World/Nation 11/23/2013

• Kerry, Russian foreign minister join nuclear talks

GENEVA - Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers of other major powers lent their weight to the Iran nuclear talks after envoys reported progress Friday in marathon negotiations to curb the Iranian program in return for limited sanctions relief.

After a third day of talks, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Kerry was en route to Geneva to "help narrow the differences." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Geneva late Friday.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced he would also travel to Geneva. A French diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius would join the others here.

The announcements followed a day in which diplomats appeared more and more optimistic that a deal could be struck.

As talks adjourned, a diplomat said Iranian Foreign Minister and top European Union diplomat Catherine Ashton had made progress on a key sticking point - Iran's claim to a right to produce nuclear fuel through uranium enrichment.

• Navy shooter had classified access pulled for 2 days

WASHINGTON - The company that employed the Washington Navy Yard shooter pulled his access to classified material for two days in August when mental health problems became evident, but restored it quickly and never told Navy officials about the withdrawal, The Associated Press has learned.

An initial Navy review revealed that the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company, The Experts, ordered computer contractor Aaron Alexis back to Washington, D.C., after a police incident in Rhode Island in August, according to senior U.S. officials. The company then withdrew his ability to access secret-level data for two days, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation. It did not disclose why his access was reinstated. Less than six weeks later, the former Navy reservist gunned down 12 civilian workers in a Navy Yard building, and police fatally shot him.

The Experts did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The classified access revelation has raised questions about whether the company's disclosure of the discipline could have brought Alexis to Navy officials' attention earlier and perhaps prevented the massacre. The Navy did an initial review into the matter, but it has not yet been released. Officials also have done a full investigation, including what prompted the company's decision and why the government was never told. Naval leaders now are reviewing that report.

The shooting spree triggered several Navy and Defense Department reviews into base security and contractor requirements, including questions about how thorough the background checks are for security clearances and whether more vigilant monitoring and reassessments should be done.

• TSA officer killed at LAX was shot 12 times

LOS ANGELES - A Transportation Security Administration officer killed by a gunman at Los Angeles International Airport was shot 12 times, with bullets grazing his heart and piercing his bladder and intestines, according to an autopsy report released Friday.

Gerardo Hernandez had more than 40 bullet fragments in his body from the Nov. 1 shooting, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said.

He was in full cardiac arrest when he arrived at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Doctors tried to repair damage to his heart with an emergency surgical procedure and twice used electricity to stimulate his heart before resorting to "internal cardiac massage," the report said.

Exploratory surgery in Hernandez's abdomen revealed massive injuries. He was declared dead 45 minutes after arriving at the hospital and nearly two hours after the shooting.

Earlier in the week, the coroner's office released preliminary findings and said Hernandez, 39, died within two to five minutes of being shot.

• Typhoon death toll rises above 5,000, could climb

MANILA, Philippines - The death toll from one of the strongest typhoons on record has passed 5,000 and is likely to climb further, although recovery efforts are beginning to take hold, Philippine officials said Friday.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said 4,919 people were killed on Leyte, Samar and nearby islands in the Eastern Visayas region. Civil defense chief Eduardo del Rosario said 290 others died in other parts of the central and southern Philippines.

The regions were battered two weeks ago by fierce winds and tsunami-like storm surges from Typhoon Haiyan, locally called Yolanda.

Del Rosario said there were 1,611 people still missing.

"That is the sad record of Yolanda's passage through our country," Roxas said. But he added that "The worst is over."

- The Associated Press