NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A French fishing vessel today began towing an Italian cruise ship drifting powerless in the Indian Ocean to a nearby Seychelles island, but was not expected to reach the tiny resort island until Wednesday, officials said. Seychelles authorities said they are making arrangements to evacuate people to the island of Desroches […]

BEIRUT (AP) — Two activist groups say a British journalist who was wounded in Syria last week has been smuggled to neighboring Lebanon. The Syrian opposition group Local Coordination Committees and global group Avaaz said today that Paul Conroy was the only foreign journalist to escape to Lebanon. Rima Fleihan, an LCC spokeswoman, said Conroy […]

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Mitt Romney is fighting to avoid an embarrassing home-state loss in a high-stakes Michigan primary that will not decide the Republican presidential contest but could scar the former Massachusetts governor just a week before Super Tuesday. Rival Rick Santorum is calling upon an unusual coalition of tea party activists, religious […]

FARMINGDALE ( AP) — Investigators say a man who started an armed confrontation before being killed by a state police tactical team member was angry after a friend rebuffed his request to play cards. Investigators said that before his death, 41-year-old Paul Fritze locked a man in a basement and fired shots into the door […]

PORTLAND ( AP) — A spokeswoman for Maine Gov. Paul LePage says he missed a White House meeting on the final day of the National Governors Association conference to get back to work in his home state. Spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett says LePage left Washington on Monday ahead of the final event of the NGA winter […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — A state survey indicates heating oil prices have risen 7 cents per gallon over the past week in Maine. The Governor’s Office of Energy Independence and Security said Monday that the average price in its weekly survey is $3.86 per gallon. Director Ken Fletcher called for a debate into the “potential role […]

ORONO ( AP) — Bank of America is closing its call center in Orono, effective this fall. WABI-TV says employees were told Monday that their last day will be Oct. 31. About 200 people currently work at the Orono center. A company spokesman says the banking company will do everything it can to support the […]

PORTLAND ( AP) — The U. S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the first of two appeals brought by the National Organization for Marriage over campaign reporting requirements in Maine. The Supreme Court issued its order on Monday, upholding Maine’s political action committee laws that the National Organization for Marriage said were vague and […]

BANGOR ( AP) — Court documents indicate a Maine woman charged with murdering a man in a Bangor apartment acknowledged stabbing him because he tried to force himself on her. Gail Judd, 53, told police in an affidavit that she used a knife for protection but didn’t realize that she’d killed 47- year-old Michael Drouin […]

LUBEC (AP) — A federal commission has approved a pilot project license for a tidal energy proposal in Cobscook Bay on Maine’s eastern tip. The Ocean Renewable Power Company of Portland has proposed using five turbine generator units for its Cobscook Bay Tidal Energy Project near Lubec. Members of Maine’s congressional delegation said Monday that […]