North Korea

Japanese, N. Korean leaders tackle summit agenda

The leaders of Japan and North Korea opened a rare summit today to revive talks on normalizing relations and break an emotional deadlock over Japanese kidnapped a decade ago.

Success at the meeting in the North Korean capital is crucial for both communist leader Kim Jong Il and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Kim is in desperate need of foreign aid. Koizumi, embroiled in a pension scandal that has forced his top lieutenant to resign, needs to boost his public support before his ruling Liberal Democratic Party heads into parliamentary elections this summer.

Along with the abductions issue, Koizumi is expected to raise international concerns with Kim concerning North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons, to reconfirm North Korea’s moratorium on long-range missile launches and to promise economic aid once formal diplomatic ties are established.

Oregon

Former Kansan arrested after Spain attacks still not free

An American lawyer freed two weeks after his arrest in connection with the terror attacks in Spain still cannot leave Oregon and must ask officials’ permission to leave his house, his relatives said Friday.

Brandon Mayfield, 37, who was released from custody Thursday after a detention hearing, has been placed on the restrictions pending a possible grand jury hearing, relatives said.

Mayfield, a Kansas native, was released soon after Spanish officials said fingerprints found on a bag near the bombing site were those of an Algerian. U.S. authorities had previously said the prints were Mayfield’s.

Mayfield has maintained he knew nothing of the Madrid bombings.

Mayfield remains a material witness and is under supervision, the U.S. District Court said on its Web site. His lawyer, Steve Wax, said the court could impose restrictions when a material witness is released.

Iowa

Tornado leaves 10 injured after damaging two towns

A tornado cut a path Friday night through northwestern Iowa, causing heavy damage in two small towns. Officials said 10 people were injured.

Rolfe, population 721, and Bradgate, population 124, suffered some of the worst damage from storms that unleashed rain, lighting, high wind and hail across the Midwest.

Flooding was blamed for at least one traffic death in Ohio, and three people died when trees crashed onto cars in Michigan.

In Iowa, Pocahontas County sheriff’s officers said the tornado moved through the golf course and cemetery areas in Rolfe before ripping through Bradgate in neighboring Humboldt County.

A statement issued by Humboldt County sheriff’s officials said 75 percent of Bradgate was destroyed.