Washington: Murder trial begins for admitted killer

Robert Yates appeared to lead a normal life but had a “one-of-a-kind hobby” killing vulnerable women, a prosecutor said as Yates’ death-penalty trial began Monday in Tacoma.

Yates, who admitted killing 13 people in a plea deal with Spokane County prosecutors that spared his life, is fighting possible execution for two other killings in Pierce County.

In his opening statement, deputy prosecutor Jerry Costello told jurors he would prove Yates committed all 15 slayings, saying there were astonishing similarities.

Defense attorneys Roger Hunko and Mary Kay High were expected to begin their opening statement Tuesday.

Yates has confessed to 13 slayings dating back to 1975. Ten victims were Spokane-area women involved in drugs and prostitution; the other three were a couple and a woman killed elsewhere in the state.

Yates was sentenced to 408 years in prison in exchange for his guilty plea in October 2000.

Florida: NASA finds cracks in shuttle haulers

NASA said Monday that it has discovered more cracked equipment, this time in the massive 1960s-vintage movers used to haul space shuttles to the launch pads at Cape Canaveral.

The latest cracks are in the bearings of the Apollo-era crawlers. Depending on the repairs ordered, the problem could mean more launch delays.

Three small cracks in the plumbing of shuttle Atlantis were welded over the weekend, putting the shuttle on track for a launch as early as Sept. 28. A crawler is needed, however, to get the shuttle from the hangar to the pad, and engineers do not know how long the bearing repairs will take.

Miami: Prison time given for flight disruption

A man who disrupted a Christmas Day intercontinental flight by shouting that the passengers would “burn in hell” was sentenced Monday to six months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Shelby Highsmith called Rodrigo Deambrosio’s actions “almost unforgivable” and said that if he had been on the flight, he might have rushed the defendant himself.

Deambrosio, 34, said the American Airlines flight from New York to Buenos Aires, Argentina, would end in a “fireball” and everyone was “going to die and burn in hell,” a flight attendant testified. The flight was diverted to Miami.

Attorney Mary Barzee said Deambrosio was under unusual stress compounded by a fear of flying, the deaths of two friends in the World Trade Center attacks three months earlier and a history of drug and alcohol abuse. In addition, the flight took place three days after a man allegedly attempted to blow up an international flight by setting off explosives hidden in his shoes.

Boston: Online cigarette sales costing states millions

States are losing millions in taxes as more people buy cigarettes from Internet vendors who routinely ignore a federal law requiring them to report sales to local regulators, according to a new report.

Federal law requires Internet cigarette sellers to provide state revenue officials with names and addresses of their customers. The officials can then pursue the buyers to make sure they pay local sales taxes.

But Internet cigarette vendors are ignoring the law, according to the report, to be released today by the General Accounting Office. Of 147 Web sites identified as belonging to Internet cigarette vendors in the United States, none posted information saying they complied with the law and 78 percent indicated they do not comply, the report said.

Miami: Couple arrested in fake ID operation

A husband and wife who ran a print shop were ordered held without bail Monday amid accusations they counterfeited passports and other official papers for dozens of Middle Eastern acquaintances.

Maher Karaki, who is of Lebanese descent, was arrested last week at the couple’s home, while his wife, Clara Luz Suarez, was taken into custody at their shop. Each faces a single count of false document conspiracy.

According to a court affidavit, an informant told investigators the couple provided identity documents to “scores of Middle Easterners” living illegally in the United States. The false papers allegedly included U.S. passports, driver’s licenses, Social Security cards, immigration papers, birth and death certificates, and bank statements.

New York City: Federal funds approved for WTC transit hub

Federal officials said Monday they would allow the state and city to use $4.6 billion in federal aid to build a transportation hub at the World Trade Center site.

The funding to link subways to ferries and commuter trains in lower Manhattan is “an essential component of our ongoing effort to bring lower Manhattan back, stronger and better than before,” Gov. George Pataki said.

Money for the project is being allocated from the $21.4 billion that the Bush administration and Congress have already pledged to aid New York’s recovery from the Sept. 11 attack.

New York City: Emergency evacuation caused serious injury

A 56-year-old man was in critical condition Monday after the emergency evacuation of a Spanish jetliner carrying 386 people that had to return Sunday to Kennedy Airport because of an engine fire.

One passenger said the evacuation was hampered by difficulty opening two exit doors on the Boeing 747.

Passengers remained calm when the pilots announced they were returning to Kennedy. But after the plane landed, “people started freaking” when they had trouble opening two emergency doors, said passenger Chris Miros of Bayonne, N.J.

Investigators had not determined the cause of the engine fire on Monday.