New York Firebomb

A man who confessed to a string of New Year's Day arson attacks at an Islamic cultural center and four other sites where he had personal grievances was arrested on a hate crime charge, police said.

It was around 10 p.m. Sunday when a man in a hooded sweatshirt drove up to a home on 170th Street in Jamaica, Queens, and stepped out holding a glass bottle.

A Fire Department official on Monday said it was fortunate that the damage was minimal from a series of arson attacks across eastern Queens on Sunday night that the police were investigating as a possible bias crime against Muslims.

For all its considerable delights, Southern California always seems faintly on the cusp of an apocalypse. There are palm trees, year-round gardens and splendid weather - it was 81 degrees and sunny on Sunday - but there are also mudslides, gang shootings, wildfires and earthquakes.

A man who confessed to a string of New Year's Day arson attacks at an Islamic cultural center and four other sites where he had personal grievances was arrested on a hate crime charge, police said.

It was around 10 p.m. Sunday when a man in a hooded sweatshirt drove up to a home on 170th Street in Jamaica, Queens, and stepped out holding a glass bottle.

A Fire Department official on Monday said it was fortunate that the damage was minimal from a series of arson attacks across eastern Queens on Sunday night that the police were investigating as a possible bias crime against Muslims.

For all its considerable delights, Southern California always seems faintly on the cusp of an apocalypse. There are palm trees, year-round gardens and splendid weather - it was 81 degrees and sunny on Sunday - but there are also mudslides, gang shootings, wildfires and earthquakes.