Ala. Standoff: Students Say Suspect Threatened to Kill

A brother and sister who escaped the school bus where a 5-year-old autistic boy was taken hostage by a retired Alabama trucker are speaking out about the standoff and the man who threatened the lives of the children on board.

"I look up and he's talking about threatening to kill us all or something," 14-year-old Terrica Singletary told ABC's "Good Morning America." "He's like, 'I'll kill all y'all, I'll kill y'all, I just want two kids.'"

Singletary and her brother, Tristian, 12, said Jimmy Lee Dykes boarded the bus on Tuesday and offered the driver what appeared to be broccoli and a note, before demanding two children.

"The bus driver kept saying, 'Just please get off the bus,' and [Dykes] said, 'Ah alright, I'll get off the bus," said Terrica Singletary, "He just tried to back up and reverse and [Dykes] pulled out the gun and he just shot him, and he just took Ethan."

PHOTOS: Worst Hostage Situations

School bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was fatally shot several times by Dykes.

Alabama Hostage Standoff: Who Is Jimmy Lee Dykes? Watch Video

Alabama Boy Held Hostage in Underground Bunker Watch Video

Alabama Hostage Standoff: Boy, 5, Held Captive in Bunker Watch Video

The siblings and the rest of the students on board were able to get away unharmed, but were shocked by what had transpired just five days ago.

"I never thought I would have to go through a shootout," Singletary said.

They said they had seen Dykes, 65, working on his fence, and described him as a menacing figure.

"He was very protective of his stuff," Tristian Singletary said. "Whenever he stares at you, he looks kinda crazy."

Dykes has been holed up in his underground bunker with his 5-year-old hostage named Ethan near Midland City, Ala. for five days now. Neighbors told ABCNews.com that Dykes has been known to retreat underground for up to eight days.

READ: Alabama Hostage Suspect Jimmy Dykes 'Has No Regard for Human Life'

While Dykes, who was described as having "no regard for human life," has allowed negotiators to send Ethan's medicine, as well as coloring books, into the bunker for the boy through a ventilation pipe that leads into the 6 by 8 foot subterranean hideout 4 feet underground, authorities are staying quiet about their conversations with Dykes.

While negotiations continue and it was reported that Ethan is physically unharmed, an official told the Associated Press that the boy has been crying for his parents.

Meanwhile, his peers are steadfast that he will return home soon.

"Ethan will make it out there, Ethan will make it out there," said Tristian Singletary.

ABC News' Kevin Dolak and Gio Benitez contributed to this report.

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Turkish leftist group claims U.S. embassy bombing: website

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish leftist group DHKP-C claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. embassy in Ankara, according to a statement on a website close to the group.

"Our warrior Alisan Sanli carried out an act of self-sacrifice on Feb 1, 2013, by entering the Ankara embassy of the United States, murderer of the peoples of the world," the statement on "The People's Cry" website said.

The statement was posted next to what it said was a picture of the bomber, dressed in a black beret and military-style clothes with what appeared to be an explosives belt strapped around his waist.

The attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body, as well as a hand grenade, inside an embassy gatehouse, killing himself and a Turkish security guard and critically wounding a journalist on her way to visit the ambassador.

(Reporting by Seltem Iyigun; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Motor Racing: New car but only one driver for Force India

LONDON: Force India unveiled their new car for the forthcoming Formula One season at Silverstone on Friday, but they are still to confirm the identity of British driver Paul di Resta's teammate.

The vacancy next to Di Resta is one of only three across the grid for the 2013 season, which begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 17.

French driver Jules Bianchi, the team's third driver in 2012, was expected to be announced as Di Resta's teammate.

However, he was present at the launch of Ferrari's new F1 car on Friday as he is a member of the Italian team's academy.

Former driver Adrian Sutil and ex-Sauber man Kamui Kobayashi have also been linked with the role.

Force India team principal Robert Fearnley refused to be drawn on the identity of the new driver at the launch, telling reporters: "We do not want to confuse the two stories."

The VJM06 is the third of four cars unveiled so far for the 2013 season that have jettisoned the stepped nose design that featured widely in last year's world championship.

The Indian team finished seventh in last season's constructor championship, but saw German driver Nico Hulkenburg leave to join rivals Sauber at the end of the year.

- AFP/de

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Why is the BlackBerry Z10 on sale in the U.K. first?

The BlackBerry Z10 with the UK flag Photoshopped onto its screen

Two days ago, the company formerly known as RIM pulled out all the stops at a super-swanky event in New York to launch two new phones that will either kill or cure the company.

But despite the global launch happening in the US, America is the last of the first batch of countries to see the Z10, BlackBerry's first phone to ship with its new OS, BB10. Americans have to wait until March to buy the phone, but it was available to buy in the UK yesterday. That's six days ahead even of BlackBerry's home market in Canada. On the face of it, this seems like a strange decision -- why release the Z10 in a relatively small country first?

The overriding reason, according to Francisco Jeronimo, Research Manager for European Mobile Devices at IDC, is that the UK is the biggest BlackBerry market in the world. Contrast his figures: in the third quarter of 2012, BlackBerry had a 12% market share in the UK, with Apple at 25%. In the US, BlackBerry accounted for just 2% to Apple's 25%.

Speaking at the UK launch to CNET's Luke Westaway, BlackBerry's Andrew Bocking echoed this point: "the UK has been a key market for us for so long. We have over 8 million BlackBerry users today in the UK and we are very excited for them to be on the leading edge getting access to BB10 on the Z10".

Some of the biggest buyers of BlackBerry phones in Britain are teenagers, partly because the phones are very cheap, partly because of the appeal of BBM, the free instant messenger program. So popular has BBM become in Britain that the 2011 riots in London were blamed on the service by some politicians and members of the police, although its role was likely exaggerated.

Jeronimo argues that it's not just teenagers with BlackBerry phones: "Most companies have their corporate emails running on BlackBerry servers. To change the entire mobile infrastructure is not cheap or something that can be done overnight... when we ask if companies want to move to another platform, it is very clear that the majority don't".

Leaving the size of the UK market aside, market watchers have a few other ideas about why Britain is first up with the Z10. Ian Fogg, analyst for IHS made the point to me that a successful launch in the UK could have more global impact than a US launch, as the owners of UK carriers are present in other countries, whereas the US carriers are more self-contained.

Several analysts made the point to me that they have been impressed with the speed BlackBerry has shipped its phones. Jeronimo says: "I don't remember the last time a major vendor launched a flagship device and made it available in stores the day after. BlackBerry probably didn't get the same support in the USA and therefore decided to launch it later."

Now that the Z10 is shipping, what's BlackBerry's game plan from here? Over to Ben Wood, Chief of Research at CCS Insight:

"Its first concern will be the long-time older BlackBerry owners who initially had a BlackBerry for business and have continued to tough it out in recent years. It must also convince former BlackBerry users, [although] many of these guys will be locked into a contract so it could be some time before they can even consider going back to BlackBerry."

"The final group It needs to nail are the teenagers and 20-somethings who are still hooked on a BlackBerry because of BBM and Facebook. This group is unlikely to be able to afford the Z10 or Q10, so the next milestone in the UK market will be getting some cheaper products available."

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January jobs report: The long slog continues

(MoneyWatch) The Labor Department said 157,000 jobs were created in January and the unemployment rate edged up to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent. There were positive revisions to November and December, which amounted to an extra 127,000 jobs. Those revisions are consistent with recent data that showed firming throughout the month: Weekly claims dropped to the lowest level since 2008; manufacturing reports have been improving; and the National Federation of Independent Business showed small business hiring edged up.

The Labor Department also released its annual benchmark revisions: From April 2011 to March 2012, the economy added about 422,000 more jobs than previously reported and for 2012, the economy added an average of 181,000 jobs a month, an improvement from the 153,000 pace originally reported. Additionally, there was real progress in the average duration of unemployment, which dropped to 35.3 weeks, the lowest level since January 2011.

But there is still a long way to go after the deepest recession since the Great Depression: 8 million jobs were lost in 2008 and 2009, before the recovery created 5 million over the last three years. Additionally, 12.3 million Americans out of work and of those, 38 percent have been without work for over six months.

Businesses complain that it's tough to make hiring decisions when the economy is only growing by 2 to 2.5 percent annually. 80 percent of small owners surveyed said they made no changes in their employment levels in recent months, due to caution about the economy. Whether that caution can be attributed to political uncertainty surrounding the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling and other Washington battles, is tough to know. What is certain is that as the nation prepares for $110 billion worth of across the board spending cuts in March ("sequestration"), there is little expectation for a growth surge that would help create jobs.

Many have brushed aside the lousy fourth quarter GDP (the economy shrank by 0.1 percent) report as a one-off event, driven lower by a drop in defense spending and inventories. At the Fed's policy meeting this week, the central bankers noted the recent "pause" in economic activity is temporary. It could be that Q3 and Q4 were both anomalies. When averaged, the numbers are fairly consistent with the first half of the year. What's more important is that even if the preliminary fourth quarter GDP is revised higher from the initial reading of -0.1 percent annualized growth, 2013 is unlikely to produce the number of jobs needed to move the needle on the unemployment rate.

Maybe we should be thankful that the numbers are slowly improving. But with so many still out of work, it's hard to get out the pom-poms. Without a real jobs initiative (it's hard to count the president's recently-disbanded jobs council as a significant effort), it's hard to see how the jobs situation will dramatically improve any time soon. As a result, the long slog continues.

January jobs report

-- Jobs created: +157K (Revisions from Nov and Dec: +127K)

-- Private jobs created: +166K

-- Government jobs lost: -9K

-- Unemployment rate: 7.9 percent (from 7.8 percent; rate has been 7.7 - 7.9 percent since September, 2012)

-- Broad unemployment rate: 14.4 percent (includes the official rate plus "marginally attached workers," those who are neither working nor looking for work, but say they want a job and have looked for work recently; and people who are employed part-time for economic reasons, meaning they want full-time work but took a part-time schedule instead because that's all they could find)

-- Total unemployed: 12.3 million

-- Long-term unemployed: 4.7 million, representing 38.1 percent of the total unemployed

-- Average duration of unemployment: 35.3 weeks, lowest since January 2011.

-- Participation rate: 63.6 (below the 66 to 67 percent rate that was normal over the last 20 years; 2/3 of recent decline is due to demographics)

-- Average work week: 34.4 hours

-- Hourly earnings: $23.78 (Over the past 12 months, up 2.1 percent)

-- Retail: +33K

-- Construction: +28K (since Jan 2011 lows, up 296K; still 2 million fewer jobs from April 2006 peak)

-- Health services: +23K

-- Manufacturing: unchanged

Editor's note: CBS MoneyWatch initially published an Associated Press story on the unemployment report, which we have since replaced with this staff-written article. You can find the initial AP report and reader comments here.

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'Terrorist Blast' at US Embassy in Turkey

At least one person was killed in what the State Department called a "terrorist blast" outside the U.S. Embassy in Turkey today.

The explosion, which occurred at a checkpoint to the embassy in Ankara in the early afternoon local time, claimed the life of an embassy guard and wounded a Turkish citizen, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardione told reporters.

April 18, 1983: U.S. Embassy Bombed in Beirut Watch Video

A Turkish provincial governor said the blast was the work of a suicide bomber, according to a report by the BBC.

Television footage from the scene showed damage to a part of an outer gatehouse, which is adjacent to the main building.

U.S. officials said that Turkish police are investigating the incident.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Suicide bomber kills guard at U.S. embassy in Turkey

ANKARA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed a Turkish security guard at the U.S. embassy in Ankara on Friday, blowing the door off a side entrance and sending smoke and debris flying into the street.

Ankara Governor Alaaddin Yuksel said the attacker was inside U.S. property when the explosives were detonated. The blast sent masonry spewing out of the wall of the side entrance, but there did not appear to be any more significant structural damage.

The bomber was also killed.

U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone emerged through the main gate of the building, which is surrounded by high walls, shortly after the explosion to address reporters, flanked by a security detail as a Turkish police helicopter hovered overhead.

"We are very sad of course that we lost one of our Turkish guards at the gate," Ricciardone he said, thanking the Turkish authorities for a prompt response.

A Reuters witness saw one wounded person being lifted into an ambulance as police armed with assault rifles cordoned off the area.

"It was a huge explosion. I was sitting in my shop when it happened. I saw what looked like a body part on the ground," said travel agent Kamiyar Barnos whose shop window was shattered around 100 meters away from the blast.

One witness said the blast was audible a mile away.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The British Consulate-General to Turkey said the blast a "suspected terrorist attack".

Islamist radicals, far-left groups, far-right groups and Kurdish separatist militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.

The main domestic security threat comes from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and Turkey, but the PKK has focused its campaign largely on domestic targets.

Turkey has led calls for international intervention in neighboring Syria and is hosting hundreds of NATO soldiers from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands who are operating a Patriot missile defense system along its border with Syria, hundreds of kilometers away from the capital.

The U.S. Patriots were expected to go active in the coming days.

The most serious attacks of this kind in Turkey occurred in November 2003, when car bombs shattered two synagogues, killing 30 people and wounding 146. Authorities said the attack bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

Part of the HSBC Bank headquarters was destroyed and the British consulate was damaged in two more explosions that killed a further 32 people a week later.

(Writing by Nick Tattersall and Daren Butler; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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US consumer spending flat in December

WASHINGTON: US consumers held tight to their wallets in December, the key holiday shopping season, despite a rise in incomes, according to Commerce Department data released on Thursday.

Household spending edged up 0.2 percent from November, only half the growth of the prior month and slightly below the consensus estimate of 0.3 percent.

Consumer spending, the main driver of the US economy, slowed in late 2012 amid the government's looming fiscal cliff of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set for January 1, which was partly avoided in a last-minute political deal.

Meanwhile, personal incomes rose for the eighth straight month in December, rising a much stronger-than-expected 2.6 percent from the prior month.

The income increase was boosted by accelerated payments of bonuses and other forms of "irregular" pay in anticipation of changes in individual income tax rates, as well as lump-sum payments of social security benefits, the department said.

In the partial fiscal cliff deal, political leaders allowed Bush-era payroll tax cuts on social security benefits to expire and lifted taxes in other areas.

With inflation weak in a tepid economy, the December price index for consumer spending was essentially flat, while so-called real disposable income - excluding price changes - rose 2.8 percent.

- AFP/de

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Despite waning demand, Nintendo rules out Wii U price cut

The Wii U's troubles attracting gamers won't be solved by a price cut, Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata argues.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo yesterday, Iwata acknowledged that
Wii U sales disappointed last year, but he didn't necessarily feel that dropping the price of the $300 Basic Set or the $350 Deluxe Set would do the company much good.

"We are already offering it at a good price," Iwata said, according to the Associated Press, which was at the reporter briefing.

Nintendo yesterday announced its earnings for the nine-month period ended December 31. Although it was able to turn a slight profit, the company's revenue was down 2.4 percent. The
Wii U, which was expected to significantly boost Nintendo revenue during the period, was only able to muster 3 million unit sales. The earnings release didn't directly discuss Wii U demand, but Nintendo indicated that some new games for the console, like a Mario Kart and Legend of Zelda, should "help Nintendo regain momentum for Wii U."

In his discussion with reporters, Iwata said that the Wii U needs more and better games to drive console sales, and so far, that issue "has not been solved."

"I feel a deep sense of responsibility for not being able to produce results for our year-end business," Iwata said.

The Wii U's performance was more than a little disconcerting. Although Wii sales during the same point in its lifecycle were only 3.2 million units, they would have been much higher if not for Nintendo's inability to meet its massive demand. For years after the Wii's launch, the device was hard to find on store shelves, and consumers would line up each week in the hopes of scoring one of the few units available at their local retailer.

The Wii U's situation is much different. Nintendo's console is easy to find on store shelves. The trouble is, demand for the console -- especially in the U.S. -- is weak.

Nintendo dealt with a similar issue when it launched its 3DS in 2011. However, the company was able to boost demand and increase sales with a price cut. It appears that, for now, Nintendo won't follow that plan with the Wii U.

Still, Nintendo's console isn't cheap, compared to other hardware it has launched. The Wii, for example, launched for $249.99 -- $50 less than the cheaper Wii U option. Another popular Nintendo launch, the Nintendo 64, was made available for $199.99.

Iwata's argument was bolstered by famed developer and Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. Speaking to reporters, Miyamoto said that Wii U demand will be jumpstarted once people try it out and "see it is fun."

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Standoff with Ala. school bus shooting suspect in third day

Updated at 8:02 a.m. ET

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. A standoff that started when a man boarded a school bus full of children near his home in a rural Alabama neighborhood, killed the driver and took one 5-year-old boy hostage entered its third day Thursday.

The suspect and the child hostage have not been identified by police.

People who live along the rutted red clay road said the suspect is a retired truck driver with a reputation, CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez reports. They said he allegedly beat a dog to death and threatened to shoot kids who trespass on his property. He was reportedly due in court this week on a weapons charge.

Neighbor Ronda Wilbur described the suspect to CBS News as "very anti-social, very anti-government" and that he "hates everybody."

"My granddaughter who just turned 7, when I have her visiting me this next weekend, I won't have to worry about 'mean man,'" Wilbur told CBS News. "One way or another he's not gonna be there. He will either be locked up, or he'll be dead."

Wilbur told The Associated Press that the suspect beat her 120-pound dog with a lead pipe for coming onto his side of the dirt road. The dog died a week later.

"He said his only regret was he didn't beat him to death all the way," Wilbur told the AP. "If a man can kill a dog, and beat it with a lead pipe and brag about it, it's nothing until it's going to be people."

The neighborhood near Midland City, population 2,300, remained under siege after the Tuesday shooting, with the suspect and child holed up in a bunker-type shelter on the man's property that was equipped with electricity, food and TV.

On Thursday, dozens of police cars and rental cars that had brought FBI agents to the site were parked about the state highway at the clay road's entrance. A large law enforcement truck also pulled up before dawn to a staging area for law enforcement agents that was lit by bright lights overnight.

At least one ambulance was parked nearby and numerous television news satellite trucks also lined up across the rural highway.

Homes on the road had been evacuated earlier after authorities found what they believed to be a bomb on the property. SWAT teams earlier had taken up positions around the gunman's property and police negotiators tried to win the kindergartener's safe release.

The situation remained unchanged for hours as negotiators continued talking to the suspect, Alabama State Trooper Charles Dysart told a news conference late Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Sheriff Wally Olson said that authorities had "no reason to believe that the child has been harmed."

Local TV station WDHN obtained a police dispatch recording of the moment officers first arrived at the site. On it, the officers are heard saying that they were trying to communicate with the suspect through a PVC pipe leading into the shelter.

Authorities gave no details of the standoff, and it was unclear if the suspect made any demands from the bunker, which resembled a tornado shelter.

State Rep. Steve Clouse, who met with authorities and visited the boy's family, said the bunker had food and electricity, and the youngster was watching TV.

At one point, authorities lowered medicine into the bunker for the boy after his captor agreed to it, Clouse said.

Bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr. is seen in this undated picture released by the Dale County Board of Education.

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AP Photo/Dale County Board of Education

The standoff began after school Tuesday afternoon. Olson said the man shot the bus driver several times when he refused to hand over the child. The gunman then took the boy away.

"As far as we know there is no relation at all. He just wanted a child for a hostage situation," said Michael Senn, a pastor who helped comfort other traumatized children after the attack.

The bus driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was hailed by locals as a hero who gave his life to protect the 21 students aboard the bus. Authorities say most of the students scrambled to the back of the bus when the gunman boarded and said he wanted two boys 6 to 8 years old.

But when the gunman went down the aisle, authorities said, Poland put his arm out to grab a pole near the front steps of the vehicle, trying to block the suspect. That's when authorities say the driver was shot four times before the gunman grabbed the child at random and fled.

Mike and Patricia Smith, who live across the street from the suspect and whose two children were on the bus, said their youngsters had a run-in with him about 10 months ago.

"My bulldogs got loose and went over there," Patricia Smith said. "The children went to get them. He threatened to shoot them if they came back."

"He's very paranoid," her husband said. "He goes around in his yard at night with a flashlight and shotgun."

The suspect had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to face a charge of menacing some neighbors as they drove by his house weeks ago. Claudia Davis said he yelled and fired shots at her, her son and her baby grandson over damage the suspect claimed their pickup truck did to a makeshift speed bump in the dirt road. No one was hurt.

"Before this happened, I would see him at several places and he would just stare a hole through me," Davis said. "On Monday I saw him at a laundromat and he seen me when I was getting in my truck, and he just stared and stared and stared at me."

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