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VIDEO: Today's Headline News from Associated Press

NEWFOUND HORMONE HOLDS HOPE FOR DIABETES TREATMENT

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Scientists have identified a hormone that can sharply boost the number of cells that make insulin in mice, a discovery that may someday lead to a treatment for the most common type of diabetes.

 

People have their own version of this hormone, and the new work suggests that giving diabetics more might one day help them avoid insulin shots.

 

That would give them better control of their blood sugar levels, said Harvard University researcher Douglas Melton, senior author of a report published Thursday by the journal Cell.

 

Experts unconnected with the work cautioned that other substances have shown similar effects on mouse cells but failed to work on human ones. Melton said this hormone stands out because its effect is unusually potent and confined to just the cells that make insulin.

 

POLICE: BOSTON SUSPECTS PLANNED TO ATTACK NEW YORK

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Boston Marathon bombers were headed for New York to blow up their remaining explosives in Times Square before they were intercepted by police in a blazing gunbattle, officials said Thursday.

 

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told interrogators from his hospital bed that he and his older brother decided on the spur of the moment last Thursday night to drive to New York and launch an attack. In their stolen SUV they had five pipe bombs and a pressure-cooker explosive like the ones that blew up at the marathon, Kelly said.

 

The plan fell apart when the Tsarnaev brothers got into a shootout just outside Boston that left Tamerlan Tsarnaev dead, Kelly said.

 

"We don't know if we would have been able to stop the terrorists had they arrived here from Boston," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "We're just thankful that we didn't have to find out that answer."

 

FACEBOOK: AUDIT FINDS PRIVACY PRACTICES SUFFICIENT

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Facebook says that an independent audit found its privacy practices sufficient during a six-month assessment period that followed a settlement with federal regulators.

 

Facebook Inc. said it submitted the findings to the Federal Trade Commission on Monday evening. The audit was a required part of the social networking company's settlement with the FTC last summer. The settlement resolved charges that Facebook exposed details about its users' lives without getting the required legal consent.

 

Facebook provided a copy of its letter to the FTC, along with a redacted copy of the auditor's letter, to The Associated Press on Wednesday. The redacted portion contains trade secret information and does not alter the auditor's findings, the company said. The audit, which found that Facebook's privacy program met or exceeded requirements under the FTC's order, covered written policies as well as samples of its data.

 

"We're encouraged by this confirmation that the controls set out in our privacy program are working as intended," said Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer for policy," in an emailed statement. "This assessment has also helped us identify areas to work on as Facebook continues to evolve as a company, and improve upon the privacy protections we already have in place. We will keep working to meet the changing and evolving needs of our users and to put user privacy and security at the center of everything we do."