WORLD DIGEST || Secret Service meets with Nugent

Secret Service meets with Nugent

WASHINGTON

After meeting with rocker Ted Nugent on Thursday, the Secret Service says its probe into what he had to say about President Barack Obama is over.

Last weekend during a National Rifle Association meeting in St. Louis, Nugent rallied support for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and said of the Obama administration: “We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November.” He also said he would be “dead or in jail by this time next year” if Obama is re-elected.

That drew the attention of the Secret Service. Nugent said he discussed the matter with two agents Thursday while in Oklahoma.

“The issue has been resolved,” agency spokesman Brian Leary said in a statement. “The Secret Service does not anticipate any further action.”

India missile test has few critics

NEW DELHI

India’s successful test of a powerful new missile that can carry nuclear weapons to Beijing caused barely a ripple — even in China — just days after North Korea was globally vilified for a failed rocket launch.

The vastly different responses show the world has grown to accept India as a responsible and stable nuclear power, while shunning North Korea as a pariah.

“It’s not the spear, but who holds the spear that matters,” said Rahul Bedi, a defense analyst in India. “North Korea is a condemned nation. It’s a pariah country. Its record of breaking nuclear agreements is well known. India has emerged in that sense as a fairly responsible country.”

Rubio accidentally calls himself VP

WASHINGTON

Wherever Sen. Marco Rubio goes, talk of vice president follows — whether he’s inadvertently referring to himself as the second in command or insisting to questioners that he’d rather stay in the Senate.

In the morning Thursday, the Florida Republican called himself vice president at a forum sponsored by the National Journal, saying, “If I have done a good job as vice president ...” He quickly corrected himself. It was unclear whether the slip was intentional.

Later in the day, he told reporters that he’d prefer to remain in Congress but left open the possibility of an ambitious political future in 2016 or beyond.

Bombs kill 30 in Iraqi cities

BAGHDAD

Bombs ripped through 10 Iraqi cities Thursday, killing at least 30 people and shattering a month of relative calm. Minority lawmakers decried the violence as a tragic but inevitable result of the Shiite-led government’s attempts to dominate Iraqi politics.

Despite simmering sectarian tensions, a lull in deadly attacks since mid-March led many to hope Iraq had turned a corner and away from widespread violence. That proved overly optimistic as at least 14 bombs and mortar shells exploded across 10 cities over three hours in the morning. At least 117 people were wounded, police said.

Associated Press