US charges Russian student with making bomb

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Federal agents have charged a university student from Russia with making a bomb in his Pennsylvania apartment.

Eighteen-year-old Vladislav Miftakhov of California was to appear before a federal magistrate in Pennsylvania on Thursday afternoon.

U.S. Attorney David Hickton of Pittsburgh tells The Associated Press that Miftakhov concocted a chemical mixture that can even be set off by static electricity.

Miftakhov was arrested Jan. 24 after Altoona police say they found the materials in his rented room near the Penn State-Altoona campus, east of Pittsburgh.

Miftakhov's attorney did not immediately return a call for comment on the federal charges. After a state court proceeding Wednesday, the attorney told the Altoona Mirror, "Once the facts come out, people will see a different side of this."