NKorea launches powerful missile

SEOUL, South Korea — After 2½ months of relative peace, North Korea launched its most powerful weapon yet early Wednesday, a missile that could put Washington and the entire eastern U.S. seaboard within range.

Resuming its testing in pursuit of its goal of a viable arsenal of nuclear-tipped missiles that can hit the U.S. mainland had been widely expected, but the apparent power and suddenness of the new test still jolted the Korean Peninsula and Washington. The launch occurred at 3:17 a.m. local time and midday in the U.S. capital.

The firing is a clear message of defiance aimed at the Trump administration, which had just restored the North to a U.S. list of terror sponsors. It also blunts nascent diplomatic efforts and raises fears of war or a pre-emptive U.S. strike.

A rattled Seoul responded by almost immediately launching three of its own missiles in a show of force.

President Donald Trump has vowed to prevent North Korea from building nuclear weapons — using military force if necessary.

In response to Wednesday’s launch, Trump said the United States will “take care of it.” He told reporters after the launch: “It is a situation that we will handle.” He did not elaborate.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday afternoon at the request of Japan, the U.S. and South Korea.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said “this latest missile test underscores the urgency of enacting our tough new sanctions bill to show North Korea we won’t tolerate continued advancement of its nuclear capabilities,” referring to a bill he supports that would further tighten economic sanctions on North Korea and companies backing the Pyongyang regime.

“At the same time, the president should be using the many economic, political and diplomatic tools already in place, including existing sanctions authorized by Congress, to isolate the North Korean regime and hold its leaders accountable,” Brown said.

In a conference call with Ohio reporters, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said North Korea continues “to violate international law with regard to their testing and nuclear developments.”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump scored a victory Tuesday when a federal judge refused to block his choice to temporarily run the nation’s top consumer financial watchdog and, for the moment, ended a two-way battle for leadership of the agency.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly declined to stop the Republican president from putting Mick Mulvaney in place as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In doing so, Kelly ruled against Leandra English, the bureau’s deputy director, who had requested an emergency restraining order to stop Mulvaney from becoming the acting director.

Mulvaney and English had both claimed to be the rightful acting director, each citing different federal laws. The leadership crisis developed over the weekend after the bureau’s permanent director, Richard Cordray, resigned and appointed English as his successor. Shortly afterward, the White House announced that Mulvaney, currently budget director, would take over the bureau on an interim basis.

The judge’s ruling Tuesday is not the final decision in the case. But in making his decision, the judge said English had not shown a likelihood that she would win on the merits of her case.

The judge was nominated by Trump and confirmed by the majority-Republican Senate in September.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was established after the financial crisis to make sure that customers are not being exploited and that banks are complying with the consumer protection laws on the books. Cordray, appointed by President Barack Obama, was criticized by congressional Republicans as being overzealous but was lauded by consumer advocates for going after banks for wrongdoing.

Lawyers for English will have to make a choice about how to proceed. After the hearing, a lawyer for English, Deepak Gupta, said he hopes to be able to move the case along quickly.

“I’m going to have to explore the options with my client, so I don’t know what the next step is and I’m not going to say that right now,” he said.