Trial begins today in underwear-bomb plot
A Nigerian man charged with trying to bring down an airliner with a bomb in his underwear goes on trial today for the first terrorist attack in the U.S. during the Obama administration.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will have legal assistance but is acting as his own lawyer. Abdulmutallab, 24, is charged with trying to destroy Northwest Airlines Flight 253 near Detroit on Christmas 2009. The bomb caused smoke and fire but didn't explode.
Anthony Chambers, an attorney appointed to assist him, said prosecutors have a confession, dozens of witnesses and a video of Abdulmutallab explaining his suicide mission. He told agents that he was directed by U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed Friday by a U.S. military strike in Yemen.
Innocent man to be freed after 25 years
Texas prosecutors agreed to release a man sentenced to life in prison in 1986 for the beating death of his wife after DNA tests pointed to another man.
Michael Morton was convicted on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to life in prison. New DNA tests on a bandana found near Morton's home showed blood from his wife and a California felon. Authorities are investigating whether that man was responsible for at least one other Austin slaying. Judge Sid Harle said he would set terms for Morton's release, which could come today or Wednesday.
Lettuce recall reaches 19 states
A California farm that issued a voluntary lettuce recall over listeria contamination concerns said its notice has gone out to 19 states and Canada. True Leaf Farms of Salinas recalled 33,000 pounds of lettuce after a check by federal officials found that a sample from one bag tested positive for listeria. No illnesses have been reported. The chopped and bagged lettuce, grown in Watsonville and processed in San Juan Bautista, was shipped Sept. 12 and 13. The recall covers products with a "use by date" of Sept. 29.
Pirates get life in prison for killings
A federal judge in Norfolk, Va., sentenced two Somali men to life in prison for their roles in the hijacking of a yacht off the coast of Africa that left all four Americans on board dead.
The owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam, along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay were shot in February several days after being taken hostage hundreds of miles south of Oman.
They were the first Americans to be killed in a wave of piracy that has plagued the region. Muhidin Salad Omar and Mahdi Jama Mohamed did not kill the Americans but remain accountable because they "willfully engaged in the piracy of the Quest," Judge Mark Davis said.
Chemical fire forces evacuations
A fire sparked as workers mixed chemicals at a plant south of Dallas shot massive plumes of black smoke into the sky, forcing schoolchildren and residents to evacuate or take cover indoors.
Flames engulfed a large complex at a Magnablend facility in Waxahachie. The fast-moving blaze overwhelmed a sprinkler system and consumed a firetruck, but no injuries were reported.
About 1,000 residents who were evacuated were allowed to return home Monday evening, when the fire was 95% under control, Waxahachie Fire Department spokeswoman Amy Hollywood said. Magnablend spokesman Donald Golden said 25 to 30 workers inside the 100,000-square-foot warehouse were evacuated safely.
Also
SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. -- The Forest Service has closed the Trail of 100 Giants in Sequoia National Forest while experts try to determine why two towering trees fell side by side over the trail.
BILLINGS, Mont. -- A grizzly bear that fatally mauled a hiker in Yellowstone National Park was killed after DNA evidence linked the animal to the scene of a second hiker's death a month later, Superintendent Dan Wenk said. The female bear was not removed after the first death because park officials said it was reacting naturally to defend its two cubs.