NORTHERN IRELAND FUNERAL

NORTH KOREA CONDUCTS ANOTHER FAILED MISSILE TEST

North Korea conducted another failed missile launch Wednesday, U. S. and South Korean military officials said.

The incident came during annual U. S.- South Korean military drills that Pyongyang believes are a rehearsal for invasion.

The missile appears to have exploded soon after it launched from close to the city of Wonsan, on North Korea’s east coast, Reuters reported. It came after North Korea fired four ballistic missiles that landed in waters off Japan earlier this month.

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY NOMINEE TO FACE SENATORS

Former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue will finally appear for a confirmation hearing on his nomination to be secretary of agriculture Thursday after reaching an agreement with the Office of Government Ethics to avoid conflicts of interest.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is taking up the nomination 73 days after President Trump made his final Cabinet pick on the day before he was inaugurated. The lengthy delay in Perdue’s consideration followed his decision to take steps to avoid the appearance of real conflicts of interest. As governor, Perdue declined to place his assets in a blind trust.

Perdue was the subject of 13 complaints to the Georgia State Ethics Commission while he was governor, including two in which fines were imposed.

Perdue, 70, will have his family wealth preservation trust restructured so that he will have no say in its investments.

U. S. SUPPORTS DARING RAID IN SYRIA AGAINST ISIS

The U. S.- led coalition flew a contingent of Syrian opposition forces behind enemy lines in a daring raid to cut off the Islamic State’s remaining supply line to the militants’ de facto capital of Raqqa, U. S. officials said Wednesday.

The operation to seize Tabqah dam was backed by some of the most extensive coalition support yet for the U. S.- backed local forces battling the Islamic State in Syria.

The coalition flew the forces into position and provided fire support from Apache attack helicopters and Marine Corps artillery, said Col. Joe Scrocca, a U. S. military spokesman.

CHARLES MCQUILLAN, GETTY IMAGES Mourners carry the coffin of Martin McGuinness in Londonderry, Northern Ireland on Thursday. McGuinness, who died on Monday, once commanded the Irish Republican Army and later became Sinn Fein’s deputy leader who helped negotiate peace in Northern...