[Iceman]

Authorities in New York have arrested and charged a man for plotting to blow up a government building.

Jose Pimentel, 27, has been charged with three terrorism-related offences including conspiracy and weapons possession, according to court documents.

The New York Times is reporting that police had the suspect under surveillance for about a year.

Unnamed sources say the man had been trying to construct a pipe bomb.

Since the September 11 attacks by Al Qaeda militants in 2001, New York City has considered itself a prime target and has developed extensive intelligence and counter-terrorism divisions within the New York Police Department.

New Yorkers have grown accustomed to heightened security and regular announcements that authorities have foiled plots to attack the city.

Most planned attacks - such as the September 2009 arrest of Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-born man who was a permanent US resident living in Colorado, who plotted a suicide bomb attack on the New York subway system - were aspirational. Zazi later pleaded guilty.

But some, such as the May 2010 failed attempt to bomb Times Square, were closer to being carried out.

In that case, Pakistani-born US citizen Faisal Shahzad drove a sport utility vehicle packed with a crude bomb into the heart of Times Square on a crowded Saturday evening.

The bomb failed to go off and was discovered by passers-by.

The suspect was later arrested and pleaded guilty.

[lostalex]

oh i hear Cuba is nice this time of year... lol