Iran
Iran says seeks end to sanctions at talks with world powers
Fredrik Dahl, Reuters – May 2, 2012
Iran said on Wednesday it was seeking an end to Western sanctions over its arms program during talks with world powers and criticized France for helping Israel, the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have atomic weapons.
IMF rejects call to cut ties with Iran
Agence France Presse – May 1, 2012
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday rejected a call by a US anti-Iran group for it to cut its relations with Tehran’s central bank in order to adhere to US and European sanctions.
U.S. Expands Reach Of Sanctions On Syria, Iran
Kevin Hall, McClatchy News Services – May 2, 2012
The Obama administration on Tuesday granted the Treasury Department authority blacklist foreign nationals and companies that help Iran and Syria evade U.S. and international sanctions. President Barack Obama signed an executive order and notified congressional leaders that he had given Treasury expanded powers thwart the evasion of U.S. sanctions.
Iran is top ‘contingency’ in whittled U.S. war plans
Rowan Scarborough, The Washington Times – May 1, 2012
The U.S. military is discussing significant changes in its war plans to adhere to President Obama’s strategic guidance that downplays preparing for conflicts such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and counts on allies to provide additional troops.
Missile Defense
Russia to Detail U.S. Missile Plan’s Threat to Nuclear Deterrent
Stepan Kravchenko, Bloomberg – May 2, 2012
Russia will present what it considers the danger of a planned U.S. missile shield in Europe through a computer simulation at a Defense Ministry conference in Moscow tomorrow, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said.
Afghanistan
Obama Signs Pact in Kabul, Turning Page in Afghan War
Mark Landler, New York Times – May 1, 2012
President Obama, speaking to an American television audience on Tuesday night from Bagram Air Base, declared that he had traveled here to herald a new era in the relationship between the United States and Afghanistan, “a future in which war ends, and a new chapter begins.”
Korean Peninsula
Science ensures N.Korea nuclear test would be no secret
Kerry Sheridan, Agence France Press – May 1, 2012
North Korea remains largely cut off from the Internet and mobile phone technology that links much of modern society, but any nuclear test would be swiftly revealed by global scientists, experts say.
