IRAN
Defiant Iran inaugurates 2 nuclear-linked projects
Associated Press – April 9, 2013
Iran announced two key nuclear-related projects on Tuesday that expand the country’s ability to extract and process uranium, which can be enriched for reactor fuel but also potentially for atomic weapons. The development came just days after another round of talks with world powers seeking to limit Tehran’s atomic program ended in a stalemate.
US Senators seeking tougher economic sanctions on Iran
Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Bloomberg News – April 8, 2013
A group of U.S. lawmakers is proposing to intensify the economic pressure on Iran over its disputed nuclear program by drafting the harshest penalties to date on a nation whose income from oil exports has been cut in half by sanctions since 2011.
NORTH KOREA
North Korea Warns Foreigners in South of Nuclear War
Choe Sang-hun, The New York Times – April 9, 2013
North Korea warned on Tuesday that foreigners in South Korea should look for shelter or consider evacuating because the Korean Peninsula was on the brink of nuclear war. But the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, said she remained determined not to succumb to the North’s efforts to escalate tensions to extract concessions from the South.
MISSILE DEFENSE
95 Army personnel going to Guam for missile defense
Armando Cordoba, USA Today – April 8, 2013
Almost 100 U.S. Army personnel will deploy to this Pacific island territory in coming weeks as the Pentagon moves one of its missile defense systems designed to knock down hostile targets in the upper atmosphere.
