More threats from North Korea

More threats from North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea

North Korea’s most powerful state organ said Friday that South Korea faked the sinking of one of its own warships and warned that the Korean peninsula was edging ever closer to war.

Pyongyang has made similar statements through state media since a multinational probe said last week that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine downed the vessel, killing 46 sailors in the worst attack on the South Korean military since the Korean War.

This time, though, the comments were delivered at an extremely rare press conference in the North Korean capital presided over by a uniformed official with the secretive country’s National Defense Commission, which is headed by leader Kim Jong Il.

White House: Rep was offered job

WASHINGTON

Forced to disclose backstage political bargaining, President Barack Obama’s embarrassed White House said Friday it had enlisted Bill Clinton to try to ease Rep. Joe Sestak out of Pennsylvania’s Senate primary with a job offer.

Nothing wrong with that, the White House said. Oh, yes, there was, Republicans countered.

The administration admission — it said Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had asked the former president to call Sestak — left many questions unanswered, and it seemed unlikely the issue had been put to rest.

Attacks on mosques kill at least 80

LAHORE, Pakistan

Islamist gunmen and a suicide squad lobbed grenades, sprayed bullets from atop a minaret and took hostages Friday in attacks on two mosques packed with worshippers from a minority sect in Pakistan. At least 80 people were killed and dozens wounded.

The strikes — the deadliest against the Ahmadi community — highlight the threat to minority religious groups by the same militants who have repeatedly attacked Pakistan’s U.S.-allied government and threatened to destabilize the nuclear-armed nation.

More children’s medicines recalled

WASHINGTON

More children’s medicines are being recalled because they were made at the same Johnson & Johnson plant where federal health authorities found poor quality standards.

Blacksmith Brands Inc. announced a recall Friday for about 100,000 units of four PediaCare items sold nationwide. These recalled items include PediaCare Multi-Symptom Cold, PediaCare Long Acting Cough, Pedia- Care Decongestant and PediaCare Allergy and Cold.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, made the products for Blacksmith Brands at McNeil’s Fort Washington, Pa., plant. Blacksmith Brands, of Tarrytown, N.Y., owns the PediaCare brands that were affected by the Friday recall.

Associated Press