Via Bloomberg:

North Korea lobbed shells at a South Korean island near their border, setting fire to houses and killing two soldiers in the worst attack on its neighbor in at least eight months. South Korea returned fire with 80 shells and scrambled fighter jets as President Lee Myung Bak vowed to respond “sternly.” Local television channel YTN showed smoke billowing from Yeonpyeong island off South Korea’s northwest coast and said residents took cover in bomb shelters. Stocks and U.S. futures dropped while the dollar and Swiss franc strengthened. Today’s skirmish comes three days after U.S. President Barack Obama dispatched envoy Stephen Bosworth to Asia after reports by a U.S. scientist that North Korea had revealed a “stunning” uranium-enrichment plant. Tensions with Kim Jong Il’s regime have risen in the past year after the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March that killed 46 sailors.

Sorry to disturb you Mr. President, but it’s 3AM. . .again. — Greg Pollowitz