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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea is vowing a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States. The harsh rhetoric Thursday comes hours ahead of a vote by U.N. diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.

An unidentified spokesman for Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for "pre-emptive nuclear strikes on the headquarters of the aggressors" because Washington is pushing to start a nuclear war against the North.

Such inflammatory rhetoric is common from North Korea. But it has been coming regularly in recent days. North Korea is angry over the possible sanctions and over upcoming U.S.-South Korean military drills.

The issue of red light cameras is again under consideration by the state appeals court in St. Louis. The decision on these new cases before the Eastern District Court of Appeals is expected to have state-wide implications.

In 2011, the Eastern District Court of Appeals had ruled that municipalities can use cameras to ticket red-light runners if the citation is against the vehicle, like a parking ticket, and not the driver. The ticket also must be treated as a civil matter, instead of being a criminal charge. That decision dealt specifically with Creve Coeur’s red-light ordinance.

On Wednesday, the court heard new arguments on Creve Coeur's rules and also ordinances in Florissant and the City of St. Louis. The latter two are similar in structure.

Last year, one circuit court struck down the St. Louis law, but another upheld the one in Florissant. The mixed rulings have drivers unclear about whether they should pay red light camera tickets.

The appeals court ruling on these cases is expected to clarify the matter.

Starting April 1st, it will cost more to park at Lambert Airport. As expected, the Airport Authority on Wednesday, moved to raise short term parking rates.

At the Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 garages, the rates will change from $2.50 an hour to $5 for the first two hours or any fraction of that. Parking rates for lots A, B, and D will increase as well, but the rates at lot C will remain the same.

The rate hikes will serve two purposes. They'll raise about $1.5 million in additional revenue each year, and discourage those picking up passengers from using the very busy Terminal 1 and 2 parking lots. Airport officials are promoting the use of the two free cell-phone lots instead.