Nation, World Briefs: Airline bomb suspect enters not-guilty plea

Published 9:52 pm Friday, January 8, 2010

DETROIT — A plea of not guilty was entered on behalf of a young Nigerian man on Friday during his first public court appearance to face charges of trying to ignite a chemical-laden explosive on a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner on Christmas Day. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s arraignment was brief — lasting less than five minutes — and he spoke little. A grand jury indicted him earlier this week on six charges. The most serious — attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction — could land Abdulmutallab in prison for life if convicted.

Florida: Air rage bond set

Bond has been set at $210,000 for a man who allegedly yelled “I want to kill all the Jews” on a Detroit-bound plane at Miami International Airport. A South Florida judge placed 43-year-old Mansor Mohammad Asad, of Toledo, Ohio, on house arrest Friday. Police said Asad was arrested Wednesday night on a disorderly conduct charge after a taxiing Northwest Airlines flight returned to a gate. His attorney said the incident was a misunderstanding. Authorities said the incident doesn’t appear terrorism-related.

Georgia: Swine flu declines

Swine flu infections continue to drop and only one state — Alabama — was reporting widespread cases last week. Four states had widespread cases the previous week. The number has been dropping since late October, when nearly all states had widespread flu reports. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported Friday that there are no signs of seasonal flu right now, only the swine variety. But CDC officials noted there is still more flu around than normally seen at this time of year.

S. Carolina: Divorce petition

Gov. Mark Sanford has asked a judge to approve his wife’s petition to end their 20-year-marriage, admitting he had an affair. In a one-page response filed Friday in Charleston County, the governor admits to allegations of adultery made by his wife, Jenny, in the divorce petition filed last month. Sanford submitted the response on his own, without an attorney. Jenny Sanford said the couple had been unable to reconcile after her husband returned from a mysterious disappearance in June to reveal a yearlong affair with an Argentine woman.

Kentucky: Female inmates

The governor has ordered some 400 female inmates removed from a corporate-run prison after allegations of sexual misconduct by male guards. Gov. Steve Beshear ordered the women moved from Otter Creek Correctional Complex to a state-run prison starting by July 1. The move comes four months after the Kentucky Department of Corrections called for security improvements at the prison in a report on 18 alleged cases of sexual misconduct by guards there.

New York: Obama billboard

An outerwear company says it will cooperate with a White House request to take down a huge Times Square billboard that uses President Barack Obama as a pitchman. In about two weeks, that is.The president of Weatherproof said he’d heard from the White House and decided to cooperate with its request to halt the ad campaign. But he said it will take some time. He aims to remove the Times Square billboard and another one on the Long Island Expressway by Jan. 22, after figuring out a new ad campaign.

Russia: Georgian jet arrives

A Georgian passenger plane landed in Russia on Friday in the first direct air service between the two countries since their war in 2008. Moscow’s decision to allow the flight appeared to indicate that tensions between Georgia and Russia may be easing. The chartered Georgia Airways Boeing 737 carrying 85 passengers took off from Tbilisi, Georgia, and touched down at Moscow’s snowy Domodedovo Airport two hours later.

Egypt: Suspects surrender

Three suspects in a drive-by shooting that killed six Christians in southern Egypt surrendered to police Friday, while authorities faced mounting pressure to resolve the sectarian dispute in the tense community reeling from a bloody Coptic Christmas Eve attack. In the Wednesday shooting in Nag Hamadi, 40 miles north of the famed Luxor ruins, gunmen had opened fire on a crowd of worshippers leaving a church after mass for Coptic Orthodox Christmas Eve. Six Christians and a Muslim security guard died in a hail of bullets.

From Herald news services