Police found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding in the boat in a backyard in suburban Boston, four days after the April 15 bombings killed three people and wounded more than 260.

U.S. news media reported Thursday that Tsarnaev called the Boston victims “collateral damage.” He said the United States regards Muslims killed in Iraq and Afghanistan the same way.

Part of his note said, “When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims.”

Tsarnaev was seriously wounded by police before he was captured and is recovering in a prison hospital awaiting a criminal trial. Tsarnaev’s older brother, Tamerlan, was killed in a police shootout one day earlier.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the Boston Marathon say they are inviting runners who could not finish this year’s race because of the bombings to run again in 2014.

The head of the Boston Athletic Association, Tom Grilk, says Boston spectators are known for their unbridled enthusiasm and will give the returning athletes some of the loudest cheers at next year’s race.

(Source: VOA. VOA says some information for this report was provided by Reuters.)

A large number of Republican members of Congress and Tea Party leaders from across the country gathered outside the U.S. Capitol Thursday to criticize the Internal Revenue Service and the Obama administration over allegations the tax agency targeted Tea Party groups for special scrutiny. Conservative lawmakers called on Congress to dig deep to find out who made the decision to single out the groups seeking non-profit tax exempt status. Republican House Speaker John Boehner said House committees would stop at nothing to get to the truth.

“We need to know where the facts are. Somebody made a decision to do this. And I doubt that it was some low level employees in the Cincinnati field office,” said Boehner.

Barack Obama sought to push back against the criticism during a week where he has been plagued by several scandals at once. Obama claims he knew nothing about the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups until last Friday.

At the Capitol, lawmakers and activists said the conduct by some IRS staff members amounts to harassment, and that there will be lawsuits against the agency. Republican Congressman Paul Broun of Georgia said he has been warning about the dangers of big government for years.

“It is the strong arm of the government that is trying to affect elections, to try to stop the freedom of speech that we are guaranteed under the First Amendment [to the Constitution] and all Americans should just shudder and shiver at the prospects of a government out of control, too big, spending too much money,” said Broun.

The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on the IRS scandal Friday, and many more hearings are likely to follow in the Republican-led House of Representatives.

(VOA)

The IRS has admitted officials targeted conservative groups seeking tax exempt status.

The revelations about the IRS have outraged Republicans in Congress and they are promising a full round of investigations.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader, said, “Now clearly, we have only started to scratch the surface of this scandal. The American people are looking for answers and I am determined to help them get to the bottom of this.”

The IRS scandal is one of three controversies that have enmeshed the Obama White House.

The administration remains on the defensive over its handling of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, last year that claimed the lives of four Americans.

And the Justice Department is being pressed to justify the secret seizure of phone records from the Associated Press in connection with a leak investigation.

It is the prospect that the IRS targeted Americans for their political views, however, that sparked a strong reaction from across the political spectrum, said analyst John Fortier.

“And so that I think that is what makes it just stick much more in the craw of the American people [upset them], both that it is not a very popular organization, but also it is one that people know that it has significant information that could redound upon them and they would not want to see it done to them,” said Fortier.

former Reagan White House chief of staff Ken Duberstein said, “If you do not have the trusted relationships in the House and the Senate or with the American people, then you do not have any safety net to fall back on.”

(VOA)

Jolie’s mother died of cancer when she was 56 years old. The actress said her children wanted to know if she would, too. Jolie said genetic tests put her chances of getting breast cancer at 87 percent and at 50 percent for ovarian cancer.

Doctors have found that certain genetic mutations can increase the odds of developing breast and ovarian cancer. The two major genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer are BRCA1 and BRCA2.

One study found that if a woman develops BRCA-related cancer early in life, her daughter may get cancer even earlier than she did — if she inherited the genetic mutation.

Women with BRCA-related breast cancer have the same rate of survival as other breast cancer patients at the same stage. But Dr. Marc Boisvert of Medstar Washington Hospital says there’s a significant difference.

“The problem is that these cancers frequently appear in younger women, and younger women tend to have more aggressive cancers, and they’re not suspecting them,” Boisvert said.

Women in their 20s and 30s are not likely to be screened for breast cancer. Those most likely to have the BRCA mutations are of east European Jewish descent. But “you can have it if you’re black, white, Hispanic, Chinese, Asian, any ethnic group can have it,” Boisvert said.

The National Cancer Institute recommends genetic testing if close relatives have had breast or ovarian cancer. But not having the BRCA1 or 2 mutations is not an all-clear sign. And having the genetic marker doesn’t mean getting the disease is a given. But geneticists can come up with the likely odds — which is why Jolie said her chance of getting breast cancer was 87 percent.

The cost for genetic testing can run into the thousands of dollars.

The preventive surgery can lower the odds to less than five percent, but Boisvert says surgery isn’t the only choice.

“I think education is important here because you can get peace of mind knowing that you are being monitored very carefully and knowing what the numbers are, what the chances of recurrence are,” Boisvert said.

Boisvert says in the end, the patient needs to be comfortable with her care, whether it involves careful monitoring or surgery. (VOA)

Saturday: Isolated showers, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 78. Southeast wind 10 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Saturday Night: Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. Southeast wind 11 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Sunday: Scattered showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74. Southeast wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Sunday: Night Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Obama spoke Wednesday after meeting with Lew and his top deputy to review a report from the Treasury Department inspector general. The report found that the IRS singled out for scrutiny conservative groups which were seeking tax-exempt status.

Top IRS officials acknowledged the abuses earlier this week and apologized.

Obama said new leadership is needed in the agency. “Today, Secretary Lew took the first step by requesting and accepting the resignation of the acting commissioner of the IRS,” said Obama. “Because given the controversy surrounding this audit, it is important to institute new leadership that can help restore confidence going forward.”

Obama, who some critics say has not responded quickly or strongly enough, claimed he is angry about the incident.

Earlier Wednesday, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, said that crimes were committed in the matter. “My question is not about who is going to resign,” said Boehner. “My question is, who is going to jail over this scandal?”

Obama promised to take reporters’ questions on the matter Thursday, at a news conference after his White House meeting with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Obama is also dealing with two other controversies – the administration’s lack of response to last year’s deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, and the government seizure of Associated Press phone records in a leak investigation.

(VOA)

The White House released 100 pages of emails detailing intense debate among administration officials and the CIA about how to word public “talking points” after the attack in Benghazi.

Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the attack.

The emails were originally requested by Republican lawmakers investigating the response to the Benghazi attacks. Until Wednesday, the White House had declined to make them public, allowing only certain lawmakers to review them.

The decision to release the emails was an effort to calm the furor over the Benghazi issue, which with other controversies threatens to slow or damage Obama’s second-term agenda.

Both Democrats and Republicans are accusing Obama’s administration of mishandling security and the response to the attack. They asserted that mentions of prior terrorist threats, including by groups linked to al-Qaida, were removed for political reasons.

The emails confirm what had been reported before by media organizations: that then-State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland asked that a reference to an al-Qaida linked group, Ansar al-Sharia, be removed.

In the email she expresses concern that the content could be used by members of Congress to “beat” the State Department for not heading CIA warnings properly.

One former White House official, former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor, referred to “massive disinformation” at the time in the U.S. Congress.

Final talking points eliminated CIA references to Ansar al-Sharia, and to CIA warnings about extremist threats linked to al-Qaida in Benghazi and eastern Libya.

Also eliminated was a reference to “indications that Islamic extremists participated in the violent demonstrations” in Benghazi.

Earlier Wednesday, the White House Press Secretary Jay Carney reiterated Obama’s remark earlier this week that the investigation was merely a “sideshow.”

Release of the emails does not end the Benghazi controversy, as both Democrats and Republicans press for additional documents.

Republican Representative Darrell Issa welcomed the email release but said there is still much more for Americans to learn about the administration’s response to the Benghazi attack.

(VOA)

(VOA)

The two speak frequently on the phone. Syria has been a key topic as the death toll there continues to mount.

Turkey has played a key role in the provision of non-lethal aid and political support for Syria’s rebels.

In a recent NBC News interview, Erdogan urged the United States to take more responsibility to end fighting in Syria. He also discussed evidence of chemical weapons use, saying Obama’s “red line” was crossed long ago.

Soner Cagaptay, with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says Ankara has major worries about a “weak and divided” Syria, which it is feared could become like Somalia.

“I think Turkey is feeling the heat of the Syria crisis and is here to ask for assistance from the U.S. to help depose the Assad regime and if not to shield itself off from the fallout of the Syria crisis,” said Cagaptay. “Obviously [at] the White House there is very little appetite in Washington to send troops or put boots on the ground in Syria, so these two leaders will disagree on what to do although they both agree the Assad regime should go.”

On the eve of the talks, press secretary Jay Carney was asked about pressure from Erdogan on Obama to take a stronger stance on Syria.

Carney stuck to the standard White House description of current U.S. policy, saying the U.S. would work with Turkey and other partners to bring about a political transition in Syria.

“Ways that we can, working together and with our partners, bring about the transition that is so essential in Syria, including the efforts that are under way to revitalize the Geneva Framework for a political transition — we’ve been working with the Russians on that matter as well as others — and including the ways that we are working to provide assistance to the opposition and to the Syrian people,” said Carney.

Cagaptay says that despite differences in approach, both men seek the same objectives.

“There are divergences in tactics between the two leaders though I should emphasize that in the end they both want the same thing, they want Assad to go, the question is Turkey wants it faster than the U.S. is willing to commit [to],” he added.

Erdogan and Obama will hold a joint news conference after their Oval Office talks.

Later, the White House says Obama will host a working dinner with the Turkish leader.

(VOA)

Tonight, partly cloudy, with a low around 51. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm after midnight.