World/Nation

• House votes to hold ex-IRS official in contempt

WASHINGTON - House Republicans voted Wednesday to hold a former Internal Revenue Service official in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify at a pair of committee hearings about her role in the agency's tea party controversy.

The House also passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate the IRS.

Lois Lerner directed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. A year ago this week, Lerner publicly disclosed that agents had improperly singled out tea party applications for extra, sometimes burdensome scrutiny.

An inspector general's report blamed poor management but found no evidence of a political conspiracy. Many Republicans in Congress believe otherwise.

"Who's been fired over the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS? No one that I'm aware of," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday. "Who's gone to jail for violating the law? When is the administration going to tell the American people the truth?"

• Head of sunken ferry's company detained

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korean prosecutors on Thursday detained the head of the company that owns the ferry that sank last month over an allegation of cargo overloading.

Authorities believe improper stowage and overloading of cargo are one possible reason the ferry sank on April 16, leaving more than 300 people dead or missing. Four employees at the ferry's owner, Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd, who handled cargo on the Sewol, have already been arrested.

Kim Han-sik, president of Chonghaejin, was detained Thursday ahead of his possible formal arrest on allegations that he was aware that the ferry exceeded its cargo limit but didn't do anything before it started its trip, according to senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin.

• House GOP moves toward Benghazi probe

WASHINGTON - House Republicans on Wednesday moved toward an election-year special investigation of the deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Libya, brushing aside Democratic concerns over the panel's scope and composition. The Obama administration, meanwhile, accused Republicans of "political motivation" after they issued a fundraising email linked to the Benghazi probe.

Ahead of a vote Thursday to establish the Benghazi select committee, House Speaker John Boehner vowed that the examination would be "all about getting to the truth" of the Obama administration's response to the attack and not be a partisan, election-year circus. "This is a serious investigation," he said, accusing the president and his team of withholding the true story of how militants killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans on Sept. 11, 2012.

Democrats pondered a boycott while waiting for Boehner to respond to demand from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that he scrap his plan for a committee of seven Republicans and five Democrats. Democrats insisted membership should be evenly split, and urged time and cost constraints for a forum they likened to a "kangaroo court" designed only to drum up GOP support ahead of the November elections.

Under Boehner's legislation, the select panel "can go on forever," Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., told reporters. "The amount of money they can spend is undefined and can be unlimited."

• Tsarnaev wants statements thrown out

BOSTON - Lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev argued Wednesday that statements he made to authorities after he was arrested should be thrown out because he was questioned for 36 hours in a hospital room while suffering from gunshot wounds and without being told his rights.

The lawyers said in a flurry of pretrial court filings that federal agents began questioning Tsarnaev about 20 hours after he arrived at the hospital in critical condition and his statements can't be considered voluntary.

Federal investigators questioned him days after last year's deadly bombing without formally telling him of his right to a lawyer under a public safety exception allowed when there's concern about an ongoing threat. But defense attorneys said the questioning continued "despite the fact that he quickly allayed concerns about any continuing threat to public safety, repeatedly asked for a lawyer, and begged to rest." They said his treatment included painkillers that impaired his judgment and increased his susceptibility to pressure.

Tsarnaev was shot and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed during a gunbattle with police on April 19, 2013, four days after the marathon bombing. His lawyers said he had gunshot wounds to his head, face, throat, jaw, left hand and legs.

The lawyers said his rights also were violated when his appearance in court was delayed to complete the interrogation, during which he told authorities about how the bombs were built and about the brothers' activities before and after the bombing.

• Putin: Troops have pulled back from Ukraine border

DONETSK, Ukraine - Russian President Vladimir Putin softened his tone in the confrontation with the West on Wednesday, declaring that Russia has pulled its troops away from the Ukrainian border and calling for a delay of Sunday's referendum on autonomy in Ukraine's restive east.

But there were no immediate signs that either move was truly happening or that they would cool the Ukrainian crisis. NATO and Washington said they saw no indication of a Russian pullback, and the pro-Russia insurgents behind the referendum have not agreed to go along with Putin's proposal.

In a Moscow meeting with Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, Putin said Russian troops have been pulled back to their training grounds and locations for "regular exercises," but he did not specify whether those locations were in areas near its border with Ukraine.

- The Associated Press