Senate Republicans and a select few rural-state Democrats rejected legislation Wednesday to tighten restrictions on the sale of firearms. The legislation was fueled by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and personal pleas by families of the victims of last winter’s elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Attempts to ban assault-style rifles and high capacity ammunition magazines also faced defeat in a series of votes after a gunman killed 20 children and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary. The background check measure also fell short of the votes needed to advance.See the full story at here.Letters sent to President Obama and Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker tested positive for the poison ricin in preliminary checks. Federal authorities also chased a stream of reports Wednesday of other suspicious-looking items sent to senators in Washington and other areas. According to the FBI, the letters sent to Obama and Wicker were postmarked from Memphis, Tenn. Both letters said: “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.” The letters were signed, “I am KC and I approve this message.”See the full story athere.Two U.S. drone strikes Wednesday killed at least five suspected al-Qaida militants and destroyed the house of one of them in a mountainous area near Sanaa, Yemen. The first airstrike killed four, who were riding in a vehicle 90 miles away from the capital. The second strike killed the fifth suspected jihadi when the drone bombed his house, a Yemeni official said.The Cairo appellate court on Wednesday set May 11 for the retrial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. He faces counts in the deaths of hundreds of protesters during the uprising that deposed him. Mubarak also faces corruption charges. He was transferred back to Tora prison with his two sons who are also facing a corruption trial. Mubarak’s health has been questioned and on Saturday he was wheeled into the courtroom on a hospital gurney.All information is from The Associated Press.Maura Zurick is the city editor and the nation and world editor for the Daily Kent Stater.

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