Free Republic

Japanese netizens help scan lightning for gamma rays Japan -- A storm system approaches: the sky darkens, and the low rumble of thunder echoes from the horizon. Then without warning... Flash! Crash! -- lightning has struck. This scene, while familiar to anyone and repeated constantly across the planet, is not without a feeling of mystery. But now that mystery has deepened, with the discovery that lightning can result in matter-antimatter annihilation. In a collaborative study appearing in Nature, researchers from Japan describe how gamma rays from lightning react with the air to produce radioisotopes and even positrons -- the antimatter...

Russia's meteorological service has reported “extremely high pollution” of a radioactive isotope in the Urals near a facility that previously suffered the third worst nuclear catastrophe in history. The news bolsters international reports that a ruthenium-106 leak originating in the Urals sent a radioactive cloud over Europe. Greenpeace Russia has said it will ask the prosecutor general to investigate the possible cover-up of a nuclear accident. Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear company, said in a statement to The Telegraph on Tuesday there had been "no unreported accidents" and the ruthenium-106 emission was "not linked to any Rosatom site". Its Mayak facility,...

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday officially designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, returning the rogue nation to a list from which it had been removed during the George W. Bush administration. North Korea had been removed from the list under the George W. Bush administration in an attempt to salvage negotiations for a nuclear deal. The president made the announcement at the White House on Monday morning. North Korea will join Sudan, Syria and Iran as countries that the State Department identifies as ones that have “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.” Administration officials...

SEOUL -- During his first visit to South Korea, President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that North Korea enter into talks over scrapping its nuclear and missile programs, apparently keeping the door open for dialogue with Pyongyang after months of tough talk on both sides. The U.S. president called on China and Russia to play roles in ending the Kim Jong Un regime's nuclear weapons program, urging both countries to cease trade and business with the belligerent communist nation. Trump is due in Beijing on Wednesday following his two-day visit to South Korea. "I really believe that it makes sense...

North Korea suggested Wednesday it may be open to giving up its nuclear weapons, but only if the U.S. did so first. Ruling Korean Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun published a commentary Wednesday in which the country's authoritarian leadership challenged President Donald Trump to reverse his support for a bigger, stronger U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal and adopt a non-proliferation policy. North Korea has argued its weapons of mass destruction stockpile was necessary only to prevent the U.S. from overthrowing the government of Kim Jong Un, which the U.S. has threatened to do by force if he did not abandon his...

This week, Rosatom became the owner of 100 percent of shares of Canadian uranium company Uranium One, which operates in Kazakhstan… Rosatom will be able to consolidate control over uranium assets in the former Soviet Union and pave the way for the expansion of access to resources in Australia and South Africa.

A New Jersey businessman was sentenced to a year and one day in prison for Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering in connection with his role in arranging corrupt payments to influence the awarding of contracts with the Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation. The sentence was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen M. Schenning for the District of Maryland; Special Agent in Charge Angela Sigler of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inspector General (DOE-OIG); and Assistant Director in Charge Andrew G. Vale of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Boris Rubizhevsky, 67, of...

For decades, the wail of the nuclear bomb warning siren was ubiquitous in U.S. cities. Public service commercials drilled the "duck and cover" mantra into the minds of Americans, and the possibility of a Soviet attack was always around the corner. But after the Cold War, most places abandoned their sirens. Fears of terrorism grew more urgent and, for many younger Americans, being on notice for nuclear war became a relic of the past. That's no longer the case in Hawaii. Amid increasing North Korean threats against the U.S., Hawaii has launched the most aggressive effort in the country to...

Corker to hold hearing on president's nuclear weapons authority By Brandon Carter - 11/08/17 07:41 PM EST Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) announced Wednesday the Senate Foreign Relations Committee would hold a hearing next week on “the executive’s authority to use nuclear weapons.” “A number of members both on and off our committee have raised questions about the authorities of the legislative and executive branches with respect to war making, the use of nuclear weapons, and conducting foreign policy overall,” Corker said in a statement announcing the Nov. 14 hearing. “This continues a series of hearings to examine these issues and...

North Korea responded Wednesday to European concerns about being in the path of Pyongyang's potentially nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) by assuring the leader of Western military alliance NATO that such weapons were only intended for the U.S. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said during an interview last week with Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun that "Europe has also entered the [North Korean] missile range, and NATO member states are already in danger." North Korea's ruling party-run Rodong Shinmun newspaper countered these claims, calling Stoltenberg's remarks "false and groundless" because, although European states are indeed in North Korea's missile range, Pyongyang has...

The trip is Donald Trump's first to the Pacific state, which residents fear could be in the firing line of a North Korean missile. Image: Hawaiians fear they may be in the firing line if the war of words escalates Donald Trump will arrive in Hawaii later as the islands step up emergency preparations to deal with a possible nuclear strike from North Korea. The US President is making his first visit to the country's Pacific outpost en route to a critical 12-day swing through Asia. And Hawaiians are growing increasingly nervous that Mr Trump's war of words with Kim...

[This is a news brief from an e-mail compilation]: Information emerging from furtive North Korea indicates that a tunnel at the regime’s nuclear test site collapsed last month after a nuclear test, killing about 200 people. A report from Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi, citing unnamed sources, said 100 people were killed in an initial collapse around Sept. 10, and another 100 died in a rescue operation. Other reports put the date of the collapse as Oct. 10. No official North Korean announcement was made about the date of the collapse. North Korea’s massive Sept. 3 test caused multiple tremors and...

It's understood that 100 people were trapped in underground tunnels, and a further collapse occurred during the rescue operation, suggesting that a total of 200 people may have been killed At least 200 people have been killed at Kim Jong-un's nuclear test site in North Korea after a tunnel collapsed. A news agency quoted a North Korean official as saying that a collapse occurred during the construction of an underground tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the northeast of North Korea on October 10. According to the report, 100 people were trapped in underground tunnels, and a further...

Japan’s defense minister said the threat posed by North Korea has grown to an “unprecedented, critical and imminent level,” reflecting a rising sense of urgency over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told counterparts from South Korea and the U.S. at a gathering of defense ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations here that Japan supports the American position that “all options are on the table”-

US Air Force is prepping nuclear-armed bombers to be on 24-hour alert Armed B-52s will be parked at Barksdale Air Force for the first time since 1991Weapons will be ready to take off at a moment's notice if they get the command  The United States Air Force will put its ageing fleet of nuclear-capable B-52 bombers on 24-hour alert for the first time since the end of the Cold War, according to its chief of staff.  Amid rising tensions with North Korea and a resurgent Putin-led Russia, General David Goldfein told Defense One that the strategic bomber force will be...

The U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers back on 24-hour ready alert, a status not seen since the Cold War ended in 1991 according to a report released Sunday by Defense One. “If the order comes, the B-52s will return to a ready-to-fly posture not seen since the Cold War,” reported Marcus Weisgerber, global business editor for the industry publication, noting that “long-dormant” runway areas on certain bases could once again be a home to fully loaded B-52s, ready to fly at a moment’s notice. “This is yet one more step in ensuring that we’re prepared,” Gen....

That means the long-dormant concrete pads at the ends of this base’s 11,000-foot runway — dubbed the “Christmas tree” for their angular markings — could once again find several B-52s parked on them, laden with nuclear weapons and set to take off at a moment’s notice. “This is yet one more step in ensuring that we’re prepared,” Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, said in an interview during his six-day tour of Barksdale and other U.S. Air Force bases that support the nuclear mission. “I look at it more as not planning for any specific event, but more...

Sunday's Der Spiegel had a massive expose on the continuing efforts of Bashar al-Assad to build a nuclear weapons plant, which included evidence that Iran is constructing such a plant for Syria in Qusayr, less than two kilometers from Syria's border with Lebanon. The issue came up in the State Department's Monday daily briefing. Disturbingly, spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the United States did not plan to raise the issue in the Iranian nuclear talks, claiming that those talks only deal with Iran's nuclear capabilities and not with Syria's. According to findings of Western intelligence agencies, however, the situation...

A North Korean official reaffirmed Pyongyang's commitment to developing a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching "all the way to the East coast of the mainland US," on Monday, telling CNN that the rogue nation is currently not interested in diplomacy with the US until it achieves that goal.

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea is believed to be preparing to launch a ballistic missile ahead of an upcoming joint naval drill by the US and South Korea, a news report said Saturday, citing a government source. The US navy said Friday that a US aircraft carrier will lead the drill in the coming week, a fresh show of force against North Korea as tensions soar over the hermit state's weapons programme. The move will likely rile Pyongyang which has previously responded angrily to joint exercises. The Donga Ilbo daily, quoting a government source, said satellite pictures show ballistic missiles...