North Korea's Nuclear Threat

North Korea publicly threatened yesterday for the first time to build nuclear weapons as a deterrent to what it calls a "hostile" U.S. policy.

The statement marked a sharpening of the North's tone in its standoff with Washington. U.S. officials say the North Koreans told them privately that the country already has nuclear bombs and plans to build more, but until now it had not openly stated its intention to develop an arsenal.

Also for the first time, North Korea linked its nuclear efforts to rebuilding its moribund economy. The North's "intention to build up a nuclear deterrent force is not aimed to threaten and blackmail others but reduce conventional weapons under a long-term plan and channel manpower resources and funds into economic construction and the betterment of people's living," the North's official news agency said.



Chertoff Confirmed as Judge

Michael Chertoff, the Justice Department's top criminal prosecutor during the past two years of investigations into terrorism and white-collar crime, won confirmation yesterday as a federal judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in New Jersey by a Senate vote of 88-1, with only Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) voting no.

Chertoff served from 1994 to 1996 as counsel in Sen. Alfonse D'Amato's probe of the Clintons' Whitewater real estate development, but Clinton does not mention him in her book, which was published yesterday. A Clinton spokeswoman said, "Based on on all the information she had, she did not believe he should be elevated to a position of such high responsibility." Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) voted for Chertoff, his aides said. - Tom Brune



GI Killed in Iraqi Ambush

A U.S. soldier was killed in Iraq by gunfire at a traffic checkpoint on the Syrian border, the U.S. military said yesterday.

It said a number of attackers pulled up at the checkpoint late Sunday and asked for help for a person in the car they said was ill. Two people with pistols then got out and shot the soldier, it said.

Other troops killed one assailant and captured a second. The slain soldier was not identified.



Stun Guns OKd for Planes

The Bush administration has concluded that stun guns, which inflict a disabling electric shock, can be used for security by crew members on commercial planes, a homeland security official said yesterday.

After months of weighing the safety and effectiveness of the guns, the Transportation Security Administration said in a report to Congress that they were an acceptable nonlethal option to deal with hijackers.

Details of the report are classified but a spokesman for the TSA, Robert Johnson, provided an overview of its findings. "We think they are viable but only viable if done right," he said.

Johnson stressed the agency had not yet approved any carriers to arm their crews with with stun guns.



Storms Kill 10 in Germany

Violent weekend storms killed at least 10 people in Germany, officials said yesterday, including a 5- year-old girl carried away by a large helium balloon.

The balloon, an attraction at a festival near the western city of Moenchengladbach, was torn from its moorings Sunday by strong wind. A loose cable appeared to tangle around the girl and carried her into the air, police said. A body believed to be that of the girl was found in a field about 45 miles to the north.



Man Admits to Kidnappings

A school bus driver with a history of mental illness pleaded guilty to federal kidnapping charges yesterday in Philadelphia for veering off his morning route and taking a group of children on a bizarre, 100-mile trip to suburban Washington, D.C.

Otto L. Nuss, 64, had stashed a loaded rifle and 93 rounds of ammunition aboard the bus during the January 2002 trip, which touched off a six-hour manhunt and terrified parents at the Berks Christian School in Birdsboro. None of the 13 children were harmed.

He pleaded guilty to 13 kidnapping counts. The plea bargain calls for a 4-year prison sentence. Sentencing was set for September.