DRUGS GO UP IN SMOKE

PRISON EMPLOYEE DEAD IN DEL. HOSTAGE STANDOFF

A Delaware Department of Correction employee was found dead after a hostage situation that spanned nearly 20 hours, according to a news release issued by the state Thursday morning.

At a news conference Thursday morning, the new commissioner of the Delaware Department of Correction said Sgt. Steven Floyd was found unresponsive when police entered the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center after 5 a. m. ET Thursday. Floyd had been with the department for 16 years, Perry Phelps said. He was pronounced dead about 5: 29 a. m.

The other hostage, who has only been identified as a female counselor at the prison, was safely rescued and was receiving treatment at a local hospital, said Jayme Gravell, a spokeswoman with the Department of Correction, earlier Thursday.

— The News Journal

REBELS KILL 12 SOLDIERS IN DISPUTED EASTERN UKRAINE

At least 12 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and more than two dozen wounded in an outburst of fighting with Russianbacked rebels since the weekend that is playing out against a backdrop of still uncertain relations between Moscow and Washington.

In the latest deaths, Ukraine’s Anti- Terrorist Operation said two Ukrainian soldiers were killed Wednesday in the disputed eastern regions. The government’s press office said one soldier was killed and nine soldiers and one civilian injured late Tuesday in Avdiivka, a town of 20,000 people located just north of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. — Doug Stanglin AMID HACKING FEARS, DUTCH TO USE PEN, PAPER FOR VOTE

Alarmed that hackers, false news and state- backed propaganda could try to influence or tamper with the results of next month's national election, the Dutch government has decided to count all ballots the old- fashioned way: with pen and paper.

Paper ballots are used in Dutch elections. These are hand- counted at local voting stations before being sent to regional voting centers for computer tallying. But with warnings from intelligence agencies that Russia and ideologically- driven fringe groups may seek to meddle in upcoming political contests in the Netherlands, France and Germany, the Dutch vote on March 15 will rely exclusively on a manual count.

— Kim Hjelmgaard

CRIS BOURONCLE, AFP/ GETTY IMAGES Peruvian drug enforcement personnel burn bags filled with drugs during the first annual drug burn Thursday in Ate, on the eastern outskirts of Lima. Almost eight tons of seized drugs, mostly cocaine, marijuana, opiates and amphetamines, were burned in...