Democracy Now!

In North Korea, more than 100,000 people attended a government rally Thursday denouncing the United States. Government speakers promised “a fire shower of nuclear retaliation” in the event of US or South Korean military action.

The US and Venezuela have announced plans to restore their expelled ambassadors after a nine-month rift. Both countries withdrew their ambassadors in a dispute over the Bush administration’s destabilization efforts in Bolivia.

On Capitol Hill, the Democratic House leadership is pressuring antiwar Democrats to support a $106 billion supplemental war funding bill. In May, fifty-one antiwar Democrats opposed an earlier version of the bill.

Former President Jimmy Carter has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of setting up new obstacles to peace with the Palestinians. On Sunday, Netanyahu said for the first time he could accept a two-state solution, but only if the new Palestinian state had no army and no control of its airspace and borders. Jimmy Carter spoke during a stop in Jerusalem.

*A new administration and the same old war, and expansion of the war in Afghanistan. We cannot afford these wars*, said Rep. Dennis Kucinich.