■UNITED STATES
Underwear Bomber in court
The Nigerian man dubbed the “Underwear Bomber” after allegedly trying to blow up a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day in an al-Qaeda plot returned to court yesterday. The pretrial hearing will deal with scheduling issues, a spokeswoman for his court-appointed lawyer said. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, pleaded not guilty in January to six terrorism-related charges. He faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if convicted. The son of a prominent Nigerian banker, Abdulmutallab was arrested after the botched al-Qaeda plot, in which explosives allegedly stitched into his underwear failed to detonate aboard a Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
■UNITED STATES
O.J.’s appeal scheduled
A Nevada Supreme Court panel is scheduling oral arguments for June 11 in Las Vegas on pending appeals by O.J. Simpson and a co-defendant convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges in a September 2007 hotel room heist. The two men were tried together and convicted in 2008 of robbing two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in Las Vegas of items Simpson said were his. Both filed appeals in May last year. The 62-year-old Simpson is serving nine to 33 years in a Nevada prison. Stewart is serving seven-and-a-half to 27 years.
■UNITED STATES
Terrorist met 9/11 associate
A court ruling reveals that a convicted terrorist met with a man later convicted of plotting to attack a French island who also had ties to some of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers. The ruling in the District Court, District of Columbia says Christopher Paul of Columbus, Ohio, may have visited with Karim Mehdi in Germany in 1993 and met him again for several weeks in 1997 or 1998. A State Department report says Mehdi was sentenced to nine years in prison in France in 2006 in connection with alleged plans to attack the Indian Ocean island of Reunion in 2003. The State Department alleges that Mehdi had ties to Ramzi Binalshibh and Ziad Jarrah. When Paul was indicted in 2007, prosecutors said a search warrant had found a postcard in Paul’s possessions addressed to him from “brother” Karim Mehdi.
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