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As U.S. and other intelligence agencies scrutinize North Korean preparations for a possible long-range missile launch, the Bush administration is readying a response if North Korea does fire – and puzzling over the rogue nation's motives.
It was a mixed bag for U.S. retailers last month, as rising gas prices seem to have taken a toll on many consumers. Companies this morning reported sales figures for stores open a year or longer.
I have been observing British politics since the early 1960s, and I have noticed a common pattern: Until the 1990s, the party in power has most of the time been behind in the polls. It struck me that Brits had some visceral sense that expressing disapproval in polls placed some limits on the prime minister's theoretically dictatorial powers—he (or she) can get practically any legislation he (or she) wants through the House of Commons but is likely to be restrained from going too far by public opinion. Tony Blair and his New Labor Party changed that pattern: From 1997 up through the 2005 election, Blair has generally enjoyed positive job ratings and has been favored over the leader of the Conservative Party.
AP - South Korea said Friday that it had turned down a North Korean proposal to hold military talks this week, citing tension over the North's test-firing of seven missiles. North Korea said its missile barrage was not an attack on anyone.
AP - Israeli aircraft struck armed Palestinians in northern Gaza early Friday after the bloodiest day of clashes in the strip since Israel withdrew last summer.
AP - Iraqi soldiers captured a militant leader and more than 30 insurgents were killed or wounded Friday in a gunbattle in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
Britain is marking one year since four suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured hundreds in London. Planned events include a two-minute silence across the country and a memorial service at Regent's Park. Plaques will also be unveiled at the tube stations that were hit by the attacks and at the site of the bus bombing, Tavistock Square.
U.S. President George W. Bush says this week's missile tests by North Korea offer an opportunity to rally global pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
President Bush isn't troubled by some of the weakest approval ratings of his presidency, he said Thursday in a wide-ranging birthday interview with CNN's "Larry King Live."
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