Free Republic

A North Korean cargo vessel used to transport coal was seized in violation of international sanctions against the rogue regime, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday, just hours after the hermit kingdom fired two suspected short-range missiles. The 17,061-ton vessel, called the Wise Honest, is one of North Korea’s largest bulk carriers used to illicitly ship coal from North Korea and deliver heavy machinery to the Hermit Kingdom, officials said. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said this is the first time a North Korean cargo ship was seized for violating international sanctions. “This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” Assistant...

A New York City junior high student has been arrested for doodling on her desk with a marker. Twelve-year-old Alexa Gonzalez scribbled "Lex was here 2/1/10" on her desk Monday at Junior High School 190 in Queens. She also wrote "I love my friends Abby and Faith." The girl says the doodles could have been erased. Moraima Camacho says her daughter was released several hours after she was taken in handcuffs to a police station.

Rove now cooperating with Justice Dept. Karl Rove is still stiff-arming Congress by refusing to testify in the U.S. Attorneys firing scandal -- but he has suddenly changed his tune about cooperating with federal prosecutors, TPMMuckraker's Murray Waas reports: Rove will cooperate with a federal criminal inquiry underway into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys and has already spoken to investigators in a separate, internal DOJ investigation into the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, his attorney said in an interview. Rove previously refused to cooperate with an earlier Justice Department inquiry into the firings. The Justice Department's Inspector...