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SEOUL, South Korea — One day after its nuclear test drew angry and widespread condemnation, North Korea further antagonized the international community on Tuesday by test-firing three short-range missiles. In addition, a South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday that American spy satellites had detected plumes of steam and other signs of activity at a North Korean plant that reprocesses spent nuclear fuel to make weapons-grade plutonium. The report from the newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, appeared to support a claim by North Korea in late April that it had restarted its reprocessing plant at Yongbyon, 60 miles north of Pyongyang, the capital. The missile firings came just hours after South Korea said it would join an American-led operation to stop the global trafficking in unconventional weapons, an action the North had said it would consider a declaration of war. The developments sharpened the confrontation between North Korea and much of the world — especially the United States — as the U

Kraft, Nike, and others are getting results advertising on Pandora's mobile music service. Is cell-phone marketing finally taking off? Forever, it seems, we've been told that it's just a matter of time—next year, for sure—that mobile marketing will take off in the U.S. Yet advertising on cell phones remains tiny. That may be about to change for two reasons: Web-surfing smartphones are selling briskly even in a downturn, and applications for those gadgets—especially Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and the BlackBerry—are proliferating. That means people are spending a lot more time playing games, watching TV, and shopping on their phones. All that activity translates into what marketers call engagement, a fancy way of saying people are paying attention. Companies, of course, prize that, so they're looking for mobile applications that are a good fit for their brands. Which brings us to Pandora, a nine-year-old, free online service that lets users design "radio stations"

As Seoul grapples with ex-President Roh's suicide, North Korea defies international law with a nuclear blast By announcing on May 25 that it has carried out a second test of nuclear weapons, North Korea is sending a message to the world that it is determined to be recognized as a nuclear power—even if the consequence is deeper international isolation. North Korea watchers in Seoul believe the test is a confirmation of Pyongyang's policy to consolidate the repressive regime of its military-backed leader Kim Jong Il in the face of his deteriorating health. "Everything else comes second," says Dong Yong Sueng, head of the economic security team at Samsung Economic Research Institute, a think tank for South Korea's top conglomerate, Samsung. To heighten tensions further, North Korea also fired three short-range missiles from its east coasts on May 25. South Koreans are accustomed to threats from the communist North, so jitters about military provocations are usually s

Skeptics have dismissed Beijing's talk of de-emphasizing the U.S. dollar, but China is making moves that could soon lead to a convertible yuan. Are the Chinese finally getting serious about loosening their ties to the dollar—and even replacing the greenback with the yuan as the global economy's reserve currency? The evidence is mounting that they are. For the last two months, China's leadership has been complaining about the country's dangerous dependence on the dollar. Beijing holds $2 trillion in dollar assets, accumulated through years of exports to America and massive purchases of Treasuries by the Chinese government. If Washington can't rein in its mounting budget deficit, both Treasuries and the greenback could weaken considerably—and the Chinese could be big losers as a result. The Chinese began generating attention on the issue in March, when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he was worried that the country's dollar assets could slide. Ten days later Chin