ABUJA, Nigeria

At least 9 die when car bomb explodes in capital

A car bomb exploded on a busy road in Nigeria’s capital late Thursday, killing at least nine people days before the city is to host a major international economic forum.

The bomb exploded near a checkpoint across the road from a busy bus station where a massive explosion on April 14 killed at least 75 people. That blast was claimed by the Islamic extremist Boko Hararm terrorist network.

 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

Tire fire extinguished after burning for more than 5 years

A fire that burned for more than five years at a tire disposal site in southern Puerto Rico has finally been extinguished, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday.

EPA officials said Puerto Rico’s government called them several weeks ago seeking help to extinguish the fire at the Integrated Waste Management site in the southern coastal city of Penuelas.

The pile of tires was 60 feet high, 150 feet long and 60 feet wide. It first caught fire in August 2008 and kept smoldering even though local officials had partially controlled the burn with dirt, the EPA said.

The EPA said it began work on March 18 and extinguished the fire on April 24.

MEXICO CITY

U.S. Marine veteran held, shackled on drug charges

Prison authorities in Tijuana, Mexico, have shackled a decorated U.S. Marine veteran of two combat tours in Afghanistan to his cot in a prison infirmary, restraining each of his limbs, on charges of introducing outlawed weapons into Mexico.

The Marine reservist, Andrew Tahmooressi, 25, who is from Weston, Fla., outside Miami, drove his black Ford F-150 pickup through the San Ysidro, Calif., border crossing into Tijuana on April 1, carrying his worldly possessions, including three U.S.-registered firearms.

BOGOTA, Colombia

Shaman shows no remorse in death of British teenager

A Colombian shaman is showing no remorse and taking no responsibility for the death of a British teenager who drank a hallucinogen during a tribal ritual.

Guillermo Mavisoy says it’s common to become ill after consuming a drink made with yage. But he says he’s never seen anyone die during the decades he’s given people the psychedelic purgative made from the plant native to the Amazon rainforest.

The body of 19-year-old Henry Miller was found last week on a dirt road near Mavisoy’s home after he and other foreigners attended a ceremony led by the shaman.

– From news service reports