North Korea has accused US President Barack Obama of plotting a nuclear war on the communist nation by reaffirming a US assurance of security for South Korea, the North's state media said.

In a first official response to last week's US-South Korean summit, the state-run weekly Tongil Sinbo said in its Saturday edition Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak "are trying to ignite a nuclear war".

Welfare rolls, which were slow to rise and actually fell in many states early in the recession, now are climbing across the country for the first time since President Bill Clinton signed legislation pledging "to end welfare as we know it" more than a decade ago.
Twenty-three of the 30 largest states, which account for more than 88% of the nation's total population, see welfare caseloads above year-ago levels, according to a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal and the National Conference of State Legislatures. As more people run out of unemployment compensation, many are turning to welfare as a stopgap.

California's historic budget crisis threatens to devastate a public education system that was once considered a national model but now ranks near the bottom in school funding and academic achievement.

Deep budget cuts are forcing California school districts to lay off thousands of teachers, expand class sizes, close schools, eliminate bus service, cancel summer school programs, and possibly shorten the academic year.

Without a strong economic recovery, which few experts predict, the reduced school funding could last for years, shortchanging millions of students, driving away residents and businesses, and darkening California's economic future.

The daughter of Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and four relatives were arrested over their involvement in protests
against alleged election fraud in Iran, the Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

Faezeh Hashemi, a renowned women's rights activist, former parliament deputy and head of women sports in Iran, has in the recent years emerged, like her father, as one of the main opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Government media Sunday lashed out at opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi, suggesting that some of his actions were illegal and blaming terrorists for the deadly clashes here Saturday. But the former prime minister responded by strongly condemning the use of force against the protesters and urged his supporters to stay calm.

The president tells CBS News the country is "prepared for any contingencies" involving North Korea — including threat to attack Hawaii.

"I want … to give assurances to the American people that the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted in terms of what might happen."

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 32% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-four percent (34%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -2. That’s the President’s lowest rating to date and the first time the Presidential Approval Index has fallen below zero for Obama

A U.S. Navy destroyer is tailing a North Korean ship suspected of carrying illicit weapons toward Myanmar in what could be the first test of new U.N. sanctions against the North over its recent nuclear test, a leading TV network said Sunday.

The South Korean news network YTN, citing an unidentified intelligence source in the South, said the U.S. suspects the cargo ship Kang Nam is carrying missiles and related parts. Myanmar's military government, which faces an arms embargo from the United States and the European Union, has reportedly bought weapons from North Korea.

Comforted by the U.S. military's missile defense systems, Hawaii residents doubt a North Korean missile would light up the clear island sky like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

But that doesn't mean the islands' laid-back beach-goers aren't worried that a long-range missile could be launched in the direction of Hawaii's emerald mountains and white sand beaches around Independence Day.

"The North Koreans are unbalanced and could try anything," said Dan Gleason while walking his Jack Russell mix dog in downtown Honolulu. "If they do hit Honolulu, I hope it's a good shot, because I don't want to go through the aftermath."

President Barack Obama stuck to his carefully tailored response to Iran's internal crisis Sunday despite pressure from Republican critics, as he continued to speak up for protesters' rights without making specific demands on Iran's hard-line leaders.

"The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States," Obama said in an interview released Sunday. "We shouldn't be playing into that."

The president spoke Friday during an interview with CBS News' Harry Smith. It will be broadcast Monday on "The Early Show."

Here are some Twitter messages I saw today from Change_for_Iran, a pro-Mousavi Iranian student, and Mark Knoller, CBS News White House Correspondent:

Ice cream run with the girls

POTUS, riding in his motorcade SUV, departed at 3:40 p.m. from the White House with daughters Malia and Sasha in tow.

POTUS took the girls on a sugar-coated Father's Day Eve jaunt to The Dairy Godmother, a boutique ice cream parlor in the Del Ray section of Alexandria, Va.

Malia had a waffle cone of vanilla custard and Sasha had a cup of vanilla custard. POTUS had a cup of vanilla custard with hot fudge and toasted almonds, the shopkeeper disclosed. The trio were in the shop for about 15 mins, and sat at a table and enjoyed their frozen treats.

POTUS and the girls received applause from the staff and patrons inside and a small crowd outside as they exited the ice cream shop. POTUS, carrying a bag of frozen "puppy pops" for Bo the First Dog, waved to the crowd before he hopped in the SUV.

The motorcade returned to the White House at 4:32 p.m.