The family of the young Bangladeshi man accused of plotting to blow up the New York Federal Reserve said Thursday they had been questioned by police.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested Wednesday in Manhattan after he tried to detonate what he thought was a live bomb, but was actually a dummy provided in a sting operation, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said.

A Bangladeshi man with alleged al-Qaida links was arrested Wednesday in New York on charges of plotting to destroy the city's Federal Reserve building with a 1,000 pound bomb.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested in Manhattan after he tried to detonate what he thought was a live bomb, but was actually a dummy provided as part of a sting operation, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said.

Former car salesman Manssor Arbabsiar pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring with the Iranian military to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States in a plot as lurid as any airport thriller.

Appearing at the New York federal court where he had been due to stand trial in January, the Iranian-American entered a surprise guilty plea. He faces up to 25 years in prison at his sentencing, which was set for January 23.

The U.S. envoy to Japan vowed "complete and unequivocal cooperation" Wednesday over the alleged rape of a local woman by two servicemen on an island fed up with the large American military presence.

Ambassador John Roos sought swiftly to reassure people on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa that he shared their anger over an incident that has the potential to act as a lightning rod for growing anti-U.S. feeling.

The new U.S. envoy to Tripoli vowed on Monday to follow the line of murdered ambassador Chris Stevens and support Libya as the two states work to bring the militants behind the September 11 attack to justice.

Veteran diplomat and Arabic speaker Laurence Pope, the new charge d'affaires at the embassy, had his first meeting with Libya's acting foreign minister Mohammed Abdel Aziz.

Top Democrats accused Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney on Sunday of "cravenly" politicizing the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi to further his presidential ambitions.

The fallout from the attack has developed into a toxic political issue as Romney and Democratic President Barack Obama wage an all-out battle in a tight race 23 days out from the November 6 election.

Arlen Specter, a moderate ex-senator from Pennsylvania who played key roles in critical Senate battles but angered colleagues by switching from Republican to Democrat, died Sunday. He was 82.

Specter died of complications from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma -- a form of immune system cancer -- at home in Philadelphia, his family said. Former Specter spokesman Christopher Nicholas also confirmed the death.

Hizbullah's, Iranian-made, drone that penetrated Israel surveilled live images of “secret” Israeli military bases, according to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.

The newspaper reported that the drone transmitted pictures of preparations for Israel's “biggest” joint military exercise with the U.S. army, which began last week.

Japan and the United States are mulling a joint military drill to simulate retaking a remote island from foreign forces, reports said, amid a festering row between Tokyo and Beijing over disputed islets.

The exercise, part of broader joint maneuvers to start in early November, would use an uninhabited island in Okinawa, southernmost Japan, Jiji Press and Kyodo News agencies quoted unidentified sources as saying on Saturday.

The U.S. envoy to Tunisia is calling for the trial of those behind a September attack on the American embassy during riots over a U.S.-made film mocking Islam.

Ambassador Jacob Walles, in a letter to appear in the Tunisian press on Sunday, said the "government has an obligation to provide security for its citizens and its guests."