Report- Giuliani firm employs expelled priest

NEW YORK -- A priest who was barred from the ministry after he was accused of sexual abuse has been working for former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's consulting business, according to published reports Saturday.

Monsignor Alan Placa, an old friend of Giuliani's, has been working for Giuliani Partners about three days a week since August.

When initially contacted at Giuliani Partners on Friday, Placa claimed he was merely visiting, Newsday reported. But Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel later confirmed to Newsday and to The New York Times that he worked there.

Last April, Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre removed Placa, 58, from a panel investigating clerical sexual abuse after several families claimed Placa had used his role as a spiritual adviser to get information from victims that would bolster the diocese's legal position. Placa has denied the charge.

Aging chemicals found, cleared from high school

LITTLETON, Colo. -- Like untidy homeowners, staffers let old, unused chemicals pile up in a high school chemistry lab. When they were finally discovered, several hundred people had to be evacuated while they were cleared out Saturday.

The chemicals at Littleton High School were found in a routine fire department check Thursday afternoon, said Diane Leiker, school spokeswoman. The wing with the chemicals was closed immediately but school continued Friday.

At least eight batches of chemicals were detonated, and a contractor hired by the city hauled away more. Residents were allowed to return to their homes after dusk, when the detonations were completed.

Al-Qaida member in NYC pleads in conspiracy case

NEW YORK -- An al-Qaida operative pleaded guilty to conspiring to destroy national defense materials, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail.

Speaking before Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy in Federal District Court on Friday, the defendant, Mohamed Suleiman al Nalfi, said he worked for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network in his native Sudan in the early 1990s.

He also said that he created a jihad, or holy war, group in Sudan in 1989 and helped to build businesses in Sudan that backed al-Qaida. The government has said that al-Qaida used these businesses as a front to procure explosives, chemicals and weapons.

Teacher accused in rape of 14-year-old in Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A substitute teacher at a school for troubled youths was arrested on a warrant accusing him of raping a 14-year-old girl in a classroom while other students watched.

The allegations surfaced after a boy in the class told his mother he had been in the room Jan. 23 when the teacher turned off the lights and computer monitors and raped the girl. The mother called school officials, who called police.

Police said the girl at first denied the attack had happened but later said it did. Accounts from the six boys who had been in the classroom matched the girl's, police said.

The substitute teacher, David Franklin, 21, was arrested Thursday and was released on $75,000 bond, authorities said.

--From wire reports