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December 12, 2012 | | TERROR A gunman went on a rampage in a Portland, Ore., shopping center, killing two people and then himself. The Daily Beast’s Winston Ross talks to eyewitnesses, including a woman who fled the mall with her daughter, and a worker trapped in a tea shop. BLAST OFF Bamboozled? North Korea launched a long-range rocket Wednesday morning local time, despite announcing earlier this week that it will push back deployment until the end of December. The launch was confirmed by South Korea’s defense ministry, and officials say it is now in orbit. While North Korea claims the rocket is an exploratory bid to put a satellite into space, critics say its true goal is to experiment with technology that could lead to mounting a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile. Both Japan and South Korea put their armed forces on high alert, though Japan did not make an attempt to intercept the missile, as they had suggested they would. A senior U.S. official said Washington has "noted" the launch and is monitoring the situation. Sharp Tongue Brusque. Aggressive. Undiplomatic. The adjectives used to describe the ambassador aren’t kind. The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove on Susan Rice’s polarizing temperament—and why that may matter more than Benghazi. BACK-AND-FORTH Another day, another stalemate. President Obama telephoned House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday night to discuss Boehner’s latest proposal on how to avoid the fiscal cliff—but Republican aides themselves admitted the proposal sent to the president is virtually identical to the one the he rejected last week. Majority Leader Harry Reid, meanwhile, said Tuesday that it will be “extremely difficult” to get a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff before Christmas. If a budget deal is not reached before Jan. 1, draconian spending cuts will automatically be put in place while the Bush tax cuts will be repealed, which some have said will cause the economy to nosedive. DEPLOYMENT Defense Secretary Leon Panetta landed in Afghanistan on Wednesday as part of an unannounced visit to discuss future troop levels with Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander there. Allen has drawn up several proposals about the future of U.S. troops as NATO prepares to exit the country in December 2014. These options should be ready for presentation to the president “within the next few weeks,” Panetta said. The secretary’s visit comes as a Pentagon report released this week found that only one of the Afghan National Army’s 23 brigades is able to operate independently without some support from the U.S. or NATO. Meanwhile, Allen’s nomination as NATO’s top commander has been put on hold amid an investigation into his alleged relationship with Jill Kelley, a Tampa socialite connected to former CIA director David Petraeus’s resignation. | | 
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