N. Korean threats

N. Korean threats

SEOUL, South Korea

North Korea threatened today to bolster its war capability and conduct a fourth nuclear test to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility that led to the approval of a landmark U.N. resolution on its human-rights violations.

A U.N. committee Tuesday adopted the resolution urging the Security Council to refer the North’s rights situation to the International Criminal Court. It’s the first time a U.N. resolution included the idea that the North’s absolute leader could be targeted by prosecutors. Before the U.N. vote, a North Korean envoy threatened a nuclear test.

Gay marriages proceed in Mont., SC

HELENA, Mont.

A federal judge on Wednesday overturned the state gay-marriage ban in Montana, one of the last states to continue defending its ban despite rulings in favor of same-sex marriage from appeals courts that oversee them.

At least two counties — Missoula and Park — started issuing marriage licenses to gay couples soon after, while court clerks elsewhere in the state geared up to do so today.

In South Carolina, a judge issued the first gay-marriage licenses and a couple was married Wednesday, even as the state attorney general asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and block the unions.

Cops: Beauty queen, sister slain in rage

SANTA BARBARA, Honduras

The dark-haired beauty was to have flown to London on Wednesday to compete in the Miss World pageant — the high point of her reign as Miss Honduras. But she and her sister were found shot dead on a remote river bank, and police said the sister’s boyfriend confessed killing them in a jealous rage over his girlfriend dancing with another man.

Bodies believed to be 19-year-old Maria Jose Alvarado and her 23-year-old sister, Sofia, were discovered buried near the spa where they disappeared a week earlier while celebrating the boyfriend’s birthday.

At some point during the night of Nov. 13, a heated argument broke out and Plutarco Ruiz pulled a gun, firing first at his girlfriend and then at Alvarado as she tried to flee, said National Police director, Gen. Ramon Sabillon. Alvarado was hit twice in the back.

Their bodies were discovered early Wednesday after Ruiz led investigators to the remote grave site where he and a purported accomplice buried them.

Man arrested near White House

WASHINGTON

The Secret Service arrested an Iowa man Wednesday afternoon after finding a hunting rifle, dozens of rounds of ammunition and a knife in the trunk of his car parked near the White House.

R.J. Kapheim, 41, was arrested on a charge of having an unregistered firearm.

Kapheim, from Davenport, Iowa, was arrested after he approached uniformed officers along 15th Street just before 1 p.m. and explained that someone in Iowa told him to drive to the White House. He later showed them to his car parked nearby and let officers search the vehicle.

Utah revives plans for firing squads

SALT LAKE CITY

Ten years after banning the use of firing squads in state executions, Utah lawmakers Wednesday endorsed a proposal to allow the practice again to avoid problems with lethal-injection drugs.

The proposal from Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield would call for a firing squad if the state cannot obtain the lethal-injection drugs 30 days before the scheduled execution.

Utah dropped firing squads out of concern about the media attention, but Ray said it’s the most humane way to execute someone because the inmate dies instantly.

Associated Press