US: North Korean missile launch a ‘catastrophic’ failure

US: North Korean missile launch a ‘catastrophic’ failure

SEOUL, South Korea

A North Korea missile launch meant to celebrate the birthday of the country’s founder ended in failure, U.S. defense officials said Friday, an embarrassing setback in what was reportedly the inaugural test of a new, powerful midrange missile.

“It was a fiery, catastrophic attempt at a launch that was unsuccessful,” said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. He said U.S. officials are still assessing, but it was likely a road-mobile missile, given that it was launched from a location not usually used for ballistic missile launches, on the country’s east coast.

House GOP misses budget deadline

WASHINGTON

House Republicans departed Washington on Friday having missed a deadline to pass their long-stalled budget and without appearing to revive it despite the embarrassment for the party and its new House speaker, Paul Ryan.

Continuing divisions between tea-party lawmakers and House GOP leaders also shelved an effort to address an economic crisis in Puerto Rico. The White House is amping up the pressure on Republicans over delays in providing money to combat the Zika virus.

The budget failure, while troubling for Ryan, R-Wis., isn’t stopping the once-dominant House and Senate Appropriations committees from commencing work on spending bills. But trouble on the House floor awaits, where only a handful of the measures seem sure to advance.

Second-trimester abortion method banned in Miss.

JACKSON, Miss.

Mississippi’s governor has signed into law a ban on a commonly used second-trimester abortion procedure, setting the state up for a possible legal challenge.

Gov. Phil Bryant signed the law Friday that outlaws a procedure called “dilation and evacuation” unless it is necessary to prevent a woman’s irreversible physical impairment.

“We’re making Mississippi the safest place in America for an unborn child,” Bryant said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Groups that oppose restrictions on abortion say that the law could force physicians to use another method of abortion that could be riskier, take longer and be more painful to the woman.

“This bill is not based in medicine,” Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

Associated Press