Obama upbeat on economy...Watching Ericka...Jury has prep school rape case

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is warning Congress not to attempt to hold the economy hostage when it returns from its summer break. Speaking in New Orleans, Obama noted that the economy had a robust performance in the second quarter. The gross domestic product grew at a hardy 3.7 percent. Obama was in New Orleans Thursday to tour the progress made in a decade of recovery since Hurricane Katrina.

ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — Emergency crews in the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica (doh-MIN'-ih-kuh) are searching for people missing and injured following mudslides caused by Tropical Storm Ericka. At least four people were killed. The island was hit with 15 inches of rain. Ericka is spinning toward Puerto Rico and on Friday is expected to be near or just north of the Dominican Republic as it heads toward Florida early next week, possibly as a hurricane.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's state media is reporting Friday that leader Kim Jong Un has dismissed some top officials in the wake of a recent standoff with South Korea. The rival nations threatened strikes against each other before agreeing on measures to reduce animosity. Pyongyang gave no reasons for the dismissal.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Jury deliberations will continue Friday in the trial of a former student at an elite New Hampshire prep school accused of raping a freshman as part of a tradition called Senior Salute. Owen Labrie denies raping the 15-year-old two days before he graduated last year from St. Paul's School in Concord.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Sixty years after a black Chicago teenager was killed for whistling at a white woman in Mississippi, relatives and civil rights activists are marking the anniversary. Emmett Till's battered body was found in a river in 1955 with bullet hole in his head and barbed wire around his neck. His mother insisted on an open casket funeral to shock the nation. Participants in a Friday church service in Chicago will include the mother of slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.