In the News

WORLD

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea’s neighbors issued stern warnings Wednesday against Pyongyang’s threat to carry out an unprecedented nuclear test, but the isolated communist country insisted that such a move wouldn’t be meant as a provocation.

South Korean officials said there was no sign a test was imminent and warned that such a test could prompt Japan to develop atomic weapons and threaten a regional arms race.

A newspaper in Japan, meanwhile, reported that two Japanese spy satellites had not observed any preparation activities at a suspected underground test site.

China – the North’s main ally and key benefactor – called on Pyongyang to show calm and restraint, issuing an unusually pointed statement that referred to North Korea by name. The statement contrasted with earlier Chinese responses, which have typically called for restraint from all sides in the dispute.

China, Japan and South Korea also announced a series of summits among their leaders next week, ratcheting up diplomacy over tensions caused by the North’s announcement Tuesday that it intends to detonate a bomb.

Such a test would confirm the North’s claim that it has atomic weapons and would severely undermine efforts to prevent an Asian nuclear arms race by getting Pyongyang to disarm.

The North often insists it needs nuclear weapons to deter a U.S. attack, although this was the first time that Pyongyang had publicly announced its intent to conduct a nuclear test.

NATION

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Former Rep. Mark Foley, under investigation for sending lurid Internet messages to young male Capitol Hill pages, issued a series of revelations from rehab, including a claim that he had been sexually abused as a teen.

Attorney David Roth, speaking on Foley’s behalf at a news conference Tuesday, said Foley was molested between ages 13 and 15 by a clergyman. He declined to identify the clergyman or the church, but Foley is Roman Catholic.

“Mark does not blame the trauma he sustained as a young adolescent for his totally inappropriate” e-mails and instant messages, Roth said. “He continues to offer no excuse whatsoever for his conduct.”

Roth, who spoke for Foley while the former legislator is in rehab for alcohol abuse and mental illness, said Foley denied having inappropriate sexual contact with minors and said he was under the influence of alcohol when he wrote the notes.

Foley, who is 52 and single, represented parts of Palm Beach County for 12 years until he abruptly resigned Friday. The FBI and Florida law enforcement officials are investigating whether he violated any laws.

The lurid communications were first reported last week by ABC News, which released more instant messages Tuesday that indicate Foley allegedly interrupted a vote on the House floor to chat online with a teen.

STATE & LOCAL

ALEXANDRIA – Sen. Hillary Clinton endorsed Democrat Jim Webb in Virginia’s Senate race Tuesday, praising the former Republican as an independent voice against President Bush’s Iraq policies and a pliant GOP Congress that supports them.

The former first lady and possible 2008 Democratic presidential contender brushed aside a magazine article Webb wrote in 1979 that said women can’t lead men in battle and decrying their admission to military academies.

Clinton’s appearance comes as Webb battles claims from Republican incumbent George Allen that Webb has demeaned women. An Allen campaign ad features female U.S. Naval Academy graduates accusing Webb of creating hostility toward them when they were midshipmen in the early 1980s.

Allen, meanwhile, began his third statewide tour since kicking off his campaign in the spring, this time aimed at resuscitating his campaign after six disastrous weeks of developments that raised questions about his views on race.

Since calling a Webb volunteer of Indian descent “macaca,” Allen has lost the 16 percentage-point lead he held over Webb in July in statewide polls conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. A poll Friday showed the two men tied at 43 percent.