NATION & WORLD || Man arrested in Central Park attack

Man arrested in Central Park attack

NEW YORK

A heavily tattooed homeless man with a history of violence was arrested Thursday on charges he retaliated against a 73-year-old birdwatcher who took a compromising photo of him by brutally raping her in broad daylight in a normally serene part of Central Park.

Three police officers took David Albert Mitchell into custody Wednesday night after spotting him walking on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, not far from where the woman said the attack occurred.

The woman picked the 42-year-old Mitchell out of a lineup Thursday, police said.

Volcano erupts; evacuations ordered

eScuintla, Guatemala

A long-simmering volcano exploded with a series of powerful eruptions outside one of Guatemala’s most famous tourist attractions Thursday, hurling thick clouds of ash nearly 2 miles high, spewing rivers of lava down its flanks and prompting evacuation orders for more than 33,000 people from surrounding communities.

Guatemala’s head of emergency evacuations, Sergio Cabanas, said the evacuees were ordered to leave some 17 villages around the Volcan del Fuego, which is about 6 miles from Antigua.

Man who fled rape trial is sentenced

LIBERTY, Texas

A man who was a fugitive for nearly two weeks after fleeing his trial a day before being convicted in the repeated group sexual assault of an 11-year-old Southeast Texas girl was told by a judge Thursday that he would spend nearly the next century in prison.

Eric McGowen, 20, was formally sentenced to 99 years in prison without parole at a hearing in the same courtroom from which he’d fled. He’ll be transferred to the Texas prison system.

4 dead, 8 hurt after car hits bus stop

LAS VEGAS

A motorist faces four counts of driving under the influence after his speeding car went airborne Thursday and plowed into a Las Vegas bus stop, killing four pedestrians and injuring eight others.

All the victims appeared to be adults, and the four people killed were apparently pedestrians waiting at the bus stop, according to Las Vegas police officer Laura Meltzer. The driver survived but has a collapsed lung and possibly a broken back, according to police.

US man let go from Nicaraguan prison

MANAGUA, Nicaragua

A U.S. citizen jailed for nearly two years in Nicaragua on money-laundering and drug charges was released from prison on Thursday after a court upheld his appeal.

Jason Puracal’s case has drawn the scrutiny of U.S. Congress members and human-rights groups, including the California Innocence Project, which said Puracal’s arrest was illegal and the process appeared to be marred with inconsistencies.

‘Pink slime’ lawsuit

NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D.

Beef Products Inc. sued ABC News Inc. for defamation Thursday over its coverage of a meat product that critics dub “pink slime,” claiming the network damaged the company by misleading consumers into believing it is unhealthy and unsafe.

The Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based meat processor is seeking $1.2 billion in damages for roughly 200 “false and misleading and defamatory” statements about the product officially known as lean, finely textured beef, said Dan Webb, BPI’s Chicago-based attorney.

Associated Press