North Korea fires missiles during summit
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea test-fired two medium-range ballistic missiles Wednesday, South Korea and the U.S. said, a defiant challenge to a rare three-way summit of its rivals Seoul, Tokyo and Washington that focused on the North’s security threat.
The launch of the Rodong missiles – for the first time since 2009 – violates U.N. Security Council resolutions and marks a big escalation from a series of shorter-range rocket launches the North has staged in recent weeks to protest ongoing annual military drills by the U.S. and South Korea that Pyongyang claims are invasion preparation.
Obama urges Europe to support ideals
BRUSSELS – Calling it a global “moment of testing,” President Barack Obama appealed to Europeans on Wednesday to recommit to the war-won ideals of freedom and human dignity, declaring that people voicing those values will ultimately triumph in Ukraine.
Obama said young people born today come into a world more devoid of conflict and replete with freedom than at any time in history – even if that providence isn’t fully appreciated. He urged the 28-nation NATO alliance to make good on their commitments to the collective security that has fostered prosperity in the decades since the Cold War concluded.
“We must never forget that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom,” Obama said, adding that the Ukraine crisis has neither easy answers nor a military solution.
Secret Service scandal troubles senator
WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee said Wednesday he’s troubled by an incident involving a drunken Secret Service agent in connection with President Barack Obama’s overseas trip to the Netherlands.
On Sunday, the agency called three agents home from the Netherlands just before Obama’s arrival for talks with foreign leaders in The Hague. One agent had been found inebriated inside a hotel.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said Wednesday he is “troubled by the reports regarding the behavior of a few Secret Service agents serving on the president’s detail in the Netherlands,” according to a statement. His office said he’s asked the Secret Service for more information about the episode.
Executions increase, new report says
NEW YORK –The number of known executions around the world rose almost 15 percent in 2013, and the United States was among the five countries putting the most people to death, a new report says.
The Amnesty International report released Wednesday comes shortly after a stunning decision this week by an Egyptian court to sentence to death 529 alleged supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood after a two-session trial.
The London-based rights group has called the action “grotesque.”
Associated Press
