In March, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, announced a deal to end a nearly three-decade conflict in turkey that has killed tens of thousands of people. The deal was reached in talks between imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and the Turkish government.

The refuge offer came from Iraq's Kurdish region, which enjoys limited independence from the central Iraqi government in Baghdad. Iraqi Kurds were involved in the talks with Turkey.

The prospect of additional fighters joining the Kurdish forces in Iraq's north could add tension to already souring relations with Baghdad. The two sides are in conflict over contested areas, including key oil-producing sectors.

As part of the accord, the PKK rebels agreed to a gradual retreat from Turkish territory to Iraq's Kurdish region. On Thursday, Baghdad rejected that.

"The Iraqi government welcomes any political and peaceful settlement to the Kurdish cause in Turkey to stop the bloodshed and violence between the two sides and adopt a democratic approach to end this internal struggle," said a statement issued by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.

"But at the same time ... it does not accept the entry of armed groups to its territories that can be used to harm Iraq's security and stability," the ministry said.

PKK, considered a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, is believed to have between 1,500 and 2,000 fighters inside Turkey, in addition to several thousand more based in northern Iraq, which they use as a springboard for attacks in Turkey.

To ease Baghdad's concerns, PKK spokesman, Ahmet Deniz assured the Iraqi government that the plan would boost democracy and stability in the region.

"The (peace) process is not aimed against anyone, and there is no need for concerns that the struggle will take on another format and pose a threat to others," Deniz told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

"A democratic resolution will have a positive effect on the region," Deniz said. "We understand the concerns, but the process is related to the resolution of the Kurdish issue and won't cause harm to anyone."

The statement came a day after PKK rebels started withdrawing to bases in the Iraqi mountains. It was not clear if the Baghdad government would try to stop the process, expected to take several months.

Deniz confirmed that the PKK's withdrawal process began on Wednesday. He gave no details on the numbers of fighters that had begun to retreat or if any had crossed into Iraq.

Iraqi and Turkish officials were not immediately available for comment.

PKK has sought greater autonomy and more rights for Turkey's Kurds. The armed conflict between the two sides began in 1984.

In addition to the dispute over developing oil resources, the Kurds and the central government in Baghdad have been in a long-running dispute over lands claimed by the Kurds, power-sharing and rights to develop other natural resources.

Along with Sunni Arabs, the Kurds accuse Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, of amassing power in his hands and marginalizing political opponents.

Relations between Iraq and Turkey have been strained since December, when fugitive Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi took refuge in Turkey following accusations by Shiite-led government that he was running death squads. Turkish officials rejected Baghdad's request to hand over al-Hashemi, who was tried and convicted in absentia.

Turkish support for Sunni-led anti-government protests and a unilateral energy deal with Iraqi Kurds has added tension to relations between Baghdad and Ankara.

___

Associated Press writer Suzan Frazer in Ankara, Turkey contributed to this report.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan dropped to 3.40 percent. That's down from last week's rate of 3.49 percent, which was the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinancing option, fell to 2.73 percent, down from the record low of 2.77 percent last week.

The Fed is spending $40 billion a month to buy mortgage-backed securities. The goal is to lower mortgage rates and help the housing recovery. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says the program will continue until there is substantial improvement in the job market.

Some economists expect mortgage rates to fall even further because of the Fed's bond purchases.

The housing market already is benefiting from the lowest mortgage rates on record.Sales of both previously occupied and newly built homes in the U.S. are up from last year. Home prices are rising more consistently. And builders are more confident in the market and are starting to build more homes.

The broader economy is also likely to benefit from a revival in the housing market. When home prices rise, Americans typically feel wealthier and spend more.

Still, the housing market has a long way back. Sales and construction rates remain below healthy levels.

And some economists question whether lower rates will make much of a difference. The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage has been below 4 percent since early December. So most people who can qualify have likely already taken advantage of the lower rates.

Many people who would like to refinance or buy a home can't because they fail to meet stricter lending requirements or don't have enough money to make a down payment.

To calculate average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday of each week.

The average does not include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for 30-year loans was 0.6 point, unchanged from last week. The fee for 15-year loans also held steady at 0.6 point.

The average rate on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages dipped to 2.60 percent from 2.61 percent. The fee for one-year adjustable rate loans was unchanged at 0.4 point.

The average rate on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 2.71 percent from 2.76 percent. The fee remained at 0.6 point.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court justices on Monday signaled reluctance to issue too broad a ruling about patents on human genes, and some indicated they might seek a compromise distinguishing between types of genetic material.

The biotechnology industry has warned that an expansive ruling against Myriad Genetics Inc could threaten billions of dollars of investment.

In weighing the question of whether any human genes can ever be patented - meaning the holders have exclusive rights to their intellectual property for a defined period - the nine justices asked tough questions about isolated genes that Myriad holds patents for.

But the justices also appeared to be inclined to draw a line between synthetically produced genetic material and natural genes.

A court ruling along those lines, suggested by the Obama administration, would have less impact on Myriad. Some of the latest research using human genes involves a synthetic form of DNA called recombinant DNA, or rDNA.

Shares of Myriad were up $1.43 or 5.4 percent at $27.53 on midday trading on the Nasdaq. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 1 percent.

The Myriad patents in dispute will all expire by 2015. A ruling is due by the end of June this year.

In probing the limits of what can be patented, the justices cited a wide range of products in raising hypothetical questions, including chocolate-chip cookies and baseball bats.

A group of medical researchers, associations and patients say human genes, including synthetically produced material, should not be patented. They sued in 2009, challenging seven patents owned by or licensed to Myriad on two human genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. A federal judge said the patents were invalid. An appeals court overruled that decision, and the case landed at the Supreme Court.

Under the federal Patent Act, an inventor can obtain a patent on various new processes and products but "laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas" are not patentable. The broad legal question is whether the genes Myriad patented, called BRCA1 and BRCA2, are a product of nature. The appeals court said they were not.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted patents on at least 4,000 human genes to companies, universities and others that have discovered and decoded them.

CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND BASEBALL BATS

Lawyers from both sides and the Obama administration probed the limits of what can be patented. Justices cited examples of more familiar products, including chocolate-chip cookies and baseball bats.

It was Sotomayor who brought up the chocolate-chip cookies, wondering whether if it was possible to get a patent on an isolated human gene, it would be possible to do the same for salt, eggs and other cookie ingredients.

Separately, both Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts seized upon the suggestion made by Myriad lawyer Gregory Castanias that a baseball bat doesn't exist until it's isolated from the tree.

Roberts said a baseball bat was "quite different" because "you have to invent it" and not just "cut it off" from the tree.

Alito raised an even more extreme hypothetical question by asking whether a baseball bat that was naturally crafted after a piece of wood was tossed about in the ocean before washing up on shore could then be patented.

Several of the justices also ruminated at length on another colorful hypothetical question, also offered by Alito, concerning under what circumstances a company could claim a patent on material from a plant found in the Amazon jungle that can help treat cancer.

Others on the bench, such as Justice Elena Kagan, indicated concerns about the impact a broad ruling could have on companies that invest in such research.

"Why shouldn't we worry that Myriad or companies like it will just say, 'well, you know, we're not going to do this work anymore'?" she asked Christopher Hansen, the lawyer representing the challengers.

Alito appeared most concerned about the court issuing a sweeping ruling on what he described as a "very difficult" question.

"Why should we do that?" he asked.

POSSIBLE COMPROMISE?

Hansen sought to defuse concerns among the justices that he was asking for too broad a ruling. He said he was not asking for patents on rDNA to be invalidated, something industry groups had raised concerns about.

"Recombinant DNA is in fact what all the major innovations in the industry are doing these days," he said. "There is nothing in our position that would prevent recombinant DNA from being patented."

The Obama administration, which intervened in the case in support of neither side, has urged a compromise position, which several justices probed during the hour-long argument.

Government lawyers say that "synthesized genetic materials" can be patented because they are human-made inventions. But simply removing, or isolating, human DNA does not substantively change it and so it should not be eligible for a patent, the administration says.

If the court were to adopt that approach, which neither the plaintiffs nor Myriad accept, some of Myriad's patents, concerning synthetic molecules called cDNA, could survive, although the parties disagree on that point as well.

A majority appeared inclined to find that cDNA could be patented.

Emphasizing a need to tread carefully, Justice Stephen Breyer noted that patent law often involves "uneasy compromises."

Justice Anthony Kennedy asked Castanias directly whether a ruling based on the government position would give industry "sufficient protection" relating to innovation and research.

"I can't tell you for a certainty whether it would hurt the industry," Castanias said.

The case is Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-398.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller, John Wallace and Sofina Mirza-Reid)

Auction house Christie's said the song - "Go Away You Bomb" - was written for an unpublished book of protest songs when Dylan was working on his second album, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", which helped to propel him to global fame.

Dylan's early years were dominated by poetic, anti-war songs, including the folk classic "Blowin' In The Wind".

The lyrics of the new song include typically "beat" Dylan verse: "I hate you cause yer man-made and man-owned an' man-handled/An' you might be miss-made an' miss-owned an' miss- handled an' miss-used/An' I hate you cause you could drop on me by accident an' kill me."

Christies said Dylan compositions at the time were among his most political and led to him being dubbed the "Spokesman of a Generation".

"(This) is not only a beautiful example of Dylan's songwriting, representing his political protest activities during that era, but is also a potent symbol of the anxieties of the American public in the early 1960s," Nicolette Tomkinson, a director of Christie's, said in a statement.

She said the sheet of typed lyrics, including handwritten deletions and alterations, was expected to sell on June 26 for between 25,000-35,000 pounds ($39,000-$54,000).

Dylan wrote "Go Away You Bomb" in 1963 for Izzy Young, who owned the Folklore Center in Greenwich Village, New York, and organized Dylan's first concert in 1961.

Young, 85, who moved to Stockholm in the early 1970s and set up a similar center, came across the forgotten lyrics in a drawer a few years ago.

Funds raised from the sale will go to keep the center running.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

It's just the opposite for the two men who will be guiding the riders in the team cars when the three-week race begins on Saturday.

Wiggins is the defending Tour de France champion and has won four Olympic gold medals - three in track cycling plus the road time trial at last year's London Games.

Nibali's best achievement is winning the 2010 Spanish Vuelta, which ranks third among the sport's three Grand Tours.

Wiggins' team director with Sky, 38-year-old Marcus Ljungqvist, is a relative newcomer to the job. The 58-year-old Giuseppe Martinelli of Astana is one of the most experienced men in the sport.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Congress sifts through a growing number of requests for targeted relief from automatic spending cuts in coming weeks, advocates seeking funding shifts likely will need to tell a compelling story with potential life-or-death consequences.

Requests without such a strong selling point may find it impossible to gain enough bipartisan support as lawmakers vow not to repeat a swift and controversial action last week to save airline travelers from flight delays caused by automatic "sequestration" spending cuts.

Congress was worried about a toxic public backlash when it moved quickly to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to use some airport improvement funds to pay salaries of air traffic controllers, ending furloughs that had delayed thousands of flights across the country.

When members of Congress return from a recess on Monday, there will be no shortage of other requests to shift funds from other budget accounts awaiting them.

The National Park Service faces closures and cutbacks that will cost jobs in communities that depend on the parks as the summer travel season begins. Some 70,000 children may be shut out of the Head Start preschool program for low-income families while funding for Meals on Wheels, cancer research and some treatments for Medicare patients will be cut.

The Pentagon is expected to ask for more authority to move up to $7.5 billion within its budget to cover costs for training and military operations in Afghanistan. With troops still in harm's way, that request likely will face few objections.

More needs will pile up As the across-the-board spending cuts - $85 billion through September 30 - take hold. But most will fall on deaf ears as lawmakers insist that a comprehensive budget deal is needed to resolve sequester cuts, not individual fixes.

"With the possible exception of life-threatening issues, there will be plenty of pleas from people who represent worthy causes that get ignored," said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Potomac Research, an investment consulting firm.

"It's extremely unlikely that House Republicans will be willing to grant exceptions for national parks, Meals on Wheels or teachers," he said.

The sequester cuts that took effect March 1 were conceived in 2011 as a way to force the White House and Congress to find an alternative budget deal rather than have spending cuts kick in automatically. Policymakers failed to reach such an agreement and now must deal with the fallout from the cuts, which total will total $1.2 trillion over 10 years unless replaced.

Last month's flight delays created a mix of pressure from the airline industry and constituents facing a universally loathed problem that both parties could rally around.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, is not inclined to pursue additional one-off measures to deal with sequester, a Democratic leadership aide said. Reid would prefer to press forward with his proposal to simply delay the cuts through September 30 in order to buy more time for a broader budget deal.

"I just don't see another one-off bill that's going to rise to the same level as flight delays," a senior House Republican aide said.

Many House Republicans also are concerned about giving the Obama administration more authority to move money between budget accounts at federal agencies, which circumvents Congress' constitutional powers to direct spending.

In the case of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Republican aide said there is concern that such budget shifts could inadvertently give the agency power to help fund implementation of Obama's healthcare reform law, which many Republicans deeply despise and want to repeal.

SAY NO TO CANCER PATIENTS?

But funding cutbacks for some Medicare cancer treatments and cancer research studies also could be difficult for many lawmakers to resist.

The most concerted effort in this area is a Republican House bill that would exempt Medicare reimbursements on expensive cancer drugs administered at doctors' offices and clinics - one of the few portions of the healthcare program for the elderly that is subject to the sequester. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) would have to shift cuts in these reimbursement rates elsewhere under the measure.

The bill's author, Representative Renee Ellmers of North Carolina, a Tea Party favorite, argues that because of the sequester, oncology clinics have been sending patients to hospitals to get their drugs.

But hospital treatment costs, which are not subject to sequester, are far higher - an average increase of $6,500 per patient per year, according to one study. Ellmers argues that this circumvents the whole point of sequester spending cuts.

"We don't want to see treatments delayed, and some patients on fixed incomes might skip treatment altogether if they are forced to go across town to a hospital," said Ellmers, who spent two decades as a surgical nurse before winning a seat in Congress in 2010.

The measure has substantial bipartisan support, with 51 cosponsors including 11 Democrats. Separately, 124 House members from both parties signed a letter to the CMS director asking that "any available flexibility be used to direct the cuts away from patients."

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner declined to comment on the bill's prospects for passage, referring questions about it to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

THREAT TO CANCER TRIALS

Cancer research doctors also say further sequester funding cutbacks could ultimately cost lives.

Dr. Scott Lippman, director of the University of California-San Diego Moores Cancer Center, said the sequester will mean fewer clinical trials for promising therapies, and some patients ultimately will be turned away from these trials. Research on new treatments also could be slowed.

"This going to harm patients," Lippman said. "This is going to prevent patients from getting treatments that could save their lives."

At a time when advancements in cancer research are moving very quickly with new gene-based discoveries, he said now is "not the time to be slamming on the brakes."

While no trials have been canceled yet due to sequester alone, research centers are working hard to try to cut everything else that they can, said Dr. Edward Partridge, director of the University of Alabama-Birmingham's Comprehensive Cancer Center. But the choices will be difficult.

"We will do everything we can to maintain our current clinical trial volume," he said. "Even if it's at the expense of new discovery. I hope (sequester) doesn't last too long so that we have to withdraw the possibility of clinical trials for patients. That would be a disaster."

(Reporting By David Lawder; Editing by Fred Barbash and Bill Trott)

CBS viewers missed it. They also missed seeing Murray accept the trophy after he erased a championship point Sunday and rallied past Ferrer 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1).

An 11:30 a.m. start on Easter turned out not to be early enough for CBS. The network cut away when the final went to the tiebreaker, switching to the tipoff of the NCAA tournament game between Michigan and Florida.

"It's obviously a shame that people didn't get to see the end of what I think was a pretty exciting match," Murray said. "But that's the way it goes sometimes."

Tennis Channel televised the end of the match, and CBS later showed a replay of match point.

"We stayed with tennis as long as we could," a CBS spokeswoman said.

The final was filled with grinding baseline rallies, including at least a dozen of more than 20 strokes and one lasting 34. At 2 hours, 45 minutes, the match was the longest of the men's tournament, and the end ran a few minutes past the scheduled start of Michigan-Florida.

Sony Open tournament director Adam Barrett said CBS officials had a commitment to show basketball.

"They stayed with our match for as long as possible, forgoing their pre-NCAA tournament coverage and delaying the start of the Michigan-Florida tipoff in an attempt to complete its broadcast of the match," Barrett said in a statement. "Although we wish the match could have been shown in its entirety, we understand that these situations do arise."

Coincidentally, the Sony Open's contract with CBS expires this year. The tournament does not yet have a signed TV deal for 2014.

While the basketball game turned out to be lopsided, with Michigan winning 79-59, the tennis couldn't have been closer. Murray became the first Key Biscayne men's champion to save a championship point.

One point from defeat in the last set, the Scotsman skipped a forehand off the baseline to stay in the match. Ferrer appealed the call but lost, and he battled leg cramps in the tiebreaker.

"I don't think either of us played our best tennis," Murray said. "There was a lot of breaks and ups and downs, quite a lot of mistakes from both of us. But what I did do was fight hard."

Murray also won the title in 2009. His path to this year's championship was made easier because Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal skipped the tournament and Novak Djokovic lost in the fourth round.

Murray made a breakthrough last year by winning an Olympic gold medal and his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open. He'll now move ahead of Federer to No. 2 in the rankings behind Djokovic.

The No. 3-seeded Ferrer, who was seeking the biggest title of his career, fell to 0-13 against top-five players in finals. Spaniards are 0-6 in the Key Biscayne men's final, with Nadal losing three of those matches.

But Murray sang the praises of Ferrer, a frequent practice partner.

"He's one of the best players in the world," Murray said. "Every time I play against him, people expect me to win. I say it's so tough against him. He has a great attitude and is a great fighter."

Murray has a home 15 minutes from the tournament site, near downtown Miami, and spends three months a year in South Florida. But the sellout crowd was firmly behind Ferrer.

"Playing here in Miami is like when I play in Spain," Ferrer said during the trophy ceremony to a roar from his rooters.

"I'm sorry," he added, managing a chuckle. "I'm so sorry. One point. Next time."

Playing in sunny, 80-degree weather, Murray and Ferrer were both drained in the third set, which started with six consecutive service breaks.

"It was so tough physically and mentally that you were just trying to play each point," Murray said.

Murray was a point from defeat serving at 5-6. When he hit a forehand on the line, Ferrer stopped to challenge the call. A panting Murray leaned on his racket while replay confirmed the ruling to make the score deuce.

"That's the beauty of the challenge system," Murray said. "In some matches, it would have been over. Luckily it just dropped in."

He won the game to hold two points later, then raced to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker. At 4-1, a grinding exchange ended with Ferrer pulling a backhand wide, and he then collapsed to the concrete from cramps.

Ferrer limped through the final two points. When Murray hit a return winner for the victory, he quickly dropped his racket, eager to call it a day. The two finalists then met at the net to trade weary pats on the back.

___

AP Sports Writer Melissa Murphy in New York contributed to this report.

[More from BGR: ]

Colin Gillis of BGC Partners, per Benzinga,upgraded shares of the company on Tuesday from Hold to Buy, citing the reduced price as an opportunity for potential investors.He believes that the recent wave of negative press will result in any positive news propelling shares to jump to the $500 level.

[More from BGR: ]

The analyst warned that Apple still faces obstacles in the smartphone and tablet market, although new product cycles will likely see the stock price increase once again. Apple is set to report its second quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday. Gillis thinks the companys earnings will be on the lower end of Wall Streets expectations and its third quarter guidance will be tepid, although such concerns have already been baked into the stock.

This article was

Weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 16,000 to 339,000, the second-lowest level in more than five years, according to the Labor Department.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 65 points to 14,742 as of 12:42 p.m. Eastern, a gain of 0.4 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 was up nine at 1,588, or 0.6 percent.

The drop in jobless claims is especially welcome in a job market that has suffered some recent setbacks. In March, employers added only 88,000 jobs. That was a sharp drop from the previous four months, when hiring averaged 220,000 per month. The unemployment rate fell to 7.6 percent from 7.7 percent, but only because more people stopped looking for jobs.

Many companies have been reporting better first-quarter results, but not necessarily because of stronger economic conditions.

So far this season, 71 percent of S&P 500 companies have beat analysts' profit expectations, according to John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet. But that has come more from cost-cutting than from business going gangbusters. Fifty-six percent of those companies have missed estimates for revenue.

The trend has a precedent: Last year, less than half of S&P 500 companies beat revenue estimates in the second and third quarters, according to Butters.

Dow Chemical, which reported results Thursday, fit both descriptions. The company managed to increase profits even as revenue slipped because it cut costs and paid down debt. The stock was up 5 percent at $33.83.

In a report to clients Thursday morning, ConvergEx Group analyst Nicholas Colas noted the higher earnings but said they don't match the "real feel" of an economy still crimped by "lackluster jobs growth, a flattening rate of improvement in the housing market, and incremental government austerity measures."

"If U.S. companies have proven anything in the last four years of subpar macroeconomic results," Colas wrote, "it is that they can make gallons of lemonade from just a few shriveled bits of citrus."

Profit and revenue jumped at the cruise line Royal Caribbean as more people booked vacations than a year ago, and the stock jumped 7 percent to $36.66. This year's comparisons, however, are a bit unusual: Last year's results were hurt because of the sinking of the Costa Concordia, owned by rival cruise line Carnival.

Profit and revenue also rose at 3M, maker of Scotch tape and construction equipment. But the stock was down 3 percent at $104.51. Investors were unnerved when the company cut its profit predictions for the year, citing a "low-growth economic environment."

Profit and revenue fell at Cliffs Natural Resources and Carbo Ceramics, but the stocks went in opposite directions. Cliffs, which sells iron ore, shot 15 percent higher to $21.05. Carbo, which provides services and parts for the petroleum industry, plunged 13 percent to $74.92.

At Cliffs, the lower profits were still better than analysts had expected. At Carbo, investors were worried because the company said Chinese ceramic imports were hurting its pricing, and because drilling companies were taking more rigs out of action.

Safeway, a major grocery store chain, plunged 18 percent to $23.31 after reporting revenue that missed Wall Street's expectations, even as its earnings per share was in line with estimates. Safeway has been focusing on low prices to fend off competition from discounters such as dollar stores and big-box retailers.

The Nasdaq composite index was up 27 to 3,296, or 0.8 percent.

In other markets, gold futures rose 2 percent to $1,455 an ounce and the price of crude oil rose 1 percent to $92.50 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged up to 1.72 percent from 1.71 percent.

North Carolina Central University imposed a lockdown after an attempted armed robbery at a residence hall, according to a statement issued by the school.

Officials said the suspect displayed a weapon but ran away without getting anything. There was a second report of a gunman in a classroom complex, but that sighting was determined to be false.

The lockdown at N.C. Central was lifted around 3 p.m.

Earlier Friday, North Carolina A&T State University was placed on lockdown after reports of a man with a rifle on campus.

Prior to the lockdown being lifted at A&T, spokeswoman Nettie Rowland said no shots had been fired and that police had a description of the suspect. School officials did not respond to phone calls seeking additional information on why the lockdown was lifted.

The lockdown on the Greensboro campus was lifted in the early afternoon.

The two campuses are approximately 50 miles apart.

Officials at Elizabeth City State University in northeastern North Carolina issued a lockdown late Thursday night after a report of shots fired on campus. Students were ordered to remain in their residence halls after the lockdown was lifted around 1 a.m. Friday.

While there were no reports of injuries, the school said a campus police officer received a scrape on his face, though it's not clear how.