Cold snap to hit Florida citrus; freeze warning issued

A protective layer of ice form on oranges in a grove near Dover, Florida December 14, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Scott Audette

MIAMI | Fri Dec 21, 2012 12:37pm EST

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. government forecasters have issued a freeze warning for parts of Florida's key citrus-growing region as a cold front threatens to carry icy temperatures into the Sunshine State this weekend.

The National Weather Service office in Tampa Bay-Ruskin said in an advisory on Friday that the freeze warning for Levy, Citrus, Sumter, Hernando and Pasco counties was in effect from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. EST (0700-1400 GMT).

Tyler Fleming, a senior forecaster in the Tampa Bay office, said it was the first freeze warning of the year for the area and that temperatures could dip below freezing for at least two hours.

A freeze watch was also in effect for the same five-county area for late Saturday night through early Sunday morning, Fleming said.

Typically, citrus can be damaged by four hours or more of temperatures below 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 2 Celsius).

Andrew Meadows, spokesman for the state's leading growers association, Florida Citrus Mutual, said the weekend chill was unlikely to be long-lasting or extreme enough to cause any damage to the state's $9 billion citrus industry.

"Actually, this kind of cold event is a good thing because it brings the brix content up in the fruit and helps prepare the tree for any cold weather ahead," Meadows said in an email.

Ray Royce, executive director of the Highlands County Citrus Growers Association in central Florida, agreed that there was no cause for alarm.

"The next two nights will be the coldest nights of the season so far," Royce told Reuters in a phone interview.

"There may be a chance for frost," he said, "but it doesn't appear that there's going to be enough cold to damage wood or to damage fruit."

Royce added a note of caution, however.

"You never know what could happen. You just don't want to get flat-footed and have it all of a sudden be 5 or 6 degrees colder than you're expecting."

Florida's groves yield more than 75 percent of the U.S. orange crop and account for about 40 percent of the world's orange juice supply.

(Reporting by Tom Brown; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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Florida man plotted New York terrorist attack, prosecutors say

1 of 2. Broward Sheriff's Office booking photograph shows Sheheryar Alam Qazi taken on November 29, 2012 and released to Reuters on December 18, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Broward Sheriff's Office/Handout

By Zachary Fagenson

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida | Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:31pm EST

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (Reuters) - A Pakistani-born man plotted to detonate a bomb in New York City to avenge the deaths of people killed by drone attacks in Afghanistan but failed to raise enough money to carry out the scheme, a federal prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Raees Alam Qazi, 20, was arrested along with his brother, Sheheryar Alam Qazi, 30, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on November 29. The brothers, both naturalized U.S. citizens, are charged with providing support to terrorists and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Both have pleaded not guilty.

On Tuesday, prosecutors offered the first details about the alleged plot during a bail hearing in federal court.

Raees Alam Qazi traveled to New York from his home in Florida on November 23 with the hope of finding a job to make enough money to build an explosive, according to testimony from FBI Special Agent Kristine Holden.

The younger Qazi told investigators after his arrest that he rode around New York on a bike looking for targets but never chose one and returned home four days later after running out of money, prosecutor Karen Gilbert said.

Qazi, who spent his time in New York sleeping in a restaurant, a mosque and on public transportation, was arrested two days after he traveled home on a Greyhound bus.

His brother, a taxi cab driver, was described by prosecutors and investigators as aware of the possible attack, but they said Raees Alam Qazi intended to carry it out.

"The brother was supporting him, paying bills, providing a computer and a cellphone," Gilbert said.

The case against the brothers is based in part on evidence gathered during surveillance of their cellular telephones, according to court documents.

During recorded calls, Raees Alam Qazi asked about the size of crowds at Times Square, Wall Street and at some New York City theaters, Holden said.

In another conversation, Sheheryar Qazi described his brother as a "lone wolf, like the Times Square bomber," referring to Faisal Shahzad, who pleaded guilty two years ago to trying to set off a car bomb in Times Square.

The elder Qazi was also recorded saying that his brother "wasn't going to be in this world long."

In a search of a house where Raees Alam Qazi was living, authorities say they recovered a laptop computer that showed he had researched ingredients to make a shoe bomb. They also found disassembled remote-control car parts, which Gilbert said were possibly intended to make a remote-control detonator.

Daniel Ecarius, an attorney for Raees Alam Qazi, sought to have him released on bail on Tuesday, saying his client had no criminal history. He took issue with some of the translation of the taped telephone calls, which were recorded in Pashto, a language spoken in Pakistan, as well as Afghanistan.

However, a federal judge ordered Raees Alam Qazi held without bail, saying he was a flight risk.

If convicted, both of the men could face a sentence of 15 years in prison on the charge of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

The charge of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction carries a potential maximum life sentence.

(Writing by Kevin Gray; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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