Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/109167
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 ��� Daily News 3B WORLD BRIEFING North Korea conducts 3rd underground nuclear test P Y O N G YA N G , North Korea (AP) ��� Defying U.N. warnings, North Korea on Tuesday conducted its third nuclear test in the remote, snowy northeast, taking a crucial step toward its goal of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on a missile capable of striking the United States. North Korea said the atomic test was merely its ������first response������ to what it called U.S. threats, and said it will continue with unspecified ������second and third measures of greater intensity������ if Washington maintains its hostility. The underground test, which set off powerful seismic waves, drew immediate condemnation from Washington, the U.N. and others. Even its only major ally, China, summoned the North���s ambassador for a dressing-down. President Barack Obama, who was scheduled to give a State of the Union address later Tuesday, said nuclear tests ������do not make North Korea more secure.������ Instead, North Korea has ������increasingly isolated and impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of weapons of mass destruction,������ he said in a statement. But the Obama administration���s options for a response are limited, and a U.S. military strike is highly unlikely. Obama to announce 34K US troops to be home from Afghanistan in 1 year WASHINGTON (AP) ��� President Barack Obama���s decision to bring home within a year about half of the 66,000 U.S. troops now in Afghanistan will shrink the force to the size he found it when he entered the White House vowing to reinvigorate a stalemated war. Still to be decided: how many troops will remain beyond 2014, when the U.S.-led combat mission is scheduled to end. The stated goal is to prepare Afghanistan���s army and police to handle the Taliban insurgency largely on their own by then. Obama determined that his war goals could be achieved by bringing 34,000 U.S. troops home by this time next year, officials said, leaving somewhere between 32,000 and 34,000 to support and train Afghan forces. That is about the number in Afghanistan when he took office in January 2009; in a series of moves designed to reverse the Taliban���s battlefield momentum, he tripled the total American force before starting to scale it back in the summer of 2011. Obama���s new move coincides with a major shakeup in his war command. Gen. Joseph Dunford took over Sunday for Gen. John Allen as the commander of all allied The Vatican went out of its way Tuesday to declare that for Benedict, retirement means just that: Retirement. With speculation swirling about his future role, the Vatican���s chief spokesman explicitly stated that Benedict will not influence the election of his successor. And the Rev. Federico Lombardi deepened the sense of finality by saying that after his Feb. 28 abdication, ������objects strictly connected������ with the papal ministry will be ������terminated.������ Among these is the papal ring, used as a seal for documents, which is smashed upon a pope���s death. forces in Afghanistan, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is planning to retire as soon as his replacement is confirmed. Obama has nominated former Sen. Chuck Hagel to take the Pentagon post. The decision also reflects Obama���s determination to wind down a war that is the longest in America���s history. He has many other security problems to consider around the globe ��� from North Korea���s development of nuclear weapons to civil war in Syria to the worrisome spread of al-Qaida affiliated terrorist groups in the Middle East and North Africa. Senators clash at gun hearing Obama is stressing the economy WASHINGTON (AP) ��� Still hampered by the vulnerable economy, President Barack Obama is using his State of the Union address to appeal for new spending to create jobs while also pledging to cut the federal deficit, in part by raising taxes ��� issues Republicans are likely to oppose. Speaking before a divided Congress Tuesday night, Obama also will announce a major reduction in U.S. military forces in Afghanistan, withdrawing 34,000 troops within a year, half the total deployed there. And he���ll sharply rebuke North Korea for defying the international community and launching a nuclear test hours before Obama���s remarks. But it���s the economy at center stage, as it has been each time Obama has stood before lawmakers and a national TV audience for the annual address. Despite marked improvements since he took office four years ago, the unemployment rate is still hovering around 8 percent and consumer confidence has slipped. White House officials said Obama would offer the public an outline for job creation, though much of his blueprint will include elements Americans have heard before, including spending more money to boost manufacturing and improve infrastructure. Getting that new spending through Congress appears unlikely, given that it would require support from Republicans who blocked similar measures during Obama���s first term. The president is expected to be uncompromising in his calls for lawmakers to offset across-the-board spending cuts that are scheduled to begin March 1 with a mix of tax increases and targeted budget cuts. Vatican sends clear message VATICAN CITY (AP) ��� The papal ring will be destroyed, along with other powerful emblems of authority, just as they are after a pope���s death. The retiring Pope Benedict XVI will live in a monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens and will likely even give up his beloved theological writing. WASHINGTON (AP) ��� The toll of gun violence and the widespread disgust it has generated makes it time for new federal gun curbs that balance public safety with gun rights, Democrats said Tuesday at the Senate���s latest hearing on restricting firearms. Republicans said today���s unenforced gun laws give criminals no reason to fear ignoring those laws. And they warned that the Constitution���s right to bear arms must be protected, even after unspeakable events like the December slaughter of 20 firstgraders in Connecticut. Each side trotted out their own legal experts, statistics and even relatives of people slain by gunwielding assailants. In the end there was little partisan agreement, though Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said cooperation was possible on stopping straw purchases, in which someone legally buys a gun for a criminal or a person barred from owning one.