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makers also advocate holding back on increasing the nation's borrowing limit, which could result in a first-ever default, unless what they call "Obamacare" is brought down.
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NKorea indefinitely postpones family reunions set for Wednesday, blames conservative forces
• SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea on Saturday indefinitely postponed reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War scheduled to start Wednesday, an apparent setback after weeks of improving ties following springtime threats of war.
• North Korea said the six days of reunions, which last happened three years ago, could not be held because of South Korean conservatives' "reckless and vicious confrontation racket" against Pyongyang, a claim that North Korea routinely makes. It also vowed, in similarly familiar rhetoric, to "take strong and decisive counteractions against the South Korean puppet regime's ever-escalating war provocations."
• The development, which an analyst called a North Korean attempt to gain an advantage in negotiations with Seoul, is a twist in what had been gradually easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with Pyongyang tempering its threats and pursuing talks meant to restart various inter-Korean cooperation projects.
• The biggest highlight is the recent return of North and South Koreans to a jointly run factory park just across the border in North Korea after a five-month shutdown.
• Pyongyang's announcement was likely linked to its frustration over delayed talks with Seoul to resume lucrative, jointly run tours to a North Korean mountain resort, and to a perception that Seoul wasn't supporting the North's push to restart stalled international aid-for-nuclear-disarmament negotiations, said Yoo Ho-Yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University in Seoul.
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Decision time for Germany: Merkel favored to win 3rd term, but uncertain of clear mandate
• BERLIN (AP) -- She enjoys overwhelming popularity and leads an economy that's the envy of Europe. But Angela Merkel is in a fight to clinch a new term for her ruling coalition in Sunday's national election, with polls showing her center-right alliance on a knife-edge as her junior partner's support slumps.
• Merkel and her conservative Christian Democratic Union appear likely to fend off a challenge from center-left rival Peer Steinbrueck and emerge as the biggest party (Continued on page 31)
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