A day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agreed to join multilateral talks with Iran (if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment), North Korea has extended a similar offer. The U.S. envoy to past nuclear discussions is invited to Pyongyang, North Korean officials say, if the U.S. commits to an agreement giving the country concessions for abandoning its nuclear program. North Korea has refused to return to the negotiations since November.

New Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been flexing his “iron fist” in the turbulent oil hub of Basra, where he has declared a one-month state of emergency. The Shiite-dominated area was once relatively peaceful, but sectarian violence has been increasing and nearly 140 people were killed there this month. Some suspect Iran to be supporting the Shiite militias in the area.

New York and Washington, D.C. anti-terror grants were slashed 40% by the Department of Homeland Security yesterday, while midsize cities like Jacksonville and Omaha received a boost. "When you stop a terrorist, they have a map of New York City in their pocket," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York protested. "They don't have a map of any of the other 46 or 45 places."

In light of the military investigation of civilian deaths Haditha last November, the U.S. top commander in Iraq is ordering all troops to undergo “core values” training—even though the investigation is not yet complete.

A state-appointed commission is asking North Carolina to pay reparations for an 1898 wave of racial violence that led to the flight of over 2,000 black people from Wilmington. The report says the violence was not a riot, but a planned coup d’etat. The commission didn’t provide a cost estimate, but some say the losses amount to billions of dollars.

The UN has called for a substantial increase in emergency aid to the Palestinian territories, saying that the EU, US, and Israeli decision to freeze funds to the Hamas government has caused an economic and humanitarian crisis in the area.