In The News

Key Pakistani Is Said to Admit Atom Transfers

David Rohde February 2, 2004
Pakistan's official inquiry into the transfer of nuclear technology has yielded its most substantial finding yet. The founder of the country's nuclear weapons program, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, admitted on Sunday that he had worked with Libya, North Korea, and Iran to help develop those countries' nuclear programs. The scientist said he had helped facilitate the transfer of designs...

Earthquake Narrows US-Iran Rift

Roshanak Taghavi January 30, 2004
A devastating earthquake in the city of Bam, Iran, may help to bring the United States and Iran closer together. Washington's offer to provide humanitarian aid to help over 40,000 quake victims marks the first open cooperation between the US and Iran in a quarter-century. According to this article in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly, however, Iran is skeptical about pursuing warmer relations in...

Ex-Arms Monitor Urges an Inquiry on Iraqi Threat

Richard W. Stevenson January 29, 2004
Dr. David Kay, who stepped down recently as the head of the Iraqi Survey Group, has announced that his organization has yet to find evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime indeed possessed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Instead, Kay expressed concern over the faulty intelligence that led the Bush Administration to justify a war against Saddam Hussein on the basis of such a program. The...

N. Korea Displays 'Nuclear Deterrent'

Glenn Kessler January 11, 2004
A group of American observers visiting North Korean nuclear facilities are expected to report that Pyongyang does indeed have the plutonium it needs to produce nuclear weapons. The group is due to testify to the US Congress next week, but Pyongyang is already saying that it showed the unofficial delegation North Korea's 'nuclear deterrent'. Meanwhile, China is said to be trying...

U.S. Won't Lift Sanctions Until Libya Keeps Its Word

Steven Weisman December 21, 2003
The encouraging news that Libya is willing to disarm its nuclear weapons program came as a relief to the international community and a promise for increased regional stability. Despite these hopeful signs, the US is wary of lifting economic sanctions on Libya until some definite progress is made to dismantle the program. Washington's hesitancy is partly due to continued suspicions about...

Libya to Give Up Arms Programs, Bush Announces

David E. Sanger December 20, 2003
After nine months of behind-the-scenes diplomacy, Libya has agreed to quit its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs. According to US and UK officials, Libya's leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, approached the two countries at the outset of the Iraq War to discuss the issue. Analysts have long suspected Libya of having a nuclear program, despite the country's signing of the...

UN Calls for More Aid to Help North Korea Reform

Andrew Ward December 3, 2003
North Korea has seen much of its food aid disappear in the past year, presumably as donor nations aim to pressure Pyongyang to stop its nuclear weapons program. In the shift to a market economy, one million people were left without food, and analysts say that the politically-minded decision to cut off aid is starving the public. Without an increase in aid, North Koreans will be in dire straits...