WASHINGTON

North Korea admits holding U.S. citizen, Sweden says

The State Department said Friday that North Korea acknowledges it is holding an American citizen but hasn’t granted diplomats consular access so the person’s identity is not yet confirmed.

Expectation is that it will be Merrill Newman of California. The 85-year old Korean War veteran’s family says he was detained at the end of a tourist trip to North Korea last month.

Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that Sweden has been informed by Pyongyang that it is detaining an American citizen. Because the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, Sweden oversees consular issues for the United States there.

WASHINGTON

Navy Yard shooter had lost, regained secret-level access

Senior U.S. officials say the company that employed the Washington Navy Yard shooter withdrew his access to classified material for two days in August when mental health problems became evident, but restored it quickly and never told the Navy about the incident.

The officials say Fort Lauderdale-Fla.-based The Experts ordered computer contractor Aaron Alexis back to Washington, D.C., after a police incident in Rhode Island in August, then pulled his secret-level access for two days. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information in their own name.

Less than six weeks later, the former Navy reservist gunned down 12 civilian workers at the Navy Yard. He was shot dead by police.

GENEVA

Kerry will join negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program

Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Geneva to give a boost to stalled nuclear talks with Iran, the State Department said Friday, raising hopes that a historic deal could be reached over the weekend.

Kerry decided to join the negotiations after diplomats reported progress in narrowing differences with Iran over a proposal that would scale back key parts of its nuclear program, Western officials said.

The announcement came hours after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Geneva to join the negotiations, which have been underway since Wednesday.

OKLAHOMA CITY

Bomb squad determines suspicious object is burrito

A burrito caused a minor scare at an Oklahoma City police briefing station after a man brought the foil-wrapped object in for analysis.

Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson said a man discovered a Thermos-type container in his lawn Thursday afternoon and brought it to a police briefing station. Nelson said the container was heavy and had tinfoil protruding from the lid, so the man considered it suspicious.

The Oklahoman reported that officers told the man to leave the container outside and the police bomb squad X-rayed the item. The analysis determined that it was only a burrito.

– From news service reports