N. Korean nuclear envoy to visit US

N. Korean nuclear envoy to visit US

SEOUL, South Korea

In another sign of warming relations between two wartime foes, a senior North Korean nuclear negotiator will attend a security conference in the United States, a U.S. official confirmed Thursday.

Word of Ri Yong Ho’s visit to the forum held by Syracuse University comes on the heels of a breakthrough agreement that will provide much-needed U.S. food aid to North Korea in exchange for a rollback of its nuclear programs.

Outcry over judge’s Obama email

HELENA, Mont.

An appellate court will conduct a judicial misconduct review of Montana’s chief federal judge, who sent an email to friends that contained a racist joke involving bestiality and President Barack Obama’s mother.

Judge Richard Cebull also plans to send Obama a formal apology, but that has not stopped calls for the judge’s resignation.

EU leaders endorse Serbian candidacy

BRUSSELS

European Union leaders formally made Serbia a candidate for membership in the bloc, in a remarkable turnaround for a country considered a pariah just over a decade ago.

Serbia had been widely expected to get EU candidacy in December after it captured two top war crimes suspects, but was disappointed when Germany delayed the move, saying it wanted to see more progress in talks with Kosovo.

1 student wounded in shooting at school

WILLCOX, Ariz.

An adult shot at another adult before a Thursday afternoon high-school baseball game in southeastern Arizona but missed and instead wounded a nearby student, authorities said.

The shooter was among two adults in custody, and police said they were looking for a third person involved in the incident at Willcox High School, about 200 miles southeast of Phoenix.

The student suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital, Willcox police spokeswoman Patty Ackerson said.

Battered towns await more storms

HARRISBURG, Ill.

Crews cleared splintered plywood and smashed appliances from small-town neighborhoods Thursday, a day after tornadoes killed 13 people in the Midwest and South. But the forecast held a menacing possibility: More twisters may be coming, and they could be even stronger.

Damaged communities tried to take advantage of the brief break in the weather, mindful of one meteorologist’s warning that by today, both regions would again be “right in the bull’s eye.”

Criticism grows over NYPD spying

TRENTON, N.J.

New York City’s Police Department is facing mounting criticism of its secret surveillance of Muslims across the Northeast, with ACLU chapters and numerous other groups demanding an investigation and New Jersey’s governor accusing the NYPD of arrogantly acting as if “their jurisdiction is the world.”

The intelligence-gathering was detailed recently in a series of stories by The Associated Press, which reported that police monitored mosques and Muslims around the metropolitan area and kept tabs on Muslim student groups at universities in upstate New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The department also sent an undercover agent on a whitewater rafting trip with college students.

Associated Press