News in brief

By The Associated Press

Haiti arrests

a suspect in

May killings

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico | Police in Haiti have arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting earlier this year of a U.S. missionary couple and a Haitian man who headed a nonprofit. The killings stunned many in the troubled Caribbean country.

Police released a video on social media late on Wednesday, showing a 52-year-old man they accused of being involved in the May 23 killings of missionaries Davy and Natalie Lloyd, and Jude Montis, the country’s director for Missions in Haiti Inc., a Claremore, Oklahoma organization. In the video, the suspect denies any involvement in the killings.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the man has been charged.

Explosion, fire at Indian pharmaceutical plant kill at least 18

HYDERABAD, India | An explosion triggered a fire at a pharmaceutical plant in southern India, killing at least 18 workers. The death toll rose from 15 as three of the 40 injured in the fire Wednesday died in hospital on Thursday.

The incident occurred at the Escientia Company, which makes intermediate chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The plant is in Andhra Pradesh state’s special economic zone near the port city of Vishakhapatnam, a highly industrialized area with many mishaps, including hazardous chemical leakages.

According to media reports, officials suspect the fire was caused by an electrical fault at the plant. State authorities have ordered an investigation.

Second ex-officer accused in death of Tyre Nichols changing his plea

MEMPHIS, Tenn. | A second former Memphis police officer charged with federal civil rights violations in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols last year is changing his not-guilty plea, in a case that sparked outrage and calls for police reform.

Emmitt Martin is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Mark Norris on Friday to change his plea as part of an agreement with prosecutors, according to a court document filed Thursday.

Jury selection in his trial was scheduled for Sept. 9.

French destroyer rescues 29 mariners from

oil tanker

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates | A French destroyer rescued 29 mariners from an oil tanker that came under repeated attack in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials said Thursday, while also destroying a bomb-carrying drone boat in the area.

The assault on the Sounion, the most serious in the Red Sea in weeks, comes during a monthslong campaign by the Houthis targeting ships over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that has disrupted a trade route through which $1 trillion in cargo typically passes each year.

The Sounion is now at anchor in the Red Sea and no longer drifting, the European Union’s Operation Aspides said.

—From AP reports