hello, i'm j.c. hayward. has for joining us. the so-called underwear bomber entered a surprise guilty plea in a courtroom today. in detroit, the suspect admitted that he tried to blow up a jetliner to retaliate against the united states. manuel gallegus has details from detroit. umar farouk abdul mutallab stunned the federal courtroom when his lawyer announced he wanted to plead guilty to all eight counts against him including attempted murder and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. the accused terrorist calmly and clearly told the judge he understood exactly what he was doing by pleading guilty. he admitted he tried to blow up a bomb in his pants on a jetliner from amsterdam to detroit two years ago. the judge asked him a series of questions to determine his competency. then she began to list the crimes he was accused of, one by one. conspiracy to commit terrorism, attempted murder on an aircraft, attempted placement of a destructive device.

the 25-year-old man listened and agreed to everything, including decades in prison the counts carry. >> abdul mutallab is the educated son of a wealthy nigerian businessman. in a statement he read in court, in clear, well spoken english, he described what he did and why. he said he had an agreement with at least one person to carry out the attack. that his attempted bombing was to fulfill a religious obligation to participate in jihad and retaliate against the u.s. for its relationship with israel and for the killings of his muslim brothers and sisters around the world. his letter of confession ended with a threat. the confessed terrorist said the u.s. will eventually pay for what it has done. manuel gallegus, cbs news, detroit. right now, bomb experts are investigating a suspicious package that was discovered in arlington. it was found along patrick henry driver into 10th street about an hour ago. no one has been injured.

authorities are trying to figure out how it got there. the state department has issued a worldwide travel alert for americans overseas. after yesterday's shocking announcement. the government of iran was behind a plot to assassinate saudi arabia's ambassador to washington. kristin fisher has the latest now from outside the saudi arabian embassy. >> reporter: this is the official complaint from the justice department and it names two defendants. one is already in custody. the other, allegedly a member of the iranian special operations unit is still at large. the man in custody is 56-year- old arbabsiar. he allegedly hired a hitman that he believed worked for a mexican drug cartel but the hitman was actually an informant for the d.e.a. arbabsiar was arrested at jfk airport on september 29th.

since then, not only has he confessed but he's also already identified iranian officials. both men were charged yesterday in new york federal court on conspiring to murder a foreign official. >> this conspiracy was conceived. it was sponsored and was directed from iran and constitutes a flagrant violation of u.s. and international law. >> reporter: in addition to the enormous international implications, this could have had serious consequences here in washington. the plan was to kill the saudi ambassador by bombing his favorite d.c. restaurant. now, which restaurant we still don't know. but what we do know is that the iranian defendants were willing to kill innocent americans if that's what it took to get the saudi ambassador. >> they had no regard for their intended victim, no regard for innocent citizens who might have been hurt or killed. >> reporter: so far, the iranian government has denied all of the charges. in washington, kristin fisher, 9news now. secretary of state hillary clinton and other senior

diplomatic officials are beginning to lobby for imposing new international sanctions. they will also be urging other nations to join washington in getting tougher on iran. jurors are scheduled to begin deliberations today in the case involving three north carolina men accused of plotting terrorist attacks on the u.s. marine corps base in quantico, virginia and targets overseas. the judge, hearing that case, gave jurors instructions this morning. closing arguments wrapped up yesterday. all three men have pleaded not guilty. prosecutors say that the three were part of a group led by daniel boyd. he and his two sons pleaded guilty in the case earlier this year. well, the district shore neighborhood is one of 14 areas that the president wants to put on the fast track to help create jobs. however, the news is being accepted with cautious optimism

for many people who live in the community. some fear that most of the jobs will not go to people living in the neighborhood. right now, unemployment in the shaw community is about 11%. many community activists say that they want to work but the jobs are scarce. >> a lot of them come up to me, ask me is my job hiring, is my company hiring and i try to give them different leads. >> the president's plan will give quicker approval on federal aid for projects like the construction of the city market at o streets in the shaw community. prince george's county police have arrested a man in connection with the assaults and the robberies of two women near the suitland metro station. police say that yesterday, 30- year-old phillip james fleming of district heights was charged with rape and armed robbery and he is being held without bond. police say the women were attacked in the early morning

hours while walking to the metro station. authorities say that a woman was groped and robbed at gunpoint on september 15th and then a little more than a week later, another woman was led across the street at gunpoint and then sexually assaulted behind an abandoned building. the woman charged with stabbing a stranger outside a target store has a history of violence. this is surveillance video moments before the stabbing in mitchellville. the woman that you see in the black hoody is antoinette starks. investigators say that she bolted out of the store with a batch of knives after her credit card was declined. she then allegedly stabbed a woman several times moments later. the victim survived but the victim is still in the hospital. records show that starks was found not criminally responsible for an attack in 2005 in a nordstrom in

westfield, montgomery mall. she was ordered into a mental institution. in a story that you'll only see on 9news now, the parents of jayna murray are talking about their daughter's death. murray was killed inside the lululemon athletic-a store in bethesda last march. police accuse her coworker, brittany norwood. murray's parents spoke with andrea mccarren. >> do you think jayna would somehow forgive brittany norwood? >> it is hard to answer. i feel right now, yes. she would absolutely forgive her. if she were on earth and if she had been injured, i think she would be struggling for good for right. to watch all of andrea's interview, go to our web site at wusa9.com. brittany norwood's trial is set to begin on october 24th.

the gaithersburg man suspected in the disappearance of his travel companion in aruba is appealing his detention. police jailed gary giordano in august after the presumed death of robin gardner of frederick, maryland. giordano says that gardner vanished while the two were snorkeling. the prosecution's case against michael jackson's doctor is winding down. prosecutors plan to wrap up the involuntary manslaughter case against dr. conrad murray by calling experts intended to help jurors make sense of the complex medical evidence. the government's case could conclude late this week or early next week. a pioneer of the gay rights movement has died. frank kameny became an activist after he was fired from his job as a government astronomer in 1957 for being a homosexual.

in 1965, he became the first to stage gay rights protests in front of the white house and also the pentagon. signs as well as buttons and levolets from those protests are now housed at the smithsonian's national museum of american history. frank kameny was 86 years old. the israeli soldier, hamas militants have held captive for five years could be back home with his family in a matter of days. but the prisoner swap deal to free him is getting mixed reactions. rita nissan has more. >> supporters hugged and cheered over news the israeli soldier held captive for five years is coming home. he has been in gaza since hamas militants kidnapped him. in exchange for his freedom, israel will release more than 1,000 palestinian prisoners. the inmates include militants involved in some of israel's

bloodiest terror attacks. >> it is painful. >> not everybody thinks so. tensions broke out among israelis who say the deal is a victory for terror. this man lost his daughter in a suicide bombing ten years ago. he says i am almost certain all of the murderers who will be released will kill again. palestinians flooded the streets to celebrate the deal. hamas called the prisoner exchange a huge win. this mother of two detainees says i have been waiting 16 years to hear this news. the deal which israeli lawmakers endorsed, resolved one of the most emotionally charged disputes between israel and the palestinians. it means they'll soon have their boy back. rita nissan for cbs news. israel and hamas credit egypt for brokering that deal.

coming up on 9news now at noon, big ben is looking more like the leaning tower of pisa. find out why some in england are not concerned. but first, find out why hundreds of occupied d.c. protestors could be around in time for the national tree lighting. we'll be back.

friends of a gaithersburg man who died mysteriously want to know if he was the victim of foul play. 37-year-old benoit's body was found on the tracks around 1:00 in the morning on october 1st. metro investigators say everything points to an accident. but friends say there was too much about this case that just doesn't make sense. >> adding a little bit more anxiety to the whole situation. we want to know what happened and just that there was no foul play involved. >> the 37-year-old had taped an unreleased episode of who wants to be a millionaire weeks before he died. he was a quiz show whiz who was also a highly regarded biochemist. well, the protestors in freedom plaza, northwest washington, could be there past christmas. the national park service

approved an extension to the group's permit through december 30th. and protestors are rallying for economic reform and against the wars in iraq and afghanistan. coming up next, howard and our forecast. >> the rains have begun, j.c. umbrellas are out. a wet afternoon for most of us. that may help with the allergy update because with the moisture we've been having, the mold spores are high. perhaps it will clean the air out a little bit. we'll look ahead to the weekend when we return.

millions of blackberry users are down for the count. a worldwide service outage has now spread to the united states and canada. users in the middle east, europe and africa lost service on monday. and then it hit south america yesterday. customers are saying that the outage has disrupted business and personal lives. blackberry says it is working to fix that problem. big ben is starting to lean. the tower which holds the famous clock is about a foot and a half off center. engineers say if nothing is done, it could topple over. in 10,000 years. >> when they were building the london underground, they came up with some ways to inject cement into the ground to stabilize it so that it wouldn't topple over. >> didn't work. >> maybe it would have toppled

worse if they didn't do what they did. >> we have rain on the way. wet weather moving in for the afternoon. maybe even a couple of rumbles of thunder. here is a look at the day planner. get the rain gear handy if you have plans this afternoon. rain started here in northwest and the last 15 minutes with readings, still going to hold steady in the mid-60s. brisk east to northeast winds this morning. gusting over 20 miles per hour. slowly calm down. still up and this evening, again, the isolated rumbles of thunder with temps holding in the mid-60s. satellite and radar combined. waves of moisture overnight with lighter showers. then we see some heavier rains approach the metro down through richmond over toward raleigh, north carolina, here over the last hour or so and as we switch it over to live doppler 9000 hd, excuse me, the lightning and doppler first, there is a little bit of lightning here south of richmond. that's it. not seeing much right now. we'll watch that later on. now on live doppler 9000 hd, got some moderate rains in spots like up to our north and

west. in the metro, we're seeing the light rains moving in to northwest about bethesda right now. eastern montgomery and howard county. anne arundel. this is coming toward you. north and west of us between frederick and hagerstown approaching middletown and meyersville. you can see the yellows in washington county which have been coming out of jefferson county, west virginia, where they have had moderate rain showers at times. northern virginia, fauquier county, most of this is west of 17 now approaching 66 with some heavier showers. somewhat of a break in eastern fauquier and parts of prince william. you go to stafford and points south and east, more rains there and some of this occasionally, see that there north of newland toward st. mary county, that's a heavy shower. bill said .4 of an inch of rain. clearly, we'll be watching that. little warmer south and east. temperatures, these are about the same as they were at 7:00 a.m. 64 in town. 69 in southern maryland. only 61 right now in parts of the shenandoah valley. luray, all the way up 81 to

hagerstown. light rain. 64 at national. and east-northeast wind at 17 but the gusts have been 20, 25 at times. the humidity high at 88%. storm system coming up the east coast, look at the showers from minnesota down through east texas. that's the second storm system that we'll be dealing with as we get into thursday and friday. right now, we're dealing with the moisture flowing north and here it is coming toward us. as we look at the future cast, it will be with us this afternoon and tonight. but maybe less intense tonight. isolated showers tonight into friday. excuse me into thursday. thursday, not too bad. a shower here or there. but more rain comes for thursday night and friday. the good news is the weekend. i'm excited about the weekend. that's looking good. 67 today with the rain, the showers at times. tomorrow, a few showers. maybe a peek of sun. 74. friday, more showers back in the upper 60s. as we get into saturday, we're clearing out, mid-60s. should be a decent day for going to the pumpkin patch. nice for the 'skins home game on sunday. temps in the low 70s.

we're going to the kitchen with a taste of cuba when 9news now returns.

switching to progressive could mean hundreds more in your wallet year after year. feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. i'm delighted to have a special friend with me. janette is the executive director of hospice care and i've been on their board for over 20 years. this weekend, this saturday, we're having our gala at the bolger center in potomac, maryland. but hospice caring is really so special. i'll let you tell my viewers why it is.

>> hospice caring is 22 years young and we are the only nonmedical volunteer hospice in the entire area. we do not charge for any of our services. and we are celebrating 22 wonderful years of getting patient and family support and bereavement support to the community. >> the thing about -- there are hospices all over and hospice provides a service that until you've used hospice, you just don't realize how it is made up of angels. hospice caring is made of special angels because they're all volunteers. they come out. they read to patients. they take them shopping. they write letters. they provide all types of activities in the home. all of this free! >> absolutely free, j.c. and we've been in the montgomery county public schools for over 20 years. we have a bereavement camp, camp caring and our volunteers are every day angels.

>> speaking about the camp caring, that's where students go to camp in the summertime. and when you have dealt with a death of a loved one, you kind of feel alone like there's no nobody else going through what you're going through. these youngsters go to the camp and when they come out, they are different individuals, aren't they? >> absolutely. >> you notice a change. >> absolutely. children lose their voice in grief. and with camp caring, they find a way to cope with the loss. we give them the ability to go home, to be with their family and their friends and deal with the devastating loss of a parent, sibling or loved one. >> and hospice caring doesn't deal with death. they deal with living with dignity and that is the important thing. that's why i love the organization. i love you and all of the work that all of the volunteers have done. i will be there on saturday at the bolger center in potomac, maryland. we're going to have an incredible time. silent auction, dinner and dancing. i'm going to cut a rug.

thank you for being with us. >> visit www.hospicecaring.org. >> thank you. >> thank you, j.c. >> thanks for being with us. come back and visit us at 5:00. and keep those umbrellas handy because howard says rain is already here.