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VIENNA, Austria – The U.S. gained key international backing Saturday for a bitterly contested plan to sell peaceful nuclear technology to India – a South Asia powerhouse that has tested atomic weapons but has refused to sign global nonproliferation accords. Washington said the landmark deal, which still needs U.S. congressional approval, will place India's nuclear program under closer scrutiny. But detractors warned it could set a dangerous precedent in efforts to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.

North Korea Reassembling Nuclear Center, U.S. Officials Say Tuesday , September 02, 2008 ADVERTISEMENT WASHINGTON — North Korea, after halting the disassembly of a key nuclear center, is now putting the center back together in violation of the United States' conditions for improved diplomatic relations between the countries, U.S. officials told FOX News on Tuesday. The motive isn't clear but sources say North Koreans likely are reassembling nuclear facilities at Yongbyon partly to protest the United States' delay in taking the country off its list of terrorist-sponsoring nations. "They've been threatening this move for some time," one U.S. official told...

Are these people trying to get McCain elected? Just a Foxnews Alert with Jennifer Griffin right now.

The United States is said to have serious concerns about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal coming under the control of its prospective president, Benazir Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari, given reports of his dodgy mental condition. Washington's worries reportedly rose last week following the disclosure of medical records indicating that as recently as last year, doctors hired by Zardari had diagnosed him with mental problems including dementia, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Much of it is said to be related to the eight years Zardari spent in prison as Musharraf's guest. While Zardari's spokespersons say he has been cured, US officials, among...

Brazil will spend 160 million US dollars by the end of next year on the development of a nuclear-powered submersible to protect the oil reserves found recently off its coast, said Defence minister Nelson Jobim on Friday. The vessel, which officials hope to be complete by 2020, would be the first nuclear-powered submarine in Latin America and is being developed with Brazilian technology and lately French assistance. Speaking in Rio de Janeiro Defence Minister Jobim said the upgrade includes provisions for a massive technology transfer from France, essential if Brazil hopes to have a nuclear submarine. In February, French President...

Pakistan’s Dr Nuke bids for the presidency The ‘rogue scientist’ blamed for selling bomb secrets has strong popular support, writes his confidant Simon Henderson After the resignation of Pervez Musharraf, who will be the next president of Pakistan? A controversial politician such as Benazir Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, or a nonpolitical figure? If the latter, it might, just might, be the detained nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. Last week a group of lawyers in the Pakistani city of Lahore marched in support of Khan’s candidacy. His actual election, requiring a majority vote in the national assembly, would shock...

North Korea to suspend nuclear disablement 48 minutes ago North Korea said on Tuesday it would suspend disablement of its nuclear facilities and consider restoring the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, accusing the United States of violating a disarmament deal. "We have decided to immediately suspend disabling our nuclear facilities," the North's KCNA news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying. "This measure has been effective on August 14 and related parties have been notified of it," the official said. Regional powers have been pressing North Korea to accept stringent measures to verify the declaration it made in July of its...

India doesn’t let North Korea plane overfly to Iran Pranab Dhal Samanta Posted online: Friday, August 08, 2008 at 0145 hrs IST New Delhi, August 7 India this afternoon withdrew its permission for a North Korean plane to overfly Indian airspace on its way to Iran, just before it could take off from Mandalay in Myanmar where it had made a stopover. This, sources have told The Indian Express, was done after instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office this morning. It’s learnt that on August 4, Indian authorities had given permission to the North Korean plane — its call sign...

More on the we've won front from Michael Totten:I’m reluctant to say “the war has ended,” as he did, but everything else he wrote is undoubtedly true. The war in Iraq is all but over right now, and it will be officially over if the current trends in violence continue their downward slide. That is a mathematical fact. Over the past few days al Qaeda has detonated several car bombs in Diyala. So, how is the war "over"? Totten goes on to say that the violence may never actually peter off to nothing in Iraq, but reminds us that violence...

George Bush U-turn opens way to nuclear talks between US and Iran Tim Reid in Washington President Bush is sending a top US diplomat to meet Iran’s nuclear negotiator this weekend, a major break with his hardline stance towards Tehran and the closest contact between the countries since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In a significant departure from Mr Bush’s long-standing refusal to talk to Tehran until it has abandoned its nuclear enrichment programme, William Burns, the Under-Secretary of State and America’s third most senior diplomat, will travel to Switzerland to attend talks between Iranian and European officials on Saturday.

A senior Israeli government official on Sunday responded to recent statements by American leaders regarding a possible Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities by saying they were representative of an intense debate at the White House over how to deal with Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Pakistan's Military Knew Of Nuclear Technology Transfer To N Korea, Says Scientist 7/4/2008 2:52 PM ET Abdul Qadir Khan, who is considered to be the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, said on Friday that the country's former military regime was aware of the transfer of nuclear technology to North Korea. AQ Khan told media on Friday that the Pakistani army, which was headed by President Pervez Musharraf then, was aware of the technology transfer as the uranium enrichment equipment was dispatched onboard a North Korean plane under the supervision of Pakistani army officials in 2000. Khan's statements on Friday contradicts...

â—† N. Korea says used 2 kg of plutonium in 2006 nuke test: source SEOUL, June 28 KYODO North Korea's declaration of its nuclear programs that it submitted this week states that it extracted a total of around 30 kilograms of plutonium and used 2 kg in the nuclear test it conducted in October 2006, a six-party talks source said Saturday. A nuclear weapon normally requires between 4 and 8 kg of plutonium. There is speculation that North Korea may have declared a smaller quantity to counter rumors that the 2006 nuclear test, which resulted in a relatively small explosion,...

See below for translation:

TOKYO — North Korea took a step on Thursday toward reintegration into the world community and rapprochement with the United States by submitting for outside inspection a long-delayed declaration of its nuclear program. The 60-page declaration from North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and impoverished nations, was expected to describe in previously undisclosed detail its capabilities in nuclear power and nuclear weapons — meeting a major demand of the United States and other countries that consider the North a dangerous source of instability. “This can be a moment of opportunity for North Korea,” said President Bush, announcing the...

World to witness blasting of NKorean cooling tower: officials Sun Jun 22, 6:23 AM ET North Korea has invited five media organisations from foreign countries to cover live the blowing-up of a cooling tower at its main nuclear site, officials said Sunday. The invited organisations -- one each from North Korea's five negotiating partners at six-party disarmament talks -- include US news channel CNN, Seoul's top nuclear envoy Kim Sook said. The United Sates, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia have been in talks with North Korea to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme. "Five news organisations -- one each from...

Exclusive: Israel’s air maneuver did not simulate possible Iran strike strategy June 21, 2008, 3:20 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile’s Western military sources do not believe that if Israel does attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, it will resort to the old-fashioned aerial blitz tactic employed in 1981 for bombing Iraq’s Osirak reactor. They therefore challenge the US officials’ conclusion that Israel’s aerial exercise in conjunction with the Greek Air Force over Crete in early June was in fact a rehearsal for Iran. What was demonstrated was the Israeli Air Force’s capability for deploying a large aerial force of more than 100 warplanes and...

Syria, NKorea helped Iran develop nuclear programme: German report Sat Jun 21, 1:57 PM ET Damascus and Pyongyang helped Iran to develop its nuclear programme through the construction of a suspected nuclear site in Syria that Israel destroyed last September, Der Spiegel reported. But the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is considering withdrawing his support for the Iranian programme, added the German newsweekly in its next edition out Monday, quoting German secret service reports. According to those intelligence reports, it said, a joint plan by Syria, North Korea and Iran for a nuclear reactor for military use was to have been...

Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan has been living in official disgrace for more than four years, confined to his estate in Islamabad after confessing that he sold nuclear technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea. But his image as a national hero remains intact for most of his countrymen, who still regard him as the father of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and the man who brought pride to a downtrodden country. Since the new coalition government took the reins in Pakistan this spring, momentum has been building to free Khan from house arrest and restore him to his former glory. As...

DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief said a military strike on Iran would turn the Middle East into a fireball and prompt Tehran to launch a crash course to build nuclear weapons. Russia also warned against military threats on Friday, after The New York Times quoted U.S. officials as saying Israel had carried out a large military exercise, apparently a rehearsal for a potential bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities. "A military strike, in my opinion, would be worse than anything," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Mohamad ElBaradei told Al Arabiya television in an interview aired on...

/begin my summaryN. Korea Sent Nuclear Technicians to Iran"Technicians and Specialists from N. Korea's Yongbyun Facilities sent to Iran" N. Korea sent nuclear technicians to Iran in order to support its nuclear development, according to Japan's Sankei Shimbun on June 13th. Quoting a credible source on Korean Peninsula, it reported, "(N. Korea) conducts nuclear development project with Iran, not just with Syria." They are technicians from Yongbyun nuclear facilities and specialists from National Defense Institute. National Defense Institute is also called the Second Natural Science Institute, and said to be responsible for N. Korea's nuclear weapon's development. The source did...

JERUSALEM — Israel will attack Iran if it doesn't abandon its nuclear program, a Cabinet minister hoping to replace embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted Friday as saying. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz also said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "will disappear before Israel does," the Yediot Ahronot daily reported. Ahmadinejad has called repeatedly for Israel's destruction. Mofaz's spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the remarks, which were much more explicit than anything Olmert himself has said. Olmert has gone no further than hinting that Israel was prepared to use force against Iranian nuclear facilities, saying only...

Washington is laid to waste. The Capitol is a blackened, smoking ruin. The White House has been razed. Countless thousands are dead. This is the apocalyptic scene terrorists hope to create if they ever get their hands on a nuclear bomb. The computer-generated image below was posted on an Islamic extremists' website yesterday. This computer generated image posted on terror forums depict what would happen if a nuclear attack took place in Washington D.C It appeared as rumours swept the Internet that the FBI was warning that an Al Qaeda video was about to be released urging militants to use...

Former US President Jimmy Carter urged Washington to establish friendly ties with Tehran, reiterating the need for his country to resume trade relations with Iran, which he described as a "rational" nation. Speaking at the Hay Festival yesterday, Carter also suggested the US should provide nuclear power technology and fuel to Iran as a show of goodwill. "What happens if, in three years' time, Iran has a nuclear weapon," Carter asked. "I'm not sure that is going to happen, but if it does, what do we do? They are rational people like all of us in this room. Do they...

(IsraelNN.com) Jordanian University lecturer Ibrahim Alloush recommended on Al-Jazeera television this week that suicide bombers be equipped with small nuclear bombs. According to a transcript provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Dr. Alloush said, "Whoever managed to get a martyrdom-seeker into Dimona, should consider how to get martyrdom-seekers into Dimona and elsewhere armed with non-conventional explosives - and perhaps even small nuclear bombs," he stated. "We should think in this direction." Alloush lived for 13 years in the United States, earning graduate degrees at Ohio University and Oklahoma State University, where he earned a doctorate in economics....

Would you take an offer if you knew that by refusing it you'd get a better one? Tehran's answer to the latest "generous package" offered to end its uranium-enrichment program is an emphatic "No." The offer comes from the Six Powers, the UN Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany; it was shaped in London in days of hard bargaining between the United States and the European Union on one side and Russia and China on the other. Yet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is already ignoring three Security Council resolutions and swallowing the bitter medicine of sanctions. And he has reason...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. intelligence community, in an about-face from an assessment of less than a year ago, has concluded that Syria was close to becoming a nuclear power. "In the course of a year after they got full up they would have produced enough plutonium for one or two weapons," CIA director Michael Hayden said. The new assessment was that Syria was weeks away from operating a North Korean-built plutonium production plant near the Turkish border. That facility, the intelligence community assessed, could have procuced up to two bombs in the first year of operation...

At the moment America has disclosed to the world Israel's success in ending a North Korea-aided nuclear weapons project in the Syrian desert, the Syrians are saying Prime Minister Olmert will relinquish the Golan Heights. The Israelis are offering no public comment. But Syria's expatriates minister, Buthaina Shaaban, told Al-Jazeera that the Israeli premier had instructed Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to deliver the message. "Olmert is ready for peace with Syria on the grounds of the return of the Golan Heights in full to Syria," she told the Arab satellite network. The interview aired before the White House...

The reasons are twofold. When the Israelis first became concerned about the North Koreans' activities in Syria last summer, the Americans were negotiating a delicate deal to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear programme in return for a relaxation of the trade sanctions that have crippled the North Korean economy. Had the Israelis gone public with the intelligence that the North Koreans were actively helping Syria to acquire nuclear technology, it might seriously have undermined Washington's diplomatic efforts. If the Americans want to expose North Korea's links to Damascus, that is their affair. For their part, the Israelis are...

<p>WASHINGTON — After seven months of near-total secrecy, the White House is preparing to make public on Thursday video evidence of North Koreans working at a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor just before it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike last September.</p>

U.S. Wants N.Korea to Declare Nuclear Warheads The U.S. is asking North Korea to include a full account of the number of nuclear warheads it has produced in its declaration of nuclear programs and stockpiles. According to a South Korean government source, the U.S. has decided to allow the North to "indirectly acknowledge" its uranium enrichment program and nuclear proliferation to Syria, but the North must declare its weapons-grade plutonium. This means the U.S. wants the North to document the total amount of plutonium, the number of nuclear warheads, and the logbook of the Yongbyon atomic reactor and nuclear reprocessing...

N. Korea produced 30 kg plutonium: report TOKYO - NORTH Korea told the United States in December it has produced a total of around 30 kg of plutonium, about 20 kg less than what the United States estimates, a Japanese newspaper reported on Monday. The daily Tokyo Shimbun reported that North Korea's chief envoy to the talks, Kim Kye Gwan, told his US counterpart, Christopher Hill in North Korea last December the North had used about 18 kg of its plutonium stockpile for nuclear development and around 6 kg for its first and only underground nuclear test in October 2006....

US changes tack over North Korea nuclear program Thu Apr 17, 6:26 PM ET The United States on Thursday for the first time admitted it was scaling back its demands on North Korea in a bid to break a diplomatic stalemate on ending Pyongyang's nuclear arms drive. The top Asia hand at the US National Security Council, Dennis Wilder, said North Korea was not "off the hook" on fully declaring its atomic programs, but that proliferation issues would be "handled in a different manner." And US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in an apparent concession to Pyongyang, indicated the entire...

Washington Greets Deal With N.Korea With Skepticism Some U.S. government officials and congressmen have expressed opposition to a tentative deal reached with North Korea in Singapore last week regarding the North’s overdue declaration of all its nuclear programs and stockpiles. One deputy secretary in the Bush administration says the Singapore deal does not clearly specify Pyongyang's proliferation record and uranium enrichment program, which have hitherto been key sticking points in the matter. Radio Free Asia reports that there was some discontent for congressmen when U.S. chief nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill briefed the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the...

U.S. Ready to Ease Sanctions on N. Korea Pyongyang Would Have to Acknowledge Evidence About Nuclear Activities By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 11, 2008; A15 The United States is prepared to lift two key economic sanctions against North Korea under a tentative deal reached with that country this week, which requires Pyongyang to acknowledge U.S. concerns and evidence about a range of nuclear activities, U.S. and Asian diplomats said yesterday. The agreement also requires North Korea to finish disabling its main nuclear facility and provide a full accounting of its stockpile of plutonium. But, in a...

No breakthrough in North Korea talks, U.S. says 39 minutes ago The United States and North Korea have made no breakthrough toward a final resolution for Pyongyang's declaration of its nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill said on Wednesday. Six-nation talks aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear ambitions have been held up pending a full accounting of North Korea's nuclear activities, a declaration due at the end of last year. Negotiators to the six-party talks met Chinese foreign ministry officials in Beijing on Wednesday. Hill said he had "good discussions" with his Chinese, Japanese and South Korean counterparts,...

Seoul remains calm despite threats from N. Korea SEOUL, March 31 (Yonhap) -- South Korea remained silent Monday to North Korea's provocative threats to turn everything in the country into ashes while officials at the Defense Ministry said they simply see no need to respond to what they called "unfortunate" rhetoric. The Defense Ministry was earlier expected to issue a statement, but ministry officials said they were still weighing their options. "It truly is unfortunate for North Korea to make such threats, but the government sees no need to be alarmed and make an immediate response," a ministry official said,...

Syria got N. Korea help for N-facility 03/31/2008 BY NANAE KURASHIGE THE ASAHI SHIMBUN An Israeli airstrike against Syria last September targeted a nuclear-related facility that was under construction with technical assistance from North Korea, according to Israel's prime minister. Japanese government sources said over the weekend that the Israeli leader, Ehud Olmert, briefed Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda about the attack during summit talks in Tokyo on Feb. 27. It is apparently the first time that the intended target had been disclosed to the head of a foreign government. Previously, Jerusalem had only acknowledged it carried out the Sept. 6,...

North’s nukes on attack radar New military chief says plans exist for possible ‘pre-emptive strike’ March 27, 2008 The South Korean military is prepared to launch a pre-emptive attack on North Korea’s nuclear installations if they become a military threat, Gen. Kim Tae-young, the newly designated chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a hearing yesterday. It was the first time the military has confirmed contingency plans for a pre-emptive attack on Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities and comes as Seoul’s new conservative government is being closely watched for signs of how it will approach North Korea. Speaking at his...

A Ticking Clock on N. Korea By David Ignatius Sunday, March 23, 2008; B07 For many months, Bush administration officials have been imagining a valedictory conclusion to their long-running negotiations with North Korea: Pyongyang would make a "complete and correct declaration" about its nuclear program, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to North Korea to celebrate normalization of relations with a former member of the "axis of evil." But the North Korea breakthrough isn't happening, and administration officials know they are running out of time before President Bush leaves office. The New York Philharmonic has come and gone...

TEHERAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned the world powers against a ‘new game’ in their nuclear dispute with his country, the Fars news agency reported Friday. ‘Put an end to this game, but if you want to start a new game, you should know that if our nation decides something, then it will definitely be put into practice without the slightest concession,’ Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying. The warning by the Iranian president came just before the presentation Friday of the latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Iran’s nuclear projects. Teheran is confident that IAEA Director General...

Bush, new South Korean president think alike on NKorea, but nuclear deal might prove difficult By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the first time in his seven years in office, President Bush will have a South Korean counterpart with similar views on North Korean nuclear disarmament when Lee Myung-bak is inaugurated Monday. It may already be too late for them to move forward on an agreement to rid the North of its nuclear weapons. Seoul's change in leadership comes with six-nation nuclear negotiations at an impasse. It will take time for Lee to set up a...

U.S. presses N. Korea on Syria By Nicholas Kralev February 20, 2008 The United States, alarmed by mounting evidence that North Korea gave nuclear assistance to Syria, has rejected pressure from some of its partners in six-nation talks to compromise on an overdue declaration of Pyongyang's nuclear activities, U.S. officials said yesterday. The declaration, which was due at the end of December, would complete the second phase of an October deal aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and clear the way for promised political and economic benefits to the communist state. "We won't have a complete and correct declaration until...

Death tugs at my ear and says, 'Live, I am coming.'" Were Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. alive today, he might ascribe that line not to death but to nuclear terrorism. Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, Americans have had to live with the knowledge that the next time the terrorists strike, it could be not with airplanes capable of killing thousands but atomic bombs capable of killing hundreds of thousands. The prospect has created a sense of profound vulnerability. It has shaped our view of government policies aimed at combating terrorism (filtered through Jack Bauer). It helped mobilize...

White House Mulls Giving North Korea Some Wiggle Room on Nuke Declaration Friday , January 25, 2008 By James Rosen WASHINGTON — With North Korea almost a month overdue on its obligation to provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs and materiel, the Bush administration — under increasing pressure from American conservatives to take a harder line with Pyongyang, or abandon the talks altogether — is now considering accepting a declaration that would be less than complete, carving out the two most contentious issues for later resolution, sources told FOX News. The foreign diplomatic sources, representing...

N. Korea talks left out details January 23, 2008 By Bill Gertz - North Korea's recent discussions with the United States about a required declaration under the six-nation nuclear talks omitted key data on Pyongyang's current nuclear arsenal and its covert uranium enrichment program, U.S. officials say. The failure to provide the information in a formal declaration, combined with North Korea's Jan. 4 public statement asserting it already made the declaration, left the four years of talks frozen amid newly disclosed intelligence showing North Korea at one time had equipment with traces of 90 percent enriched uranium, said officials who...

State Department quagmire: North Korea falls off the tracks By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON - The return of conservatives to the leadership in South Korea appears to be persuading North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il to back away from a process of reconciliation that promised a vast infusion of aid and investment. Jay Lefkowitz, President Bush's Special Envoy on Human Rights in North Korea, has not helped things in the view of those in the State Department who have been pushing the process. After remaining silent on the victory of Lee Myung-bak in December's presidential election, North Korea has signaled its unhappiness...

Rice Slams US Envoy's NKorea Criticism By FOSTER KLUG – 2 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday sharply rebuked a fellow member of the Bush administration who criticized international negotiations aimed at persuading North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons program. Rice said that Jay Lefkowitz, President Bush's special envoy on North Korean human rights, "doesn't know what's going on in the six-party talks, and he certainly has no say on what American policy will be in the six-party talks." Lefkowitz said Thursday that the North is not serious about disarming and probably still...

January 22, 2008 RAF scrambled as Russia tests nuclear-capable missiles (RAF/MoD Crown Copyright/PA Wire) A Russian Bear-H bomber Tony Halpin in Moscow RAF fighters scrambled to track Russian long-range bombers joining a naval task force today as Moscow practised strike tactics off the coast of France and Spain and test-launched nuclear-capable missiles. The fleet of Russian warships, supported by fighter jets and the bombers, engaged in Russia’s biggest naval exercises since the end of the Cold War. The war games close to two Nato member states were the most forceful reminder to date of President Putin’s determination to flex Russia’s...

Russia Issues Pre-Emptive Nuclear Threat By Sky News SkyNews - 27 minutes ago Russia's military chief of staff says Moscow would use nuclear weapons in pre-emptive strike if it felt threatened. (Advertisement) General Yuri Baluyevsky said there were no plans "to attack anyone" but reasserted Russia's right to defend itself. "To defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Gen Baluyevsky said. The remarks do not represent a change in policy for Moscow. But they do come at a time of heightened tension...