Free Republic

The German government has intercepted a shipment of German made aluminum tubes probably destined for use in North Korea's nuclear programme, according to a German magazine.The weekly magazine Der Spiegel said in its issue due to be published on Monday that 22 tonnes of aluminum tubes, essential in the manufacture of enriched uranium, were loaded onto a French ship in Hamburg in early April just as the German government vetoed the shipment.The German government alerted the French authorities, who ordered the ships captain to unload the containers in Egypt.Officially the tubes were on their way to a Chines aeronautics company,...

MOSCOW, April 22 (AFP) - Russia is concerned that Iran may be enriching uranium with a view to developing nuclear weapons, Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said on Tuesday, quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency. Rumyantsev referred to US press reports that Tehran had equipped a nuclear complex with the capacity to enrich its recently-disclosed uranium deposits, sparking fears that the country may be stepping up a covert weapons program. "Such centrifuges are capable of enriching uranium to a high enough concentration for developing weapons," he said. "If the media reports are accurate, the situation is alarming." "Iran must acknowledge...