UNITED STATES-AL-QAIDA
Obama says he takes full responsibility for hostage deaths
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he takes “full responsibility” for a counterterrorism operation that inadvertently killed an American and an Italian hostage held by al-Qaida.
Obama says he profoundly regrets the deaths of Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto.
The president says the men were killed during a mission that targeted an al-Qaida compound in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He says the mission was “fully consistent” with guidelines for conducting counterterrorism missions in the region.
Obama says there was no information showing the hostages were being held at the al-Qaida compound.
UNITED STATES-AL-QAIDA-DRONES
Official: Hostages and US citizens killed in drone strikes
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. government official says two separate U.S. drone strikes killed the two hostages and two Americans who died in U.S. counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida targets in January.
The official said one drone strike was on Jan. 14 and the other on Jan. 19. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the attacks and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The deaths were announced Thursday by the White House.
The U.S. government official said the drone strikes were in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area but was not more specific.
PAKISTAN-AMERICAN KILLED
American killed in Pakistan was working to develop business
WASHINGTON (AP) — A 73-year-old American man who the White House says was killed during a counterterrorism operation in Pakistan was an international development worker described as passionate about his work.
President Barack Obama announced Thursday that Warren Weinstein was killed in January when the U.S. targeted an al-Qaida compound where Weinstein was held hostage.
Weinstein was a business development expert working in Pakistan on a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development. He lived in Pakistan from 2004 until he was kidnapped in 2011. He was abducted four days before his seven-year assignment was to end.
In 2013, Weinstein appealed to Obama for help. Weinstein said in a video that he felt “totally abandoned and forgotten.” It was impossible to tell whether Weinstein’s statement was scripted by his captors.
BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING
Survivor identifies victims in photos
BOSTON (AP) — Prosecutors have asked a survivor of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings to identify for jurors the photos of all the victims who had to have at least one leg amputated after the attacks — 17 people in all.
Heather Abbott took the stand Thursday during the penalty phase of the federal trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR’ tsahr-NEYE’-ehv).
She says she was catapulted through the entrance of a restaurant when the second bomb exploded. She says her left foot felt like it was on fire, so she began crawling to follow a crowd trying to get away from the bomb.
Abbott says later, in the hospital, she had to make the difficult decision to have her leg amputated.
She identified for jurors the photos of victims wearing prosthetics and in wheelchairs.
SECRET SERVICE
Report: Alarm at G.H.W. Bush home broken for 13 months
WASHINGTON (AP) — A government watchdog says a security alarm at the Texas home of former President George H.W. Bush was broken for at least 13 months before the Secret Service fixed it.
Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth says in a report released Thursday that Secret Service personnel protecting Bush noticed a failure in the alarm system at Bush’s Houston home in September 2013. A temporary alarm wasn’t installed until April 2014.
Roth says the Secret Service used roving patrols and cameras to monitor the property while the alarm was broken and no intrusions were detected during that time.
The Secret Service has also found that security equipment problems exist at the homes of other former presidents. Their names were removed from the public version of Roth’s report.
FERGUSON
UPDATE: Michael Brown’s parents sue over son’s death
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — The parents of Michael Brown have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Ferguson over the fatal shooting of their son by a white police officer.
Brown’s death last summer put a national spotlight on the often-contentious relationship between young black men and police.
Attorneys for Brown’s parents, Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., filed the lawsuit Thursday.
Brown was 18 and unarmed when he was shot by officer Darren Wilson during a confrontation. The shooting led to sometimes-violent demonstrations and spawned a national protest movement. In the end, local and federal authorities ruled that the shooting was justified.
Messages from the Associated Press seeking comment from Ferguson officials and an attorney for Wilson were not immediately returned.
REAL ESTATE HEIR-WEAPONS CHARGES
NEW: Lawyer: Louisiana gun case against millionaire Durst dropped
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An attorney for real estate heir Robert Durst says state weapon charges against him have been dropped, clearing the way for federal proceedings in New Orleans on similar charges.
Durst, who faces a murder charge in an unrelated California case, remains jailed without bond in Louisiana.
Lawyer Dick DeGuerin says state and federal prosecutors had been discussing the possibility of the state case being dropped. He says he was pleased with the decision and that there shouldn’t be two prosecutions in state and federal court for the same crime.
Assistant New Orleans District Attorney Christopher Bowman confirmed that the case has been dismissed. He says District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro reserved the right to bring the case up again once the federal case is resolved.
Durst was arrested at a New Orleans hotel in March. Prosecutors say he had a gun and marijuana in his room.
WALL STREET
Stocks slightly lower on disappointing earnings
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are slightly lower following disappointing earnings news from a major homebuilder and other companies.
PulteGroup sank 9 percent in early trading Thursday, the most in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, after reporting quarterly income that was well below what Wall Street analysts were expecting.
Railroad operator Union Pacific and Texas Instruments also declined after their results fell short of forecasts.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 47 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,990 as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost two points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,105. The Nasdaq composite fell six points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,028.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.97 percent.
NEW HOME SALES
US new-home sales collapse in March
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes plummeted in March, as the spring buying season opened with sharp declines in the Northeast and South.
The Commerce Department says new-home sales fell 11.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000. This marks a swift reversal from an annual sales pace of 543,000 in February, which had been the strongest performance in seven years.
Purchases of new homes have been volatile on a monthly basis, although sales during the first quarter of 2015 are higher than in 2014.
New-homes sales last month plunged 33 percent in the Northeast and 15.8 percent in the South, while the West registered a slight loss and the Midwest reported a modest gain.
The median sales price fell 1.7 percent since March 2014 to $277,400.
VETERANS-HEALTH CARE
NEW: Few vets getting care through $10 billion VA program
NEW YORK (AP) — A $10 billion program that was supposed to get patients off waiting lists at Veterans Affairs medical centers is proving to be a disappointment.
Congress created the Veteran’s Choice program last summer with the expectation that it would offer instant relief to wait-listed patients by paying for them to see private-sector doctors.
But a hurried rollout has led to confusion about who can use the program.
VA officials now say that through April 11, only 37,648 medical appointments had been completed through the Choice program, which launched Nov. 5. That’s a tiny fraction of eligible patients.
VA officials say they are studying the problem.
Two contractors overseeing the program for the VA say one issue is that the program was created so fast, there wasn’t enough time for proper training.
BUFFALO EMERGENCY LANDING
UPDATE: Passenger: Shortness of breath on flight diverted to Buffalo
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A passenger on the SkyWest airlines flight to Connecticut that made an emergency landing in New York on Wednesday described a lack of air in the cabin and shortness of breath as others on board lost consciousness.
The flight, carrying 75 passengers, departed from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and had been bound for Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. It landed at Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Buffalo at about 11:40 a.m.
Passenger Larry Johnson of Danbury, Connecticut, tells The Associated Press it became difficult to breathe part way through the flight and none of the air vents were working.
In all, three passengers lost consciousness and others reported feeling ill. None required hospitalization.
A transportation safety official says Thursday his agency is assessing the circumstances.
WNBA PLAYERS ARRESTED
NEW: Police: WNBA’s Griner, fiancee Glory Johnson arrested
GOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) — Phoenix Mercury standout player Brittney Griner and fiancee and fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson have been arrested on suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct following a fight at their home in a Phoenix suburb.
The two 24-year-olds were booked into jail in Phoenix following their arrests Wednesday and later released. Agents for the players did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Goodyear police spokeswoman Lisa Kutis says officers arrested Griner and Johnson after a fight between the couple turned physical. Kutis said no weapons were involved and that neither required hospital care for their minor injuries.
The pair announced their engagement late last summer.
Griner helped the Mercury win a WNBA championship this past September. Johnson plays for the Tulsa Shock.
CHINA-FUNERAL STRIPPERS
China to crack down on strippers at rural funerals
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese officials say they are cracking down on stripteases and other lewd shows that have become popular at funerals in some rural areas.
The Ministry of Cultural said in a statement Thursday that it will tighten control over rural culture, where vulgar performances have been thriving because of a general lack of cultural events.
The ministry cited a performance by six strippers at a funeral in the northern province of Hebei and a lewd show by three performers at a funeral in the eastern province of Jiangsu.
People have complained in social media for some time about lewd shows at funerals. Many rural people believe that a large attendance at funerals is a sign of honor for the deceased.
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