says
New York – A New York man said Friday that a plan to attack the city subway system was ordered by al-Qaida leaders two years ago while he was in Pakistan with a friend, a former airport shuttle driver who has admitted to building the homemade explosives in the plot.
Zarein Ahmedzay, 25, pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to charges including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in the foiled New York City subway bomb plot from fall 2009.
He said he, admitted plotter Najibullah Zazi, and a third man, previously identified by the government as Adis Medunjanin, met with the leaders in Pakistan in the summer of 2008, where they offered to join the Taliban and fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
“They told us we would be more useful if we returned to New York City … to conduct operations,” he said. Asked by the judge what kind of operations, he responded, “Suicide-bombing operations.”
Governor vetoes abortion bills
Oklahoma City – Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry vetoed two abortion bills Friday that he said are an unconstitutional attempt by the Legislature to insert government into the private lives and decisions of citizens.
One measure would have required women to undergo an intrusive ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of the fetus before getting an abortion. Henry said that legislation is flawed because it does not allow rape and incest victims to be exempted.
The second abortion bill that the governor vetoed Friday was one that would have prohibited pregnant women from seeking damages if physicians withhold important information or provide inaccurate information about their pregnancy.