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Pirates turned back in lifeboat aid bid

EYL, Somalia, April 11 (UPI) -- A ship carrying Somali pirates seeking to send reinforcements to other hijackers holding a U.S. hostage on a lifeboat have been turned back, sources say.

Pirates steered the hijacked German ship Hansa Stavanger back to the Somali port of Eyl Saturday after using it to try to help compatriots holding Capt. Richard Phillips in a lifeboat adrift in the Gulf of Aden, a Somali journalist told CNN.

The broadcaster said the United States has sent the USS Haleyburton to join the USS Bainbridge in the area in an anti-pirate patrol after Somali pirates hijacked Phillips' ship, the Maersk Alabama, this week.

The Hansa Stavanger, which was hijacked on April 4, is one of several captive vessels that pirates have been using to try send reinforcements to the lifeboat, believed to be about 300 miles off the Somali coast, CNN said.

A U.S. Defense Department official told CNN that Phillips, who was being held a gunpoint, looked to be tied up by the pirates after making an unsuccessful attempt Friday to escape and swim to safety.

Woman held in kidnap-slaying of girl

TRACY, Calif., April 11 (UPI) -- Tracy, Calif., have arrested a 28-year-old woman for the alleged kidnapping and murder of young Sandra Cantu.

Melissa Huckaby was booked early Saturday and will be arraigned on Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle said.

The 8-year-old Cantu vanished March 27 while playing alone in the trailer park where she lived with her mother. Her body was found a week later stuffed in a suitcase in a nearby farm irrigation pond ending a massive search by police and FBI agents.

Huckaby is the granddaughter of a pastor who lives in the park and also owned the bag the child's remains were found in. The Chronicle said she had reported her suitcase missing the same day that Sandra vanished.

Police offered no motive for the alleged slaying but told reporters that Huckaby had offered enough information in an interview to give them probable cause to place her under arrest.

Results of an autopsy to determine the cause of the girl's death were still pending.

Rain may slow Oklahoma wildfires

MIDWEST CITY, Okla., April 11 (UPI) -- Out-of-control wildfires that have killed three in Oklahoma may be slowed by rain expected to fall this weekend, officials said.

Oklahoma's Department of Emergency Management said Friday that the blazes, which have destroyed nearly 200 structures over a two-day period, could be doused by rainfall expected late Saturday into Sunday, CNN reported.

At least one of the fires burning in Midwest City, Okla., has shown signs of being intentionally set, fire officials told the U.S. broadcaster, although they wouldn't use the word "arson."

"We'd like to make the distinction and understand that there's a difference between being intentional and having intent with malice," Midwest City fire Marshal Jerry Lojka said. "So we haven't proved that there was malice but we do know that the fire was intentionally set."

Thirty-one Oklahoma counties were placed under a state of emergency by Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, marking the first step in seeking federal assistance by allowing state agencies to make emergency purchases.

Policeman killed in Balochistan violence

QUETTA, Pakistan, April 11 (UPI) -- A Pakistani police officer was killed in Balochistan and six bodies were found in the provincial capital of Quetta, authorities said Saturday.

Another report claimed that one other person was killed in an incident along a Quetta road as workers in Balochistan carried out a strike in protest of the killings of three Baloch nationalist leaders, Pakistan's English-language newspaper Dawn reported.

Islamabad clamped tight security in the province to head off further incidents as political activists blocked the Quetta-Karachi national highway, police sources told the newspaper. An explosive device planted along the highway was reportedly found and detonated, while in Turbat an angry mob set the Pakistan Muslim League's office, an old museum and a bank on fire.

The Balochistan Bar Association has also promised to boycott courts on Monday, calling on Supreme Court Bar Association President Ali Ahmed Kurd to condemn the nationalists' killings, Dawn reported.

Obama dog reportedly coming from Texas

WASHINGTON, April 11 (UPI) -- Sasha and Malia Obama reportedly are getting a dog from a Texas kennel that has sold pooches to the Kennedy clan, sources close to the White House say.

The 6-month-old male Portuguese Water Dog is to arrive at the White House Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

The dog reportedly was returned to the kennel by its first owner and the kennel has been "re-homing" the dog for the Obamas, the online gossip site TMZ said.

The dog is to be presented to the Obamas by the family of Sen. Ted. Kennedy, D-Mass., who has bought three dogs from the kennel, all of them with the same lineage as the dog going to the Obama girls, TMZ reported.

Portuguese Water Dogs are considered a hypoallergenic breed, which the Obamas had said was importance of because allergies in their family. The Obamas, who have never owned a dog, had said they hoped to adopt a dog from a rescue shelter.