In brief: 12 insurgents killed in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Officials say Islamist militants have attacked a police checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, triggering a shootout that left 12 insurgents dead. Peshawar lies next to Pakistan’s tribal areas, which border Afghanistan and are hotbeds of Taliban and al-Qaida activity.

World’s oldest person dies at 114

SAO PAULO – A Brazilian woman listed by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest person died Tuesday, just weeks shy of her 115th birthday. Valentim would have turned 115 on July 9. Guinness said Tuesday on its website that Valentim, “the first Brazilian super-centenarian to hold the title,” died at the age of 114 years, 347 days. On May 18, Guinness determined that Valentim was 48 days older than the person previously considered the world’s oldest human, Besse Cooper from Monroe, Georgia.

Texas executes man who killed two

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A man convicted of fatally shooting two people inside a Houston drug house has been executed in Texas. The lethal injection of 32-year-old Milton Mathis was carried out Tuesday evening, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected arguments that he was mentally impaired and ineligible for execution. Mathis was condemned for the December 1998 shooting that killed 24-year-old Travis Brown III and 31-year-old Daniel Hibbard.

Police arrest mother of dead baby

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sacramento police arrested a 29-year-old mother Tuesday after an investigation found her baby likely died from burns suffered in a microwave oven. Ka Yang was being held without bail in Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of murder and assault resulting in the death of a child. She was arrested three months after her otherwise healthy 6-week-old daughter, Mirabelle Thao-Lo, was found dead in the family home on March 17.