In the news

LITTLE ROCK — Vary Gist

said that while she doesn’t condone smoking, she’s happy her Toledo, Ohio, neighbor, Calvin Giles, went outside for an early morning cigarette since Giles noticed Gist’s house was on fire and helped rescue the woman, her husband and their three children.

Umar u Yar’Adua, president of Nigeria who entered a Saudi Arabian hospital in November for treatment of a serious heart condition, has signed his first legislation since his admission, a spokesman said.

Ian Jonathan Ereckson, 22, of Phoenix, faces charges of felony flight, endangerment, reckless driving and criminal speed after, Arizona officials say, he led officers on a chase at speeds that reached 140 mph.

Dr. Roque Aras

said physicians treating a 2-yearold Brazilian boy, who has already had three surgeries to remove 22 needles from his neck, intestines, liver, bladder, and from near his heart and lungs, will not immediately remove the last nine needles because they are small and don’t pose a significant threat.

Samantha Broadhead, 11, and Jack Ault, 15, have been charged in Clearwater, Fla., with attempted murder and arson after, police say, the couple tried to kill Broadhead’s mother, Nancy, by setting her bedroom on fire while the woman slept.

Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, said on an Iowa Public Television show that he thinks former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2012 and that she’s among a few people who could win the state’s leadoff caucuses.

Mark Campano, 56, an Ohio man injured last month when two explosions rocked his Cuyahoga Falls apartment, has been indicted on a federal charge of possessing about 37 unregistered pipe bombs and a homemade gun silencer.

Rasim Ljajic, a Serbian official in charge of capturing war criminals, has offered his resignation to Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic because his team has failed to arrest Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb army commander who is accused of orchestrating the massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims in Bosnia.