JIM LEHRER: North Korea
has agreed to return to nuclear talks; the United
States and China made that announcement today.
It followed a day of discussions in Beijing
and the North Korean nuclear test just three weeks ago. North Korea did not confirm the announcement,
but in Washington,
President Bush hailed the agreement to get back to the bargaining table.
GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United
States: I've always felt like it is important for the United States
to be at the table with other partners, when it comes time to addressing this
important issue. And so I thank not only the Chinese, but the South Koreans,
the Japanese, and the Russians, for agreeing to come back to the table with North Korea.
JIM LEHRER: The president also said he's sending teams to
the region to make sure U.N. sanctions on North Korea are still enforced. In Beijing, Christopher Hill, the assistant U.S. secretary of state, said the talks could
resume in November or December, but Japan
said it would not agree unless North
Korea disavows nuclear weapons. We'll have
more on this story right after the news summary.
Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki ordered an end to checkpoints
around a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad
today. They were set up last week to help find a missing American soldier. Yesterday,
radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr demanded the roadblocks end; otherwise, he
warned, there'd be trouble.
Today, troops rolled up wire and took down the checkpoints
in the Shiite stronghold. With that, residents took to the streets, cheering in
celebration. In Washington, a Pentagon
spokesman acknowledged disagreement over the issue, but he said, "Iraq
is a sovereign country."
This was another day of violence in Iraq. The U.S. military announced two more
American deaths; that raised the total to 103 for October.
A suicide car bomber killed at least 11 Iraqis at a Shiite
wedding celebration in Baghdad.
Four of the dead were children; 21 others were wounded.
Just to the north, gunmen kidnapped more than 40 Iraqis
traveling in minibuses. There was no word on their fate.
The debate on Iraq
took a new twist today in the U.S.
midterm election campaign. White House officials accused Democratic Senator
John Kerry of bashing American troops. Yesterday, Kerry told college students
in California,
"If you study hard, you can do well. If you don't, you'll get stuck in Iraq."
Today, President Bush called the comment
"shameful," and Press Secretary Tony Snow demanded an apology.
TONY SNOW, White House Press Secretary: Senator Kerry not
only owes an apology to those who are serving, but also to the families of
those who have given their lives in this. This is an absolute insult, and I'm a
little astonished that he didn't figure it out already. I mean, you know, as
far as Senator Kerry -- I mean, you've seen me. If I say something stupid, I
apologize as quickly as possible.
JIM LEHRER: Kerry fired back at a news conference in Seattle. He said he'd made
a "botched joke," but he insisted he'd been criticizing President
Bush, not the troops. He said it's the administration that owes an apology.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), Massachusetts:
I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate
real policy, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up
and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes. I'm sick and tired
of the whole bunch of Republican attacks, most of which come from people who
never wore the uniform and never had the courage to stand up and go to war
themselves.
JIM LEHRER: Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona also called for
a Kerry apology. He said he rejects the suggestion that only "the
least-educated Americans" would serve in the military or fight in Iraq.
In Afghanistan
today, NATO reported three soldiers were killed in the east. They died in a
roadside bombing in Nurestan
Province. One other
soldier was wounded. There was no word on their nationalities, but U.S.
troops make up the main force in that part of the country.
A military raid in Pakistan triggered large
pro-Taliban rallies today; 80 people were killed Monday in a helicopter strike
on a school near the Afghan border. The military claimed it was a training
ground for al-Qaida.
Today, rallies in a nearby town drew some 20,000 protesters.
They threatened to send suicide bombers to attack government forces. A
Pakistani army spokesman said today U.S. intelligence was used in the
raid, but later he denied making that statement.
The former South African president, P.W. Botha, died today
in Cape Town. Starting
in 1978, he held power more than a decade at the height of apartheid. He
pursued some race reforms, but he declared a national emergency in 1986, and
security forces killed more than 2,000 people. In 1989, he was forced out by a
cabinet rebellion. P.W. Botha was 90 years old.
NASA today announced a shuttle mission to repair the aging
Hubble telescope. That reversed a decision to stop servicing Hubble after the Columbia disaster in 2003.
Today, Administrator Michael Griffin said NASA now believes the repairs can be
done safely.
MIKE GRIFFIN, NASA Administrator: We believe there are very
small odds that we would have a problem on ascent for which the remedy would be
a launch-on-need shuttle, a rescue shuttle. So we will have that option; we
will prepare for it. And so the safety of our crew conducting this mission will
be as much as we can possibly do.
JIM LEHRER: The repair mission is scheduled to launch in May
of 2008. It would cost $900 million and would likely keep Hubble operating
until 2013. We'll have more on this story later in the program tonight.
In economic news, consumer confidence slipped in October. The
Conference Board, a business research group, said today job worries offset
falling gasoline prices.
And on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost
more than five points to close above 12,080. The Nasdaq rose nearly three
points to close above 2,366.
And that's it for the news summary tonight. Now: the news
from North Korea; how Korean-Americans see it; the Missouri Senate race;
repairing a space telescope; and a Halloween ghost story.
