In The News

Coming Clean or Playing for Time?

October 23, 2003
Iran will allow a tougher UN nuclear inspection regime to confirm that it is not attempting to build nuclear weapons. Issuing a declaration that Iran says outlines all of its nuclear activities, the country aims to fend off economic sanctions promoted by the United States. Skeptics argue, however, that Iran is only buying time with an extraordinarily vague and voluntary agreement. In fact, says...

Pyongyang Derides US Treaty Offer

October 22, 2003
The North Korean government is calling a US pledge not to invade North Korea a 'laughing matter'. US President George W. Bush had earlier offered the isolated communist country a written guarantee that the US and four other countries would not attack North Korea if Pyongyang agreed to give up its nuclear weapons development program. "We have demanded that the United States drop...

APEC Acts with Speed on Trade

Achara Pongvutitham October 22, 2003
Thailand wrapped up the summit of APEC leaders in Bangkok on a sharp note. Delivering the summit's Bangkok Declaration to the World Trade Organization's offices in Geneva immediately after the close of the meeting, Thailand and APEC members were “clearly sending a signal to the EU that it should come back to the negotiating table" on the issue of agricultural subsidies....

Iran to Suspend Uranium Enrichment Programme

Mohsen Asgari October 21, 2003
Bowing to pressure from the US and other nations, Iran has announced that it will suspend nuclear enrichment for "an interim period" to help "create a new atmosphere of trust and confidence between Iran and the international community". Meeting with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the UK, a top Iranian official also said that Iran would sign an additional...

The Bigger Problem: Weapons of Individual Destruction

Raenette Taljaard October 15, 2003
The American hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has turned up little so far, but in the meantime coalition soldiers and Iraqi civilians continue to be victims of armed violence. By ignoring the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, says Raenette Taljaard, a member of the South African Parliament, the international community is failing millions of people around the world....

China Sends Man Into Orbit, Entering U.S.-Russian Club

Jim Yardley October 15, 2003
China has joined the US and Russia as only the third nation to launch a person into space. The Shenzhou 5 blasted off from somewhere in China's Gobi Desert on Wednesday, carrying a lone astronaut into space. If all goes well and he returns home safely, China's leadership will have one more accomplishment to help boost domestic support for the communist party. President Hu Jintao says...

Intelligence Puzzle: North Korean Bombs

David E. Sanger October 14, 2003
As US President George W. Bush prepares to depart for a meeting with Asian leaders next week, more concern is being raised by new intelligence on North Korea's nuclear program. While the United Nations' atomic energy agency believes Pyongyang has produced two nuclear weapons in recent months, US officials are less certain about how to interpret the available data. Although tell-tale...