Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/121679
Saturday, April 13, 2013 – Daily News 7A WORLD BRIEFING linist, lion tamer, canoeist, U.N. diplomat, bullfighter, flutist, delusional psychiatric patient, British headmaster and Bing Crosby's golf club. North Korea ready to test a missile? WASHINGTON (AP) — On the brink of an expected North Korean missile test, U.S. officials focused on the limits of Pyongyang's nuclear firepower Friday, trying to shift attention from the disclosure that the Koreans might be able to launch a nuclear strike. They insisted that while the unpredictable government might have rudimentary nuclear capabilities, it has not proven it has a weapon that could reach the United States. A senior defense official said the U.S. sees a "strong likelihood" that North Korea will launch a test missile in coming days in defiance of international calls for restraint. The effort is expected to test the North's ballistic missile technologies, not a nuclear weapon, said the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. Unless the missile unexpectedly heads for a U.S. or allied target, the Pentagon does not plan to try to shoot it down, several officials said. As a precaution, the U.S. has arrayed in the Pacific a number of missile defense Navy ships, tracking radars and other elements of its worldwide network for shooting down hostile missiles. The tensions playing out on the Korean peninsula are the latest in a long-running drama that dates to the 1950-53 Korean War, fed by the North's conviction that Washington is intent on destroying the government in Pyongyang and Washington's worry that the North could, out of desperation, reignite the war by invading the South. The mood in the North Korean capital, meanwhile, was hardly so tense. Many people were in the streets preparing for the birthday of national Baxter Black, Cowboy Poet, April 16, 7:00 p.m., State Theatre. Tickets at The Loft, Gold Exchange, Shasta Farm & Equipment, Cottonwood, Rabobank, Corning or online at www. statetheatreredbluff.com clashed with troops in the northeastern border city of Qamishli, two kilometers (miles) away from the border with Turkey. Fighting is rare in the predominantly Kurdish and Christian city, where rebels usually maintain a truce with the government. Syrian troops battle rebels in hills near Premiums border with under Lebanon A L - Q A S R , Obama's LEBANON (AP) — Syrian soldiers backed by budget founder Kim Il Sung — the biggest holiday of the year. Even so, this year's big flower show in Kim's honor features an exhibition of orchids built around mock-ups of redtipped missiles, slogans hailing the military and reminders of threats to the nation. The Santa Clara County sheriff's office arrested three 16-year-old boys on Thursday on suspicion of sexual battery in the case. Suicide victim assaulted by friends after drinking LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jonathan Winters, the cherub-faced comedian whose breakneck improvisations and misfit characters inspired the likes of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey, has died. He was 87. The Ohio native died Thursday evening at his Montecito, Calif., home of natural causes, said Joe Petro III, a longtime friend. He was surrounded by family and friends. Winters was a pioneer of improvisational standup comedy, with an exceptional gift for mimicry, a grab bag of eccentric personalities and a bottomless reservoir of creative energy. Facial contortions, sound effects, tall tales — all could be used in a matter of seconds to get a laugh. "Jonathon Winters was the worthy custodian of a sparkling and childish comedic genius. He did God's work. I was lucky 2 know him," Carrey tweeted on Friday. On Jack Paar's television show in 1964, Winters was handed a footlong stick and he swiftly became a fisherman, vio- SARATOGA (AP) — A 15-year-old California girl committed suicide after she was sexually assaulted by three of her friends and a photo of the attack surfaced online, an attorney said Friday. Robert Allard, a lawyer for the family of Audrie Pott, said she saw an intimate photo being passed around online and pieced together from emails and text messages that her friends had victimized her while she slept. She hanged herself eight days after the September 2012 assault in the upscale bedroom community of Saratoga on the fringe of Silicon Valley. Allard did not provide additional details about how Audrie was assaulted, but he said she had fallen asleep after drinking at a sleepover. Jonathan Winters dead at 87 warplanes battled rebels for control of strategic hilltop villages near the Lebanese border on Friday, as government troops step up counterattacks against opposition forces threatening regime supply lines on the country's frontiers. Bomb blasts and shots fired into the air to mourn a fallen Syrian government soldier could be heard on the Lebanese side of the border as fighting raged around Qusair, a contested central Syrian town near a key highway between Damascus and the coast. The battles there came as government forces launched a second offensive against rebels in the province of Daraa on the Jordanian border, where the opposition has been making steady advances in recent weeks. While President Bashar Assad's forces are stretched thin and much of the country has been allowed to slip into the hands of the rebels, the government is still fighting hard to keep control of airports, seaports, and roads linking them to the capital Damascus that are seen as essential to its survival. Also on Friday, activists said rebels controversy. Republicans are intrigued, but most Democrats don't like the idea. The plan itself is complicated. The bottom line is not: more money for the government. Obama's new budget calls for raising $50 billion over 10 years by increasing monthly "income-related" premiums for outpatient and prescription drug coverage. The comparable number last year was $28 billion over the decade. Thatcher song is latest censorship controversy WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's plan to raise Medicare premiums for upper-income seniors would create five new income brackets to squeeze more revenue for the government from the top tiers of retirees, the administration revealed Friday. First details of the plan emerged after Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified to Congress on the president's budget. As released two days earlier, the budget included only a vague description of a controversial proposal that has grown more ambitious since Obama last floated it. "Means testing" has been part of Medicare since the George W. Bush administration, but ramping it up is bound to stir LONDON (AP) — A 70-year-old song is giving the BBC a headache. The radio and television broadcaster has agonized over whether to play "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead," a tune from "The Wizard of Oz" that is being driven up the charts by opponents of Margaret Thatcher as a mocking memorial to the late British prime minister. A compromise announced Friday — the BBC will play part of "Ding Dong!" but not the whole song on its chartcountdown radio show — is unlikely to end the recriminations Good News Lawns & More Sierra Sound *Lawn Care NEW & USED CD's (Weekly/Monthly) *Yard Clean-Up *Weed Abatement * Lite Handyman ***and more FREE ESTIMATES 530-526-9789 LIC#11349 Spring is here... Time to clear!! Special Orders Avail. Car Stereo Sales - Service Installation We make house calls! 226 So. Main St., Red Bluff 527-3735 TAX SEASON SPECIAL! Find out how your tax refund could get you all the way out of debt! For a free bankruptcy consultation call J. C. Olander, Attorney 530-824-0288 Offices in Corning and Redding A federally qualified Debt Relief Agency under 11 U.S.C. 101(12(A)) The Future of Rural Communities Featuring A Branding Project Update The Launch of Phase II - Product Development State, Regional and Local Forecast Robert Eyler, Ph.D. Professor, Economics Building a 21st Century Roadmap for Tehama County Futurist Garry Golden Tuesday, April 23, 2013 Carlino's Event Center / Rolling Hills Casino 2655 Barham Road / Corning 7:30am to noon (breakfast provided) $25 per person Register Today Call 530-529-7000 or visit www.jobtrainingcenter.org