Arrest in

2012 attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says a key participant in the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, has been taken into custody and will be prosecuted in Washington in connection with the rampage that killed four Americans and became a divisive political issue.

Zubayar Al-Bakoush had been wanted by the United States for more than a decade and was taken to an airfield in Virginia early Friday. He is accused of joining an armed mob that crashed the gates of the diplomatic mission and set fire to buildings. He appeared Friday afternoon in federal court.

Speaking through an interpreter, Al-Bakoush said he has “complete trust in the court and the jury.” He did not enter a plea.

Iran and US

hold talks

MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — Iran and the United States have held indirect talks in Oman. The negotiations, while praised by Iran and Oman, appeared to be a return to the starting point on how to approach discussions over Tehran’s nuclear program after multiple rounds were held last year before Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran.

The presence of U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the American military’s Central Command, at the talks Friday in Muscat also served as a reminder that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships stood off the coast of Iran in the Arabian Sea.

President Donald Trump has threatened to use force to compel Iran into a deal.

Actor indicted

on sex charges

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico grand jury has indicted actor Timothy Busfield on four counts of criminal sexual contact with a child. The indictment was filed Friday in state District Court after an announcement by a district attorney on social media.

Authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Busfield over allegations of misconduct tied to when he was working as a director on the set of the TV series “The Cleaning Lady.” Busfield has denied the allegations. He turned himself in to authorities and was released from jail.

An attorney for Busfield says there are weaknesses in the state’s evidence and that Busfield will fight the charge.

Funeral home

owner sentenced

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado funeral home owner who stashed 189 decomposing bodies and gave families fake ashes has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for corpse abuse. Family members of the deceased called defendant Jon Hallford a “monster” during Friday’s sentencing hearing.

Hallford co-owned Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs with his then-wife Carie. They pleaded guilty in December. Investigators discovered the bodies in 2023 after reports of a stench. Families of the deceased were devastated to learn the ashes they received were not their loved ones. Carie Hallford is scheduled to be sentenced in April.