Report: Huntsman dropping out of GOP race
COLUMBIA, S.C., Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Jon Huntsman intends to end his campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. president, The New York Times reported Sunday night.
Word of the former Utah governor's decision to drop out came the same day he received the endorsement of Columbia, S.C.'s newspaper The State and six days ahead of the state's primary election.
The Times said Huntsman informed his advisers Sunday and had plans to make an announcement as early as Monday. There is a GOP debate set for Monday evening in Myrtle Beach.
The newspaper said Huntsman aides, who it did not name, said their boss had concluded he was unlikely to overtake front-runner Mitt Romney or the other top candidates in the Republican field.
The Times said several people it said spoke on condition they weren't named, said Huntsman would endorse Romney.
Huntsman had finished third in the Jan. 3 New Hampshire primary. He didn't campaign ahead of Iowa's precinct caucuses and finished far behind the leaders there.
In its endorsement, The State called Huntsman "more principled" than his competitors.
2 Colo. men ID'd in missing teacher case
SIDNEY, Mont., Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Two Colorado men were being held in the disappearance of a Montana teacher who federal authorities said Sunday night they believe is dead.
Sidney police Chief Frank DiFonzo said Lester Waters Jr., 47, and Michael Keith Spell, 22, both of Parachute, Colo., are charged with aggravated kidnapping in the Jan. 7 disappearance of Sherry Arnold, a 43-year-old Sidney math teacher and mother of five, KULR-TV, Billings, Mont., reported. The suspects were jailed in Williston, N.D., the TV station said.
It was unclear why the pair were in the Sidney area or how Arnold died, KULR-TV said.
The FBI said in a release Sunday night they believed Arnold, whose body has not been found, is dead based on evidence gathered in recent days during the investigation into her disappearance.
Property owners in Williams, McKenzie and Mountrail counties in North Dakota were being asked to check shelterbelts and vacant farmsteads on their properties for any sign of her, but the FBI requested that people not conduct general searches for her.
The FBI said her body may be buried in a shelterbelt containing mature or rotted trees.
Arnold vanished after going out for a routine morning jog.
4 dead in Fresno murder-suicide
FRESNO, Calif., Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A woman, her two children and a man were found dead in a Fresno, Calif., apartment Sunday and another man was stabbed, in what police said was a murder-suicide.
City police said the surviving victim, who was found outside the apartment when police arrive at 6:44 a.m., was in critical condition, The Fresno Bee reported.
Police who arrived at the scene and found the bleeding man said they heard a single gunshot inside the apartment. Inside, they found a woman in her 20s, believed to be the stabbing victim's wife, who had shot herself. An 18-month-old girl, a 3-year-old boy and a man in his 20s or 30s also were found dead of gunshot wounds, the Bee said
The names of the victims were not released.
"We're investigating to determine exactly how the children and the adult male died and the circumstances around the man suffering from a stab wound," police Capt. Dennis Bridges said.
U.S., Israel postpone naval war games
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- The United States and Israel have decided to postpone an upcoming, large-scale joint naval exercise because of growing tensions with Iran.
Officials said the war games, originally scheduled for May and named "Austere Challenge," would not happen until later in the year, the Los Angeles Times reported.
U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is scheduled to arrive in Israel this week for discussions with Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz about a possible military strike against Iran to stop its nuclear program.
Former Israeli chief of staff Moshe Yaalon said Sunday the international community must force Iran to "face the dilemma of choosing between its nuclear program or its regime as soon as possible," adding tougher sanctions were necessary to isolate the regime.
"The military option must come last," said Yaalon, who added, "Israel must be prepared to defend itself."
Iranian officials have maintained that their nuclear research is intended for peaceful purposes only. They have also accused the United States and Israel of being responsible for the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist last week in Tehran. Both countries have denied the allegations.
