U.N. delays reaction on N. Korean launch
NEW YORK, April 5 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting Sunday but did not formulate an official reaction to North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket.
The launch has drawn strong international criticism, with the United States calling it "a provocative act" and "a threat to the northeast Asian region and to international peace and security."
Claude Heller -- the Mexican U.N. ambassador and the current head of the council under its rotating presidency -- told reporters after Sunday's emergency session the council would meet again to take up the question. However, he did not say when that meeting would take place, CNN reported.
"Consultations will go on among members to see what is the appropriate position that the council will take," Heller said.
North Korea called the event a peaceful launch of a satellite, but Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called it a "clear-cut violation" of a U.N. resolution prohibiting North Korea from conducting ballistic missile launches. Rice said the launch "merits a clear, strong response" from the Security Council.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement saying the launch countered efforts to promote regional stability.
"Given the volatility in the region, as well as a stalemate in interaction among the concerned parties, such a launch is not conducive to efforts to promote dialog, regional peace and stability," Ban said in the statement.
China called for calm and said it hoped the crisis could be resolved in a "peaceful way."
South Korea's government condemned the launch, calling it a "serious threat" to world peace, Yonhap news agency reported.
In Prague, where he was meeting with European leaders, U.S. President Barack Obama said North Korea's missile development threatens countries near and far with the possibility of weapons of mass destruction.
Geithner warns of rough spots in recovery
WASHINGTON, April 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday it is too soon to know whether the White House will ask Congress for additional economic stimulus funds.
In an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Geithner warned that efforts to jump-start the recessionary U.S. economy are not going to be smooth.
"We're going to have fits and starts. There will be a period where it feels very bad and uncertain," he said.
Geithner said job losses may get worse before the economy improves. Unemployment has already reached 8.5 percent, the worst in decades.
"The typical pattern of recoveries is that growth recovers, growth starts to turn positive, people start to spend more, people -- businesses hire more, they invest more, before you see unemployment peak," he said. "That's the crude reality of recoveries."
Among the bright spots in the economy, Geithner pointed to the mortgage rates, which are at historic lows.
"Millions of Americans now are going to be able to refinance their homes, take advantage of lower interest rates. That's cash in the hands of the American people, and that's very powerful," he said.
Massacre victims' identities released
BINGHAMTON, N.Y., April 5 (UPI) -- Police in Binghamton, N.Y., said Sunday that the man suspected of killing 13 people and taking his own life purchased the two guns found on him.
Police Chief Joseph Zikuski also said 911 operators received several calls from the American Civic Association, where the massacre took place Friday, but had trouble understanding what was being said and where the calls were coming from because of the callers' limited English, Newsday reported Sunday.
Jiverly Wong, 41, had gone to the American Civic Association for English classes but stopped attending last month.
Wong was wearing body armor Friday when he drove to the center, Zikuski said
The identities of the victims were released Sunday.
Of those killed, four were from China, two were from Haiti and another pair was from Vietnam and two from the United States. A Pakistani, a Filipino, a Brazilian and an Iraqi were also killed.
Poplawski frequented right-wing Web sites
PITTSBURGH, April 5 (UPI) -- The 22-year-old man charged with killing three Pittsburgh police officers was frequent visitor to far-right Web sites, his Internet activities reveal.
Richard Poplawski posted his profile and photographs of his tattoos on the white supremacist Web site Stormfront, which serves as a clearinghouse for neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic groups, using the site to display an eagle tattoo spread across his chest, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported Sunday.
"I was considering gettin' life runes on the outside of my calfs," he wrote on Stormfront, referring to a common symbol among white supremacists, especially followers of The National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group linked to a a collection of violent organizations, the newspaper said.
Poplawski was arrested Saturday after a four-hour standoff, charged with ambushing and killing three officers and attempting to slay nine others.
Poplawski also believed in conspiracy theories espousing beliefs that a secret cabal running the United States was bent on eradicating freedom of speech and gun rights at the behest of Jews, a friend told the newspaper.
"For some time now there has been a pretty good connection between being sucked into this conspiracy world and propagating violence," Heidi Beirich, director of research at the Southern Poverty Law Center -- a non-profit that tracks the activities of hate groups -- told the newspaper.
