Free Republic

Starbucks recalls China-made kids cups Thu Oct 11, 3:21 AM ET Coffee shop chain Starbucks is recalling 250,000 made-in-China plastic children's cups that can break easily and endanger children, the company and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced. The Seattle, Washington company said it has received seven reports of the cups breaking, and in two of the reports children began to choke on a broken piece. But it added that no injuries had been reported. The recall includes four styles of plastic children's 10-ounce (300-millileter) cups: the red ladybug, green turtle, pink bunny and yellow chick cups. "If...

Vladimir Putin confronts US with threat to arms pact Tony Halpin in Moscow Vladimir Putin threatened to abandon a key nuclear arms treaty yesterday as he raised the stakes in the confrontation between Russia and the United States over a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe. The Russian President threw down the gauntlet at a meeting with Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, and Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary. They came prepared for criticism of the US proposal but instead Mr Putin gave a blunt warning that he would scrap the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. The 1987 treaty...

Sarkozy divorce will be announced ‘imminently’ Adam Sage in Paris France was treated to an unprecedented spectacle yesterday as newspapers and radio shows aired the rumour that President Sarkozy was on the point of divorce from his wife, C飩lia. Commentators, running roughshod over the long-standing Gallic taboo governing the private lives of public figures, said that an official announcement on the separation was imminent. L’Est R鰵blicain, the regional newspaper, said that the couple, whose tempestuous relationship has been the subject of intense speculation for months, were planning to make an announcement. “Things should move pretty quickly, with divorce papers filed...

by Robert D. Kaplan America’s Elegant Decline Beware pendulum swings. Before 9/11, not enough U.S. generals believed that the future of war was unconventional and tied to global anarchy. They insisted on having divisions to fight against, not ragtag groups of religious warriors who, as it turned out, fought better than state armies in the Muslim world ever did. Now the Pentagon is consumed by a focus on urban warfare and counterinsurgency; inside military circles, the development of culturally adroit foreign-area officers (FAOs) and the learning of exotic languages have become the rage. My own warnings about anarchy (“The Coming...

Villagers cash in on endless cocaine on beach By staff writers October 10, 2007 10:49am VILLAGERS living on Nicaragua's remote Mosquito Coast are living like the rich thanks to tonnes of free cocaine washing up on their shores. The bags of cocaine, worth millions of dollars, are coming from Colombian speedboats on "narco-routes" which drop the booty overboard if intercepted by US and Nicaraguan patrols, guardian.co.uk reported. Currents carry the bags towards shore. People living in villages such as Karpwala and Tasbapauni who find it are then offered up to $4000 a kilo for the cocaine - seven times less...

The students selling their brains and bodies for cash Officially, Cambridge students do not work during termtime. A few hours a week at the college bar is all that is allowed. It’s an open secret that many of us fit evening and weekend jobs around our studies. Undergraduate life is expensive these days, especially for those who enjoy the odd luxury. But why are 350 Cantabridgians working as escorts? Why are 500 – nearly one in twenty – writing bespoke essays for anonymous clients? The Call Girl I slept with clients on 40-50 occasions over a period of two months....

An Israeli Strike on Syria Kindles Debate in the U.S. By MARK MAZZETTI and HELENE COOPER WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 — A sharp debate is under way in the Bush administration about the significance of the Israeli intelligence that led to last month’s Israeli strike inside Syria, according to current and former American government officials. At issue is whether intelligence that Israel presented months ago to the White House — to support claims that Syria had begun early work on what could become a nuclear weapons program with help from North Korea — was conclusive enough to justify military action by...

Tough-talking Nicolas Sarkozy spells out terms of new relationship to Vladimir Putin Charles Bremner in Moscow Read Charles Bremner's blog from Moscow President Putin of Russia has made a big shift towards Western efforts to dissuade Iran from building nuclear weapons, President Sarkozy claimed in Moscow last night. The French leader emerged with the news after a three-hour private dinner that was the first test of his resolve to add a harder edge to his country’s recently cosy relations with Moscow. Chatting in his hotel, “Super-Sarko” appeared delighted with the success of his “frank and passionate” session at Mr Putin’s...

<p>America’s mortgage crisis is likely to get considerably worse because the level of fraudulent lending to unsuitable borrowers was much higher than previously estimated, Standard & Poor’s said yesterday.</p> <p>David Wyss, the ratings agency’s chief economist, said that defaults on high-risk “sub-prime” mortgages would continue to soar as unqualified mortgage-holders struggled to meet their repayments, tightening the credit markets and dragging down the American economy.</p>

N. Korea's Track Record Tempers Hope By Richard Halloran Clouds of good cheer billowed out from Pyongyang and Beijing this week, giving rise once again to the hope that maybe, just maybe, peace is at hand on a Korean peninsula freed of nuclear arms. Amid this optimism, it may be curmudgeonly to say so but the history of dealing with North Korea over six decades justifies a dose of skepticism. That path is strewn with North Korean deception, lies, broken promises, assassinations and attempted assassinations, kidnappings, other violence, and no small amount of belligerent bluster. In Pyongyang, a summit meeting...

Students clash as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces protest at campus speech Kayvon Biouki in Tehran Iranian students staged a noisy protest against President Ahmadinejad yesterday when he arrived at Tehran University to give a speech marking the start of the academic year. In scenes rarely witnessed in Iran, scores of students chanted anti-Ahmadinejad slogans, clashed with pro-government militia and made public a highly critical letter addressed to the Iranian leader. The authorities responded by firing teargas canisters into the campus, just as the Iranian leader was leaving. “It looked like a boxing ring in there, but instead of two fighters...

Putin ready to become premier after completing presidency in May MOSCOW, Oct. 9 KYODO Russian President Vladimir Putin appears ready to become prime minister after his second four-year term expires next May, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday night. Peskov told a group of Japanese newspaper editorial writers it is reasonable to say Putin is ready to assume the premiership because the Russian public hopes to see the Putin administration's policy steps continued. Speaking to a convention of the ruling party United Russia on Oct. 1, Putin said he finds it ''realistic'' to become prime minister after he steps down,...

N. Korea marks nuclear test anniversary By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer 11 minutes ago North Korea marked the first anniversary of its nuclear test on Tuesday, with leader Kim Jong Il getting praise for pulling off a "truly great miracle" that sent the reclusive communist country "soaring as a powerful and great" nation. The Oct. 9, 2006, test marked a peak in international concern over the country's nuclear status and prompted the U.S. to soften its policy toward North Korea, paving the way for steps toward a goal of dismantling the Asian country's program. The North's main Rodong Sinmun...

Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs. By Rick Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 9, 2007; Page A03 Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month. "I heard someone say, 'Oh my god, look at those,' " the college senior from New York recalled. "I look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?' They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects." Out in the crowd, Bernard Crane saw them, too. "I'd never seen anything like it in my life,"...

Ozawa in power would send SDF to U.N. force in Afghanistan 10/06/2007 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Japanese troops would join a U.N. peacekeeping force in Afghanistan if Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) takes over the government, according to a proposal by party leader Ichiro Ozawa. Ozawa made the proposal in the November issue of the monthly opinion journal Sekai (World), due out on Tuesday. The proposal will serve as the basis for the opposition party's counterproposal to a government bill to extend Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean for the U.S.-led war against terror. In the article, the Minshuto chief...

Filipino children hospitalised after eating Chinese candy AFP - Friday, October 5MANILA, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - Twenty-three children in the Philippines were hospitalised after eating sweets made in China, officials said Friday. The pupils, aged nine and 10, were rushed to hospital on Thursday suffering from stomache aches, vomiting and dizziness after eating candy given out at a birthday party on Bantayan Island near Cebu. Romelo Mates, an adviser at an elementary school in the town of Madridejos, said that according to its wrapper, the Ube Milk Candy was made in Guandong, China. Mates told local media the children...

/begin my translation Kim Jong-il to mend relations with his half-brother? [2007-10-07] According to multiple sources, Kim Jong-il set out to mend relations with his half-brother Kim Pyong-il. In a cut-throat struggle to become Kim Il-sung's successor, Kim Jong-il wiped out his half-brother's support base, declaring, "Side branches ought to be cut out," when his half-brother's faction had the upper hand. After he was defeated in the power struggle, Kim Pyong-il was banished to N. Korean embassies overseas, serving N. Korean ambassador to one (E. European) country to another, but last September, he was recalled from N. Korean embassy...

/begin my excerpt Kim Jong-il's Second Son Plays Solo Guitar for his Rock Group in Front of him Kim Jong-il' second son Kim Jung-choll(age:26), born from Ko Yong-hee, Kim Jong-il's third wife, is a rabid fan of Eric Clapton, a world-famous guitarist and a rock' n roll singer, and started his own rock group 'Sae-byul Jo', imitating Clapton. It is made up of Kim Jung-chol and some musicians from 'Bo-chun-bo Electronic Music Company.' The group has performed in front of Kim Jong-il in which Jung-chol plays solo guitar himself. This kind of music talent is inherited from his father, Kim...

How Big is MI-26 ?

Myanmar military officer defects to Thailand Agence France-Presse BANGKOK (AFP) - A Myanmar military officer has fled to Thailand to seek asylum, apparently because he refused orders to attack Buddhist monks in anti-junta protests, a senior Thai intelligence official said Wednesday. Major Hla Win entered Thailand with help from a non-government organization, and he hopes to apply for asylum in Norway, the official told AFP. "He is not a senior general, but is mid-ranking," the official said. Hla Win's defection is the first known case of a military official fleeing the country since the junta last week ordered a crackdown...

(LEAD) N. Korean leader asks Roh to extend Pyongyang visit by one day SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Wednesday asked South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun to extend his North Korea visit by one day and stay in Pyongyang until Friday, Roh's public information secretary announced here. "North Korean leader Kim made a proposal for Roh to extend his stay in Pyongyang. The South's government officials and the presidential aides will positively consider the proposal," Yoon Seung-yong said in a media briefing. Roh was originally scheduled to return to Seoul on Thursday. According to pool...

/begin my summary Kim Jong-il's Changed Gait: Due to Diabetes hair: hairs have become thinner and more curly; more loss of hair glasses: no tint; implies deterioration of sight eyes : more wrinkles under the eyes; eyelids got slack cheek : more dark spots lips : more visible wrinkles around both ends of lips neck : more wrinkles under his Adam's apple; skin has become thinner shoulder : movement of shoulder rigid; suspected to be the frozen shoulder caused by diabetes arms: thinner abdomen: more paunchy right foot : He drags it a bit while walking; suspected to be...

Dear Leader Kim Jong Il goes sour on talks to mend fences with rich neighbour Leo Lewis in Seoul A last-minute change of venue, an inscrutable handshake and the robotic forced glee of a thousand brightly dressed “wellwishers” with no choice in the matter – it was a textbook welcome from North Korea and the world’s most notorious dictator. But it was a very unfamiliar Kim Jong Il who shuffled woodenly through a meeting with President Roh of South Korea in Pyongyang yesterday. His gait was uncomfortable, his shoulders hunched and his face a mask bereft of emotion. The historic...

Sickly Dour Kim Jong-il at the Summit Kimg Jong-il at the first inter-Korean summit on 2000 (left) and at the second summit on Oct. 2, 2007 (right) Kim Jong-il at the welcoming ceremony for S. Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in the afternoon of Oct. 2(From JoongAng Ilbo)

Leaders of North, South Korea meet By BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer 23 minutes ago North Korean leader Kim Jong Il greeted South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in Pyongyang on Tuesday to begin the second summit between the two countries since the peninsula's division after World War II. Thousands of cheering North Koreans waving pink paper flowers and a military honor guard bearing rifles with bayonets heralded the leaders' first encounter outside a cultural hall in the North Korean capital, where Roh traveled some 3 1/2 hours by road from the South Korean capital, Seoul. The two leaders walked down...

The heroism of the Burmese, the shame of China These protests heve exposed Beijing’s own fear and failure Rosemary Righter When China joined Russia last January to veto a fairly mild United Nations Security Council resolution calling on Burma to free political prisoners and improve its abominable human rights record, Beijing’s Ambassador at the UN helpfully explained that “no country is perfect” and that “similar problems exist in other countries”. Including, as he of course did not say, China. The parallels may not seem all that obvious this week. Leaving aside the contrast between China’s boom economy and the misery...

How Economy Could Survive Oil At $100 A Barrel The world economy has managed, with some indigestion, to swallow the rise of oil prices past $80 a barrel. How well could it survive $100 a barrel? The answer is quite well -- so long as several conditions still hold true. The price rise would probably have to be gradual. Inflation couldn't get so bad as to force big interest-rate hikes. Oil-rich nations would need to pump their profits back into U.S. and European economies. All of this has happened so far. The happy confluence may continue, though fears remain strong...

U.S. Steps Up Confrontation With Myanmar’s Rulers By DAVID E. SANGER and STEVEN LEE MYERS WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 — The Bush administration stepped up its confrontation with the ruling junta in Myanmar on Friday, and officials said they were searching for ways to persuade China and other nations to cut off lending, investment and trade into the country. But in a sign of how limited Washington’s leverage is against the country, which has long been the target of American sanctions, officials said they were concerned that China, a trading partner and neighbor of Myanmar, would block any serious effort to...

Myanmar troops threaten to shoot By Aung Hla Tun 32 minutes ago Troops cleared the streets of central Yangon on Thursday, telling protesters they had 10 minutes to go home or be shot, as the Myanmar junta intensified its two-day crackdown on the largest uprising in 20 years. Crowds scattered as 200 soldiers marched slowly through the streets, rifles at their sides and loudspeakers blaring out warnings -- ominous reminders of 1988, when an estimated 3,000 people were killed in the crushing of nationwide demonstrations. Riot police walking from Sule Pagoda, end-point of more than a week of monk-led marches...

China, India could face CO2 tax on goods -U.S. envoy By Reuters Tuesday September 25, 09:55 PM By David Brunnstrom BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Retaliatory steps that comply with world trade rules could be found against China and India if they fail to help international efforts to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday. Speaking before a meeting on climate change in Washington to be attended by the world's 16 biggest greenhouse gas emitters, U.S. ambassador to the European Union C. Boyden Gray said steps could include a tax on carbon emitted by manufacturers. Gray said...

Food prices, subprime fears unsettle German consumers: GfK 1 hour, 24 minutes ago Frothy milk prices and subprime fears sapped the morale of consumers in the eurozone's biggest economy this month, a survey by the German GfK institute found. The leading barometer of German household confidence fell to an indexed 6.8 points from a revised level in August of 7.4, its second drop in as many months, a GfK statement said Wednesday. "The credit crisis in the United States and rising food prices are primarily responsible for the decreased tendency to spend" by consumers, the institute added. The collapse of...

Bush scolds "brutal regimes" as he pushes democracy Tue Sep 25, 2:16 PM ET U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday rallied fellow U.N. members to what he called a mission of liberation and named Belarus, Syria, Iran and North Korea as "brutal regimes" that deny people their rights. With national representatives seated before him on the opening day of the U.N. General Assembly, Bush also scolded the governments of Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Cuba as he called for the spread of democracy, a consistent theme of his U.N. speeches. "This great institution must work for great purposes: to free people...

Misery may be just beginning, warns IMF By Edmund Conway, Economics Editor Last Updated: 12:16am BST 25/09/2007   The US housing market faces further falls if credit market problems persist Even when the financial waters are calm, the International Monetary Fund's Financial Stability Report can make for worrying reading. When markets are in the midst of a major crisis, it can be extremely disturbing.The message from the latest of these risk assessments is that this crisis is no flash in the pan. The likelihood of further market crunches has increased significantly, it said. Even if these do not occur, there...

Communist China Fears Trouble Is Brewing at Home BY NICHOLAS WAPSHOTT - Staff Reporter of the Sun September 21, 2007 URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/63118 Fearful of a repeat of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests of 1989, which were brutally put down by the military and drew worldwide condemnation, the communist government of China has issued an order freezing the prices of state-controlled commodities until the end of the year in a bid to slow galloping inflation. The Chinese Communist Party is afraid that growing unrest among workers may lead to protests to coincide with next month's Communist Party Congress, a meeting held...

Secret US air force team to perfect plan for Iran strike Sarah Baxter, Washington Also from Sarah Baxter: Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid | Snatched: Israeli commandos ‘nuclear’ raid | Israelis 'blew apart Syrian nuclear cache' | Alan Greenspan: "Blair was clearly an aide to Brown" THE United States Air Force has set up a highly confidential strategic planning group tasked with “fighting the next war” as tensions rise with Iran. Project Checkmate, a successor to the group that planned the 1991 Gulf War’s air campaign, was quietly reestablished at the Pentagon in June. It reports directly to...

NKorea, Syria hold talks amid suspicions 1 hour, 28 minutes ago North Korea and Syria held high-level talks Friday in Pyongyang, the North's state media reported, amid suspicions that the two countries might be cooperating on a nuclear weapons program. The talks took place between Choe Tae Bok, secretary of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party, and Saaeed Eleia Dawood, director of the organizational department of Syria's Baath Arab Socialist Party, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. The two sides discussed ways of improving friendship and cooperation and other issues of bilateral interest, KCNA said without...

North Korea reports heavy losses, disease after floods 19 minutes ago North Korea has been pummelled by heavy rains for a second time in a month, state media said Friday, as the communist nation struggles to contain disease outbreaks from earlier floods. Rice and other crops were lost as rains spawned by Typhoon Wipha inundated western provinces and the capital Pyongyang in the past three days, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It said the new downpours had caused "heavy losses in many sectors" of the economy and some areas damaged by last month's floods had again...

http://www.dailynk.com/korean/read.php?num=46852&cataId=nk06000 Kim Jong-il May be Developing Dementia ... U.S./British Intelligence Investigating /begin my translation Kim Jong-il 'May be Developing Dementia' ... "U.S./British Intelligence Investigating" U.S. official "(Kim Jong-il)Shows symptoms of early stage of dementia... Kim Jong-il 'under the care' of the (personal) Secretary's Office" [2007-09-20 00:01 ] U.S. government picked up the intelligence that Kim Jong-il is suffering from the early stage of dementia, and is trying to verify it, it has been revealed. Credible sources in Japan told The Daily NK on Sept. 19 that they confirmed it from a high-level U.S. official on Sept. 14. The sources said,...

Russia, China worried by Iran attack talk By Chris Baldwin 2 hours, 28 minutes ago Russia and China expressed alarm on Tuesday over comments by France's foreign minister that Paris should prepare for the prospect of war with Iran, which the West accuses of secretly developing nuclear weapons. Minister Bernard Kouchner sought, however, to play down his weekend remarks, saying they were meant as a "message of peace." "I do not want it to be said that I am a warmonger!" he told Le Monde newspaper, days before the five U.N. Security Council permanent members, including Russia and China, and...

Some Toy Makers Shun the China Label By MARK LANDLER and IVAR EKMAN FRANKFURT, Sept. 17 — Playmobil of Germany has long promoted its colorful plastic pirates, firefighters and farm animals as better-than-your-average plaything — toys to be handed down rather than chewed up. Now it can add another selling point: they are made in Europe, not China. The same goes for Lego, the Danish maker of toy bricks, and for Ravensburger, a German puzzle and game manufacturer, though it does produce small quantities of nonpaper toys in Chinese factories. With Mattel and the American toy industry reeling from recalls...

Northern Rock: Gordon Brown's big gamble By Gordon Rayner and Andrew Porter Last Updated: 6:51am BST 18/09/2007 Gordon Brown put his political credibility on the line yesterday by taking the unprecedented step of guaranteeing all savings in Northern Rock accounts. With every previous attempt to reassure the bank’s customers ending in failure, the Prime Minister took the gamble of putting up £21billion of taxpayers’ money to halt the panic withdrawals. The Government was forced to act after Northern Rock branches were besieged for a third day by thousands of customers queueing all day to empty their accounts. By the end...

September 17, 2007 Analysis: why France has become hawkish on Islam Charles Bremner, Times Paris correspondent Bernard Kouchner tried to soften his remarks about declaring war on Iran as soon as he made them on a Sunday television talk show. "Of course military planning is a long way off, we must negotiate right to the last," he said, in a hasty qualification of his bellicose comments that the world must prepare for the worst over Iran's nuclear ambitions, "and the worst is war". His mention of conflict was being seen in some quarters in France as just another example of...

Greenspan was more a rock star than a feared Fed sage By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Last Updated: 1:08am BST 18/09/2007 We forget now, but Alan Greenspan first rose in Washington as a political aide to Richard Nixon - not as an economist. Greenspan warns of UK house prices drop Comment: More rock star than feared Fed sage In depth: Alan Greenspan As domestic policy boss for Nixon's 1968 campaign, he wrote the speech calling for an end to the Vietnam draft - the mischievous pledge that clinched a tight race. Greenspan slashed rates to mitigate the dotcom debacle His mentor was...

/begin my translation 'Roh Moo-hyun, Kim Jong-il, and Putin are after 2007 Nobel Peace Prize' Anatoli Lee, former Presidential Adviser on Far East Affairs for Gorbachev and Yeltsin, reveals (the plan) (2nd) inter-Korean summit scheduled between Oct. 2nd and 4th is hatched from the project to secure Nobel Peace Prize for leaders of both Koreas and Russia, according to a rather detailed testimony (we obtained.) The October issue of "Wolgan Joongang"(a major S. Korean news magazine) due to be out in Sept. 18 reports, "The summit is the result of 'N-project' in which high-level figures from three countries participated,...

Prime suspect in Litvinenko case to run for Russian parliament Posted on : 2007-09-16 | Author : DPA News Category : Europe Moscow - Andrei Lugovi, the prime suspect in the murder case of Kremlin opponent Alexander Litvinenko, is to run for Russian parliament (Duma) as number 2 on the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) list, Duma Deputy Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky announced Sunday. According to the Interfax news agency, Lugovoi agreed to run in the election with the LDPR, led by the nationalist Zhirinovsky. Former Russian secret service agent Lugovoi is accused by Britain's Scotland Yard of administering a lethal dose...

Bush setting America up for war with Iran By Philip Sherwell in New York and Tim Shipman in Washington Last Updated: 2:29am BST 17/09/2007 Senior American intelligence and defence officials believe that President George W Bush and his inner circle are taking steps to place America on the path to war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.   Dick Cheney ('The Man') with George W Bush Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran's nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.Pentagon and...

September 16, 2007 Japanese Housewives Sweat in Secret as Markets Reel By MARTIN FACKLER TOKYO, Sept. 15 — Since the credit crisis started shaking the world financial markets this summer, many professional traders have taken big losses. Another, less likely group of investors has, too: middle-class Japanese homemakers who moonlight as amateur currency speculators. Ms. Itoh is one of them. Ms. Itoh, a homemaker in the central city of Nagoya, did not want her full name used because her husband still does not know. After cleaning the dinner dishes, she would spend her evenings buying and selling British pounds and...

US wary of Syria-North Korea ties Sun Sep 16, 11:34 AM ET The U.S. is keeping close watch on Syria and North Korea, the Pentagon chief said Sunday, amid suspicions the Koreans are possibly cooperating with Syria on a nuclear facility. "I think it would be a real problem," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said when asked how the Bush administration would view such an effort. A senior U.S. nuclear official said Friday that North Koreans were in Syria and that Syria may have had contacts with "secret suppliers" to obtain nuclear equipment. Andrew Semmel, acting deputy assistant secretary of state...

September 16, 2007 A tale of two dictatorships: The links between North Korea and Syria Michael Sheridan, Far East correspondent Deep in a tunnel under Mount Myohang, in North Korea, its regime has preserved as a museum piece the Kalashnikov assault rifle and pistols sent as gifts from President Hafez al-Assad of Syria to Kim Il Sung in the early years of their friendship. Today North Korea and Syria are ruled by the sons of their late 20th century dictators, men who share more than just a common fear of the United States and a fondness for authoritarian family rule....

New Investigative Agency Starts Work In Russia September 7, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A powerful new Russian law enforcement agency called the Investigative Committee has began work. The Investigative Committee, which Russian officials say is loosely modeled on the FBI in the United States, will be chaired by Aleksandr Bastrykin, a former law-school classmate of President Vladimir Putin. "In my opinion, the establishment of the Investigative Committee is a meaningful step forward," Boris Gavrilov, an investigator with the Russian Interior Ministry, told RFE/RL's Russian Service. "Most importantly, this can in the future become a Federal Investigative Service." The Investigative Committee will...