IRAN
Russia concerned about Iran nuclear report: diplomats
Fredrik Dahl, Reuters – October 19, 2011
Russia fears a U.N. report which is expected to heighten suspicions about Iran’s atomic ambitions could undermine Moscow’s initiative to help resolve a nuclear dispute with Tehran, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.
How far will newest U.N. nuclear report on Iran go?
Pam Benson, CNN (Blog) – October 18, 2011
Amid new reports indicating Iran’s nuclear program is faltering, the international nuclear watchdog agency is putting the finishing touches on its latest assessment and it might go further in tying Iran to a possible weapons program.
NORTH KOREA
Autumn harvest watched warily in food-poor NKorea
Jeah H. Lee, AP – October 20, 2011
This autumn, as farmers fan out into fields of corn, wheat, rice and cabbage, such evocative pastoral scenes — the stuff of centuries-old Dutch landscape paintings — also are a reminder of the challenges North Korea faces in feeding its people.
Six-party talks inch closer to resumption
Kim Young-jin, The Korea Times – October 20, 2011
A series of diplomatic moves over North Korea’s nuclear program is cautiously inching regional players closer to resuming long-stalled multilateral negotiations, analysts said Thursday.
LIBYA
Libyan officials, NATO say no confirmation that Gadahfi captured or killed in Sirte
AP (Washington Post) – October 20, 2011
Libyan officials and NATO say they cannot confirm reports from revolutionary fighters that ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was captured or killed in the fall of his hometown Thursday.
Sirte falls after Libyan fighters’ final push
The Guardian – October 20, 2011
The last major resistance to Libya’s new government ended on Thursday with the fall of the last positions in Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi’s home town, held by his loyalists.
PAKISTAN
Clinton Issues Blunt Warning to Pakistan
Steven Lee Myers, NYT – October 20, 2011
Setting the stage for a high-level diplomatic showdown, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton bluntly warned Pakistan’s leaders on Thursday that they would face serious consequences if they continued to tolerate safe havens for extremist organizations that have crossed the border to attack Americans and Afghans.
UNITED STATES
Stuxnet-like virus points to new round of cyber war
Glenn Chapman, AFP – October 20, 2011
Internet security specialists have warned of a new round of cyber warfare in the form of a computer virus similar to the malicious Stuxnet worm believed to have targeted Iran’s nuclear program.
Who’s behind worm Duqu, ‘son of Stuxnet’?
Paul Wagneseil, Security News Daily (MSNBC) – October 19, 2011
Tuesday’s startling news that a new variant on the Stuxnet worm, dubbed “Duqu,” had been found raised a lot of questions — and threw into doubt some assumptions about the original Stuxnet.
Vets mobilize against defense cuts
Steve Vogel, Washington Post – October 19, 2011
The nation’s largest veterans groups, angry that lawmakers usually friendly to defense are open to cuts in military spending, are mobilizing their memberships to pressure Congress to preserve veterans’ benefits.
