Tag Archives: associated press

A former University of Arizona graduate student was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder for fatally shooting a hydrology professor on campus, months after he was expelled. A Pima County Superior Court jury deliberated for less than three hours before reaching a verdict against Murad Dervish, 48, in the death of Thomas Meixner, who was shot 11 times near his office …

At least six Egyptian women died Tuesday after a vehicle carrying about two dozen people slid off a ferry and plunged into the Nile River just outside Cairo, authorities said. The accident, which happened in Monshat el-Kanater town in Giza province, also injured nine other passengers, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Giza is one of three provinces forming …

Thailand’s National Museum hosted a welcome-home ceremony Tuesday for two ancient statues that were illegally trafficked from Thailand by a British collector of antiquities and were returned from the collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The objects — a tall bronze figure called the “Standing Shiva” or the “Golden Boy” and a smaller sculpture called “Kneeling Female” — …

A Texas petrochemical company has pleaded guilty to a violation of the Clean Air Act and agreed to pay more than $30 million in connection with two explosions that injured workers and caused the evacuation of thousands, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday. The explosions at a TPC Group plant in the coastal city of Port Neches the day before …

Hundreds of hostages, mostly children and women, who were held captive for months or years by Boko Haram extremists in northeastern Nigeria have been rescued from a forest enclave and handed over to authorities, the army said. The 350 hostages had been held in the Sambisa Forest, a hideout for the extremist group which launched an insurgency in 2009, Maj. …

Georgia’s elections on Tuesday include a state Supreme Court race that’s grown unusually heated by the sleepy standards of the state’s nonpartisan judicial elections, as well as a five-way GOP primary for an open seat in the strongly Republican 3rd Congressional District south and west of Atlanta. Two Democratic congressional incumbents — U.S. Reps. David Scott and Lucy McBath — …

A Mississippi woman has pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally taking unemployment benefits, authorities said Tuesday. Misty Burgess, of Plantersville, entered the plea to one count of theft of government funds in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, State Auditor Shad White said in a news release. MISSISSIPPI WOMAN FOUND GUILTY OF THREATENING FEDERAL JUDGE WITH …

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed on Tuesday they shot down an American drone over the impoverished Arab country. The U.S. military did not immediately acknowledge the claim. If confirmed, this would be the second MQ-9 Reaper drone downed by the Houthis over the past week as they press their campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. …

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore gave an update Tuesday about the Francis Scott Key Bridge collision, a day after the container ship that collided with the bridge was refloated. The Dali lost power and veered off course shortly after leaving the Port of Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka last month. COAST GUARD STUDYING IF OTHER BRIDGES AT RISK FOLLOWING BALTIMORE BRIDGE …

An extensive report by Human Rights Watch says China is accelerating the forced urbanization of Tibetan villagers and herders, adding to state government and independent reports of efforts to assimilate them through control over their language and traditional Buddhist culture. The non-profit organization cited a trove of Chinese internal reports contradicting official pronouncements that all Tibetans who have been forced …