A defense official described the attempted escape by the U.S. hostage on Friday, and French officials discussed a separate situation last weekend that left a hostage and two pirates dead.
AP - An American captain held hostage by four Somali pirates tried to swim for his freedom but was recaptured Friday, and officials said the high seas hostage drama escalated as both pirate ships and U.S. warcraft sailed to the scene.
AP - The sirens sounded three times across this western Arkansas hamlet, and residents watched several funnel clouds pass harmlessly over town. The fourth siren was for another twister that ended up being a killer.
AP - The Treasury Department said Friday that the budget deficit increased by $192.3 billion in March, and is near $1 trillion just halfway through the budget year, as costs of the financial bailout and recession mount.
A French hostage and two pirates died Friday in a rescue operation off Somalia, the French president's office in Paris said. Four hostages, including a child, were freed from the hijacked yacht after almost a week of captivity, Nicolas Sarkozy's office said. The French military decided to move in after the pirates threatened to execute their captives, a defense ministry source told CNN.