World Powers Urge North Korea Not to Test Nuclear Weapons

NOKOR-NUCLEAR: World powers are urging restraint on North Korea after the nation's reclusive government announced plans to conduct a nuclear weapons test. North Korea's announcement that it will test its nuclear arsenal at an unspecified date sparked a flurry of diplomatic efforts today (Wednesday) to defuse the situation. China, Japan and South Korea are planning summits next week to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. South Korea has warned it will hold the North accountable if it carries out the test. China has taken a softer approach, appealing for calm and a return to multilateral talks aimed at disarming North Korea.

RICE-MIDEAST: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo today (Wednesday) for talks on reviving the stalled Mideast peace process. The talks come ahead of Secretary Rice's meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Israel. Rice says she hopes to boost support for Mr. Abbas and his moderate Fatah faction, which is locked in a power struggle with the ruling militant group, Hamas.

NOBEL PRIZE-CHEMISTRY: A merican Roger Kornberg has won this year's Nobel Prize for Chemistry, carrying on his father's studies of how cells copy genetic information to be used by the body. The Nobel committee says the 59-year-old researcher's discoveries advanced the work of his father, Arthur Kornberg, who won the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine 47 years ago.

U.S.-THAILAND: The White House has again called for a quick restoration of democracy in Thailand, and said it is considering further action after suspending nearly 24 million dollars in aid following a military coup in that country. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the U.S. government is concerned about restrictions of civil liberties in Thailand after the military overthrew Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last month.

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