North Korea fires long-range rocket

North Korea fires long-range rocket

PYONGYANG, North Korea

Defying international concerns, North Korea fired a long-range rocket early today, but it appears to have fallen into the sea, splintering moments after takeoff, South Korean and U.S. officials said.

The liftoff took place at 7:39 a.m. from the west-coast launch pad in the hamlet of Tongchang-ri, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said, citing South Korean and U.S. intelligence.

The two countries as well as many others had warned against the launch, calling it a provocation and a cover to test missile technology. North Korea had insisted it would not back down, and said the rocket would carry only a satellite, touting it as a major technological achievement to mark the 100th birth anniversary of the country’s founder, Kim Il Sung, on Sunday.

John Edwards trial

GREENSBORO, N.C.

After years of investigation, denials and delays, jury selection began Thursday for the criminal trial of former presidential candidate John Edwards.

Edwards sat at the defense table as about 180 potential jurors filed into a Greensboro, N.C., courtroom. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Eagles then asked Edwards to stand and face them. He grinned and nodded as the judge introduced him.

The trial had been scheduled to begin in late January but was delayed after Edwards’ lawyers told the judge he had a serious heart problem that required treatment. Compared with the quick-smiling candidate of four years ago, the former U.S. senator, now 58, appeared slightly gaunt in the cheeks but still had no trace of gray in his carefully parted hair.

Toy grenade prompts evacuation

NEW YORK

A gag grenade mounted on a plaque that said “Complaint department: Take a number” led to the evacuation Thursday of an office building near ground zero, and the employee responsible for it was put on administrative leave.

The package was discovered in a mail room. It was a fake, 1940s-style pineapple grenade mounted on a plaque, with a number one attached to the pin.

The police bomb squad was called to 2 World Financial Center in lower Manhattan at midday when a security guard reported a mail-order package that seemed suspicious. Brookfield Properties, which runs the property, ordered an evacuation as a precaution.

Syrian opposition calls for protests

BEIRUT

Syria’s opposition called for widespread protests today to test the regime’s commitment to an internationally brokered cease-fire that the U.N. chief described as so fragile it could collapse with a single gunshot.

Regime forces halted heavy shelling and other major attacks in line with the truce that began at dawn Thursday, though there were accusations of scattered violence by both sides. The government ignored demands to pull troops back to barracks, however, defying a key aspect of the plan, which aims to calm a year-old uprising that has killed 9,000 people and has pushed the country toward civil war.

Multiple officers reportedly shot

GREENLAND, N.H.

A police dispatcher in Greenland, N.H., said multiple police officers were shot and injured Thursday, but it was not known how many or how badly they were hurt.

The Portsmouth Herald reported that state police and officers from at least four departments responded to a home on Post Road in the small seacoast community of Greenland, about 5 miles from Portsmouth.

Associated Press