In the news

Monday, April 7, 2014

President Barack Obama

and first lady Michelle Obama will attend a memorial service Wednesday at Texas’ Fort Hood, White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer announced on CBS’ Face the Nation, days after a gunman killed three and wounded 16 before fatally shooting himself.

Wang Jin-pyng, speaker of the Taiwanese Legislature, said he will halt a review of a trade pact with China until an oversight bill passes, in an attempt to appease students who have occupied the government’s chamber for weeks in protest of closer ties with mainland China.

Jeb Bush, the former Republican governor of Florida and brother of former President George W. Bush, said he will decide before the end of the year whether to run for the presidency in 2016, basing his decision partly on whether he can deliver a hopeful message without getting in a political “mud fight.”

Mehdi Jomaa, the new Tunisian prime minister, said the United States will provide security equipment, training and $500 million in new loan guarantees, adding that the two nations plan to “intensify our cooperation in the fight against terrorism.”

Jerry Cibley, a justice of the peace in Massachusetts, said a three-alarm fire broke out just after he had finished marrying a couple and they were walking down the aisle, adding that the newlyweds were devastated about the fire at Foxborough’s Lakeview Pavilion, which opened in 1906.

Pope Francis had volunteers hand out tens of thousands of pocked-sized Gospels to faithful in St. Peter’s Square, asking that in exchange for the gift they “perform an act of charity,” such as praying for an enemy.

Rick Perry, the Texas governor, and his wife, Anita Perry, have joined other volunteers on the South Pacific island Peleliu to search for the remains of 80 U.S. airmen who were shot down in 1944 and 1945 by Japanese forces during World War II.

Jennifer Henry, a spokesman for the Francis Howell School District in St. Charles, Mo., said a school bus driver had been fired for texting while driving after a middle school student took a video and parents contacted the district.

Bob Filner, the former mayor of San Diego, was released from house arrest after fulfilling a three-month sentence for imprisonment and battery charges, which stemmed from a sexual harassment scandal that led him to leave office in August.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/07/2014