Nation briefs

MIAMI — A hurricane watch is out for the Baja California peninsula for Jimena, which is a dangerous Category 4 storm off Mexico’s Pacific coast.

The government of Mexico issued the watch Sunday. It extends southward from Bahia Magdalena on the west coast around the southern tip of the peninsula and northward to San Evaristo on the east coast.

The center of the storm is 255 miles (410 km) south-southwest of Cabo Corrientes, Mexico.

Forecasters say Jimena kicked up surf along the northwestern coast and generated strong winds that bent trees in the resort town of Zihuatanejo, uprooting at least one.

Forecasters say if Jimena stays on its northwestern track, it would carry hurricane-force winds to the southern portion of resort-dotted Baja California by Tuesday and slam into the peninsula by Wednesday.

Texas boaters missing for a week rescued at sea

PORT ARANSAS, Texas — Three Texas boaters missing for a week were reunited with their families early Sunday after they were found alive, sitting on top of their capsized catamaran 180 miles from land, the Coast Guard said.

The crew of the Affordable Fantasy spotted the men Saturday night off Port Aransas and rescued them from their 23-foot catamaran, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Renee Aiello. A Coast Guard boat met them and brought them back to land, where emergency management services crews were waiting for them. They declined medical attention.

They were identified as Curtis Hall, 28, of Palacios; Tressel Hawkins, 43, of Markham; and James Phillips, 30, of Blessing, who owned the boat.

The three were reported missing Aug. 22 after they left Matagorda, about 90 miles southwest of Houston, on a fishing trip and never returned. Port Aransas is about 130 miles from Matagorda.

The three went to sleep that Friday night and were awakened by water coming in, said Shane Phillips, whose husband, James, was relaxing Sunday with his five children.

Police: 8th person dead in mobile home attack

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — An eighth person has died in an attack on a Georgia mobile home, police said Sunday.

Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering identified the victim as 19-year-old Michael Toler. He was one of two people critically injured in the attacks in Brunswick along the Georgia coast. A ninth is hospitalized.

The man who reported the gruesome slayings, originally of seven people, faces charges of lying to police and tampering with evidence, and authorities said they haven’t ruled him out as a suspect in the killings.

The killer was not among the dead, whose bodies were found Saturday, or the last survivor, according to Doering.

Doering also announced a $25,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. He said police have no other suspects, adding: "We need help.”

Guy Heinze Jr., 22, was arrested late Saturday and also faces charges of illegal possession of prescription drugs and marijuana, said Doering.

"He was a family member who came home and discovered (the victims), at least that’s what he told us,” Doering said.

Obama drops in store as vacation winds down

WEST TISBURY, Mass. — President Barack Obama spent his last day on a Martha’s Vineyard vacation buying ice cream for his daughters at a general store and an oatmeal-raisin cookie for himself at a deli.

Wearing a White Sox cap, jeans and a black fleece jacket, the president made an unscheduled stop at the small village just up the street from his rented Chilmark farm. The jaunt was one of the few times journalists have seen the president in public without golf clubs.

Obama made small talk with patrons before buying candy and ice cream at Alley’s General Store.

"Hope you guys are having a good time,” Obama told one customer as cameras clicked and the floor underfoot creaked.

The 12-minute expedition was one of the few public ones for the Obamas, who scheduled his first vacation as president for just a scant week amid the intense pressures of his office.

It was hardly the long week of quiet time to catch his breath that Obama had sought. The break began with a delayed departure last Sunday because of a hurricane, was briefly interrupted when he announced he would nominate Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to a second term, and then took a dramatic turn of tone when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died.

Rather than relaxing, Obama ended up delivering remarks about the economy in a high school gymnasium full of the White House press corps and a eulogy to his former Senate colleague in a Boston basilica.

Even the return trip to Washington required attending to a presidential duty. At Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, where the Obamas boarded Air Force One, the president met with the family of Marine Cpl. Nicholas Xiarhos, who was killed in Afghanistan on July 23.

"I think that when I said that the president wanted you guys to take long walks on the beach and relax and just enjoy yourselves and that there would be no news, maybe it was a little bit of wishful thinking,” a slightly sheepish spokesman Bill Burton told reporters. In fact, Burton had brought his own wife to Martha’s Vineyard, expecting a light week.

It’s practically written into the presidential job description that no commander in chief can take a true turn-it-all-off vacation. He gets briefings from aides almost every day. World events invariably intrude.

Obama found time to go to the beach and to the golf course several times. He’s played tennis with his wife, gone out to dinner and grabbed deep-fried takeout for a private lunch at senior adviser and friend Valerie Jarrett’s home in Oak Bluffs. Other quick trips away from the compound meant climbing a historic lighthouse and taking a fast bike ride around the idyllic island off the coast of Massachusetts.

During the final hours of his vacation, he and his family made a quick trip to buy souvenirs and snacks under gray, rainy skies. He walked from the country store, where he suggested earrings for his daughters but lost out to Nerds candies. He handed a clerk a $20 note for a $4.99 bill and declined change.

He then walked across the parking lot to a deli. There, a clerk suggested he try a fresh cookie.

"You know, I think a cookie sounds about right,” said Obama, who was accompanied by daughters Sasha and Malia and his niece, Suhaila Ng.

At that store, Garcia’s Bakery and Deli, he made pleasantries with the staff and posed for a picture.

"You’re going to be a freshman this year?” Obama asked the clerk who charged him for his baked goods. "That’s exciting.”

The Obamas returned to the White House Sunday evening. But the family is going to give vacationing another try, with a five-day visit to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., over the Labor Day weekend.

"The agenda is to try to get a little rest and relaxation,” Burton said. "He’s looking to get a break from his vacation.”

Blackwater tapped foreigners

on secret CIA program

WASHINGTON — When the CIA revived a plan to kill or capture terrorists in 2004, the agency turned to the well-connected security company then known as Blackwater USA.

With Blackwater’s lucrative government security work and contacts arrayed in hot spots around the world, company officials offered the services of foreigners supposedly skilled at tracking terrorists in lawless regions and countries where the CIA had no working relationships with the government.

Blackwater told the CIA that it "could put people on the ground to provide the surveillance and support — all of the things you need to conduct an operation,” a former senior CIA official familiar with the secret program told The Associated Press.

But the CIA’s use of the private contractor as part of its now-abandoned plan to dispatch death squads skirted concerns now re-emerging with recent disclosures about Blackwater’s role.

Police: New Mexico boy faces

murder charge in dad’s death

BELEN, N.M. — A 10-year-old New Mexico boy is facing a murder charge in the shooting death of his father.

Police alleged that the boy used his own rifle to shoot his father and then called authorities. Arriving at the family’s home Thursday evening, police found 42-year-old Byron Hilburn with a head wound. He was pronounced dead at an Albuquerque hospital.

The youth reportedly told officers that he thought his father was disciplining him too harshly and too often, according to KOAT-TV.

Local media, in weekend reports, said a first-degree murder charge was pending against the boy. There was no comment Sunday from authorities. A dispatcher taking messages for the Belen Police Department told The Associated Press that spokesmen were unavailable until Monday.

Police said they suspect that the shooting was witnessed by the boy’s 6-year-old sister, who has since been placed with relatives.

The boy is in the custody of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.

Hilburn was divorced and had custody of both children, police said.

Shuttle arrives at space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Discovery has arrived at the international space station.

Discovery pulled up at the space station Sunday night, ending a round-the-world chase of nearly two days.

The final approach and docking ended up being slightly more challenging for Discovery’s commander, Rick Sturckow (STIR-koh).

He had to use the shuttle’s big primary thrusters for all the maneuvering instead of the small fine-tuning thrusters because of a breakdown in one of the little jets.

He is the first to approach the station that way.

Discovery and its crew of seven are delivering thousands of pounds of science experiments and equipment, including a treadmill named for Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert.

The shuttle will remain at the station until next week.