Minnesota trial for woman accused of aiding Somali group

MINNEAPOLIS - One of two Minnesota women facing charges of raising money for the al Qaeda-affiliated Somali set al-Shabaab, was cited for contempt after refusing to stand on Monday as a federal judge entered the courtroom.

Amina Farah Ali, who became a U.S. citizen in 2004 and lived in Rochester, Minnesota, cited religious grounds for refusing to stand when Chief Judge Michael Davis entered the courtroom for the start of jury assortment in her trial.

Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, who became a U.S. citizen in 2008 and also lived in Rochester, face numerous federal charges each for supposedly raising more than $8,600 for al-Shabaab from September 2008 to July 2009. The U.S. had chosen al-Shabaab a terrorist group months before in February 2008.

Ali and Hassan are accused of communicating with al-Shabaab persons in Somalia and in turn going door-to-door in Somali communities in Rochester, Minneapolis and elsewhere to raise money and holding teleconferences to solicit support.

The defendants starved of raising money for the group, saying it was planned for the poor and needy. The indictment accuses Ali of saying on two conference calls that the priority was support for the Mujahadin or Jihad, not the needy.

Ali was prearranged removed from the courtroom, temporarily delaying the start of jury selection and later returned to the courtroom, court officials said. Ali, who had been free on bail, was being detained on the contempt charge.

6 in UK court over terror plot

Six men are due to emerge in a London court on terrorism charges, three of them charged with plotting suicide bomb attacks in Britain.

The men were under arrest in Birmingham last week and charged late on Sunday.

Four are accused of planning a terrorist act. Three of them — 30-year-old Irfan Nasser, 26-year-old Irfan Khalid and 26-year-old Ashik Ali — are accused of setting up a bombing campaign, making explosives and stating an intention to become suicide bombers.

Nasser and Khalid also are accused of traveling to Pakistan for terrorism training.

Two others are stimulating with failing to disclose information, and one with funding terrorism.

All six will emerge at West London Magistrates Court on Monday.

Thousands Evacuated as Wildfire Destroys almost 500 Homes in Texas

Firefighters trying to control a wind-fueled wildfire that has destroyed almost 500 homes in Central Texas were looking for a few overnight hours of diminished winds as thousands of evacuees spent the night away from their in danger homes.

Slack winds were predictable after midnight Tuesday and could enable firefighters to make progress on the enormous blaze racing through rain-starved farm and ranchland, authorities said. Fanned in part by howling winds from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, the blaze quickly grew Monday to at least 25,000 acres.

"You have to be hopeful and at the same time prepared for the worst," Texas Forest Service spokesman John Nichols said Monday night, acknowledging the weather's randomness.

At least 5,000 people were required from their homes in Bastrop County about 25 miles east of Austin, and about 400 were in emergency shelters, officials said Monday. School and school-related behavior were canceled Tuesday.

Heavy Rain, Traffic and Low-Lying Land Contributed to Deadly Pittsburgh Floods

The flash flooding that killed four people and enforced others to swim to safety or climb onto car roofs was a freak accident caused by heavy rainfall that inundated the sewer system just as rush-hour traffic clogged low-lying city streets, officials said Saturday.

A mother and her two daughters died in Friday's flood after becoming attentive in their vehicle and rising water pinned it to a tree. Another woman's body was washed into the Allegheny River, where she was establish Saturday morning.

Back-to-back storms crushed the city with 3 to 4 inches of rain. The water drained quickly onto Washington Boulevard, a main street near the Allegheny River on the city's east side, with a force too great for a pair of sewer pipes 9 feet in diameter. The torrent blew off 60-pound manhole covers,

"We had geysers here," said Raymond DeMichiei, deputy director of the city Office of Emergency Management.

Coast Guard: Marine Corps jet missing off Calif.

Search-and-rescue teams took to the air and water early Thursday looking for a Marine Corps fighter jet that went missing over the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The aircraft was flying with an additional jet when contact with the plane was lost, said Coast Guard spokesman Henry Dunphy Wednesday night. Crews were searching for the F/A-18 Hornet in the area about 60 miles southwest of San Diego and 35 miles west of Ensenada, Mexico.

The Coast Guard was notified about the missing jet around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dunphy said.

Several aircraft were being used in the mission. Two Coast Guard cutters and a Navy ship have been unfocused into the area.

A spokesman for the Marine Corps confirmed the jet is assigned to the Marines.

The aircraft is based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California, said Marine Corp. Capt. Brian Block.

Officials have not free how many crew members were aboard the plane. Additional details were not immediately obtainable.

Man gets 60 years in Ohio firebombing, arson

A centralized judge has sentenced an Ohio man to 60 years in prison in the 2009 firebombing of a city hall and a bar fire.

Forty-one-year-old Kevin Dye also was prearranged Friday to pay some $860,000 in restitution.

Federal prosecutors say Dye used bombs made from milk jugs, cloth, duct tape and gasoline to damage Mansfield City Hall court offices in north-central Ohio in December 2009. He was planned to go on trial at the court on drug and other charges two days later.

Prosecutors also say he set an August 2009 fire at Belcher's House of Rock, where he had been debarred.

Dye's attorney, Javier H. Armengau, says he's dissatisfied in the sentence. He says Dye maintains his virtue and will seek to appeal his convictions.