The New York Times’ story about Apple forcing its employees to work in unsafe conditions may have hit a nerve. Company CEO Tim Cook sent an email defending the company’s record, saying the tech giant takes its reputation seriously and aggressively investigates problems in its factories. “We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain,” Cook said, even though it’s been reported that two explosions in iPad factories killed four and injured 77 in the past year. Cook promised that Apple would continue to “dig deeper” to uncover unsafe conditions and won’t ignore issues as they arise.

The global security adviser for the nonprofit refugee agency whose two employees were kidnapped said Friday that a Somali officer meant to protect the foreign aid workers had been bribed to give them up. Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, after spending three months in captivity, were rescued Wednesday in a daring raid by the U.S. Navy SEALs. Fredrik Palsson, the global safety adviser for the Danish Refugee Council, said that one of the officers was bribed, and then he replaced the rest of the guards with people in on the corruption. In a joint statement, Buchanan and Thisted’s families said the former hostages need some time away from the media spotlight to recover.

The Pentagon is scrambling to deploy the U.S.S. Ponce, an amphibious transport docking ship, to deal with rising tensions in the Middle East. The Navy was planning to retire the ship, which was decommissioned in March, but will instead outfit it to be floating base that can house high-speed boats and helicopters that SEAL teams often use. Officials are hoping the ship can be in the region by early summer to combat the rise of Iran, which has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, and al Qaeda in Yemen. The ship will allow U.S. Special Operations Command greater flexibility in responding to pirates like SEAL Team 6 did on Wednesday.

Newt Gingrich said Friday that the reason he took such a beating in Thursday night's debate was because he was simply so shocked by Mitt Romney’s responses to the questions. “I think it’s the most blatantly dishonest performance by a presidential candidate I've ever seen,” Gingrich declared during a phone interview Friday. He explained that he didn’t fight back against Romney’s so-called dishonest responses at the time because he “wanted to fact-check. I wanted to make sure he was as totally dishonest as I thought he was.” The two candidates have hit back and forth at each other this week, taking turns calling the other “untrustworthy” in similar campaign ads.

The only thing he couldn’t wrangle himself was an alibi. Colton Harris-Moore, the 20-year-old “Barefoot Bandit” who pleaded guilty to 33 state and seven federal charges, will be marched off to prison after a federal judge sentenced him on Friday to six and a half years behind bars. Prosecutors allege he was responsible for more than 67 crimes, including airplane and car theft. The footloose young man, who began a life of crime in early 2008, racked up damages of more than $1 million, costs that will reportedly be paid for by proceeds from a film depicting his exploits. Harris-Moore evaded law enforcement for more than two years, frequently leaving behind an outline of his bare feet to taunt pursuers.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer set June 12 as the special election to replace Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords, who was shot in the head at a constituent meet-and-greet last January, announced this week that she was stepping down from her post to concentrate on her recovery. Arizona will hold a primary for prospective Republican and Democratic candidates on Apr. 17. A handful of Democrats are considering running for the House seat, which includes parts of Tucson. One Republican has already announced a formal campaign, while two have formed exploratory committees.

NATO should hand over all combat operations in Afghanistan to the Afghan military by next year, France’s president said Friday. The announcement comes a week after four French soldiers were killed in Afghanistan and breaks with previous U.S-backed plans to withdraw from the country in 2014. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that President Barack Obama has been made aware of France’s plan to ask NATO for a speedier drawdown of the 10-year involvement of foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Erin Brockovich isn’t one to let an environmental calamity get overlooked on her watch. The activist is now investigating why a high number of teenagers living in Le Roy, N.Y., seem to be exhibiting facial tics and verbal outbursts now that there is new evidence a toxic chemical spill wreaked havoc on the water more than four decades ago. Brockovich, who gained fame after a movie immortalized her fight against a power company in California, was asked by local parents to look into the issue. Forty years ago, a train derailed near the town, spilling cyanide and an industrial solvent. Local officials say that environmental studies have not shown a link between neurological issues and the disaster.

Former New Orleans police officer Gerard Dugue caught a break on Friday when a judge declared a mistrial in his case because prosecutors improperly tried to introduce evidence about a fellow cop. Charged with covering up the slaying of several New Orleans residents on the Danziger Bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Dugue testified for most of the day. He said he was investigating the fatal shootings of civilians at Danzinger Bridge, but was told to attend to his other duties first. The officer also said the district attorney’s office hampered the investigation and that he was pressured to turn in his findings before his final report was ready.

Sex and the City fans will get a dose of Sarah Jessica Parker as another feminist icon, Gloria Steinem, in the upcoming movie Lovelace, a story about a porn star who fought the industry in the early 1980s. SJP is taking over for Demi Moore, whose health troubles have cost her the role. Moore pulled out of the movie this week after a medical emergency forced her to go to the hospital, where she was treated for exhaustion. Moore has already left the hospital, but her schedule is uncertain. Parker will begin shooting the movie on Monday.

Refueling? Rand Paul refusing a standard TSA procedure? Nope, it was a 10-year-old cat named Ripples that kept an Air Canada flight on the tarmac Friday in Halifax. The feline made it through airport security without a hitch, but set off alarms—in his owner’s mind, at least—with what happened after one of his carrier latches came undone during boarding. When pet and owner made their way onto the plane, Ripples took off, scampering down the aisle, through the first-class cabin, and into the cockpit, where he nestled into a wiring compartment. It took four hours for technicians to recover the cat.

Two teenage boys were arrested this week in an alleged plot to blow up their high school outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Dallin Morgan, 18, was charged and released on $10,000 bail on Friday, while the name of a 16-year-old boy also charged in the plot is being withheld. Bailey Gerhardt, a sophomore at Roy High School, tipped off police when she received a text message from the younger suspect asking her, “If I told you to stay home on a certain day, would you?” Gerhardt told investigators that the boy had recently been dumped by his girlfriend and had a bizarre fascination with the Columbine shootings. The Roy Chief of Police ++told The Salt Lake Tribune that the plot was “months in planning.”

The American economy grew at its fastest rate in over a year and half. The Department of Commerce announced Friday that the U.S. gross domestic product grew 2.8 percent between October and December despite continuing turmoil in the global markets. The three-month period was the fastest pace of growth since the second quarter of 2010.

Nine rockets were fired Friday morning from a hilltop at the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad, near the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed in May. Three rockets hit the wall of the school, Pakistan's equivalent to the U.S.'s West Point. It was an unusual attack, but there was no loss of life. The assailants have not been identified yet and no one has claimed responsibility.

Oops, Newt Gingrich should have done his homework. At the last debate before next week's crucial primary vote in Florida, where Gingrich and Mitt Romney are running neck and neck, Gingrich called Romney "anti-immigrant." "That's inexcusable," Romney shot back. "I'm not anti-immigrant. My father was born in Mexico ... The idea that I'm anti-immigrant is repulsive. Don't use a term like that." The other candidates also piled on the ridicule when they mocked Gingrich for pandering to Cape Canaveral voters by promising a permanent colony on the moon. It was Romney's most aggressive debate so far, which could put his campaign back on track.

Okay now, who ordered the 35 pounds of cocaine? The UN received two fake diplomatic pouches filled with the drug last week. The packages, not intended for anyone at the United Nations, were delivered on January 16. While there was no recipient address, the packages originated in Mexico City. The UN logos were probably forged to help get the shipment over the border.

Twitter announced Thursday that it can now censor tweets only in some countries, whereas before a message would disappear throughout the world if the operators erased it. The flexibility might be welcomed by users in nations with more of a commitment to free speech, but it could also be a sign that Twitter might be giving in to more repressive states, especially as the company expands globally.

Robert Hegyes, who played Jewish Puerto Rican Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein in the 1970s show Welcome Back Kotter, died of an apparent heart attack Thursday at the age of 60. Hegyes also co-starred on Cagney and Lacey, and taught classes at Rowan University. He was a New Jersey native and said he modeled Epstein on Chico Marx.

Have you driven a Ford lately? The Detroit auto company reported a $20.2 billion profit for 2011, the third straight year it has made money. And the earnings were the largest in 13 years and the second-highest ever for the carmaker. The increase is significant over 2010 profits—it earned $6.6 billion a year earlier. The improvements were driven by business in North America, since Ford actually lost money in Europe and Asia-Pacific regions.

Joshua Komisarjevsky, one of the defendants found guilty of the 2007 home-invasion rape and killings of a Connecticut woman and her two daughters that shocked the country, will be sentenced to death Friday in New Haven Superior Court. Komisarjevsky will join Steven Hayes on death row. The court found Hayes guilty of raping and strangling Jennifer Hawke-Petit while Komisarjevsky sexually assaulted her 11-year-old daughter Michaela. Michaela and her 17-year-old sister, Hayley, were tied to their beds, doused with gasoline, and died of smoke inhalation when the house was set on fire. Their father, William, survived the horrific crime.

A suicide car bomber killed at least 32 people Friday and injured some 60 more when he targeted a funeral procession in a predominantly Shiite district of Baghdad in Iraq. It's the latest in a wave of attacks on Shiites across Iraq, where sectarian violence has spiked since the withdrawal of American troops last month. On Tuesday nine people were killed in a series of explosions in Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad.

The UN Security Council will meet Friday to discuss the situation in Syria ahead of a possible vote on the matter next week. But according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of a possible resolution, the draft does not call for sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, instead only urging a "political transition." Russia, an old ally and an arms supplier to Syria, opposes sanctions. Meanwhile, fighting erupted in Homs on Friday, a day after sectarian militiamen killed 14 members of a Sunni Muslim family.

The operator of the doomed Costa Concordia cruise ship will offer a lump sum of $14,400 to passengers to compensate them for lost baggage and psychological trauma, the Italian Association of Tour Operators said Friday. There were about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members on board with the ocean liner ran aground on Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy. Divers found a 16th body Tuesday, but 16 others are still missing.

It looks like Mitt Romney's debate smackdown of Newt Gingrich was successful—the two are no longer tied in the polls. According to the latest Quinnipiac survey, Romney is Florida leading with 38 percent, which will hold its primary in just four days.

It’s not the first time she’s said she’s getting out of politics after her current job, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear Thursday that she’s ready to call it quits. In a meeting with State Department employees, Clinton said she’s tuckered out after 20 years on “the high wire of American politics.” She said she will finish her term and, if President Obama wins re-election in November, will serve with him until he finds a replacement. She hasn’t been following the election season or the GOP debates, which she acknowledged was “a little odd” for her. But after being first lady, senator, an aspiring presidential candidate and finally Secretary of State, Clinton said “it would probably be a good idea just to find out how tired I am.”

In Newt Gingrich's perfect world, debates would be filled with his supporters, who would be allowed to cheer and applaud as much as they wanted, and everyone else would be silenced. Gingrich complained after a debate earlier this week in which host Brian Williams asked that the audience hold its applause until commercial breaks. Preventing audience members from cheering is stifling their free speech, Newt argued. He failed to specify, however, that he was really referring only to his supporters, not all audience members in general, and certainly not those in favor of Mitt Romney. Following Thursday night's debate in Jacksonville, Gingrich grumbled that the Romney campaign had "definitely packed the room" with supporters, a scheme to ensure that the cheers coming from the audience were overly in favor of Gingrich's opponent. A Romney spokesman said his campaign was given the same amount of tickets as everyone else.

As prefaced in his State of the Union address, President Obama proposed a plan Friday to reduce college costs by tying federal student aid money to universities’ tuition rates and the value they provide graduates. Under the plan, colleges would be rewarded based on their success in offering lower tuition prices to benefit low-income students, the White House said in a statement. A key aspect of the plan is that it wouldn’t increase taxpayer dollars, because students would pay off aid money with interest. Obama announced the proposal before 4,000 students at the University of Michigan, who cheered, “Four more years!” The visit at Michigan was an official government event and the last stop on a three-day, five-state tour in which the president planned to spell out the ideas in his SOTU speech and appeal to the middle class.

Joe Biden revealed that he's very optimistic about the Democrats' chances in the upcoming election. The vice president told House Democrats on a retreat in Maryland Friday that he predicts he and President Obama will stay in the White House and the Democrats will reclaim the House of Representatives this November. "I think we will win based purely on the merits of our positions." Biden will embark on a campaign mission to six states—advocating for House Democrats.

It looks like Facebook could file its much-anticipated initial public offering as early as next Wednesday, and Morgan Stanley will likely play a big role in the deal. Sources told The Wall Street Journal that the social-media giant is close to picking a bank as the lead underwriter for its IPO, which could raise as much as $10 billion. Investment banks have been fighting over leading the offering, which will likely earn them tens of millions of dollars, with the added bonus of being affiliated with the highly coveted deal. Both Facebook and Morgan Stanley have declined to comment on the filing.