■ UNITED STATES
Stay of execution filed
The Supreme Court issued a stay of execution on Tuesday for a Georgia inmate convicted of killing a police officer in 1989, two hours before his scheduled death by lethal injection. The inmate, Troy Davis, 39, was convicted of murdering Mark MacPhail, a Savannah police officer. The Supreme Court, which issued the stay without explanation, will decide on Monday whether to grant Davis’ appeal for a new trial. The case has drawn national and global attention, largely because seven of the nine witnesses at Davis’ trial later recanted their testimony, with two saying they felt pressured by the police to testify against Davis.
■ CANADA
Chicken-size dinosaur found
A researcher has discovered what is believed to be North America’s smallest dinosaur, a 70-million-year-old chicken-sized beast that was also unusual for its diet of insects. Called the Albertonykus borealis, the odd-looking creature had bird-like features including slender legs, jaws like pincers and stubby arms with big claws. Its bones were excavated near Red Deer, in fossil-rich Alberta, in 2002 among about 20 Albertosaurus remains, and went unnoticed.
■ CANADA
Student threatens pastor
An expelled 16-year-old student entered a Christian high school in Regina during chapel on Tuesday and put a pellet gun to the pastor’s head before the principal grabbed the gun and he was tackled and arrested, officials said. Principal Mark Anderson said they all thought the gun was real at first. He said he kept talking with the youth, who was forcing the pastor to read a three or four page letter, as he edged closer to them. Anderson said he got close enough to see the weapon was not a real firearm, then grappled with the teen and grabbed the gun before police tackled and arrested the youth.
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