Chinese firm suspected in missile-linked sale to North Korea: U.S. official

(Reuters) - The United States believes a Chinese firm sold North Korea components for a missile transporter showcased in a recent military parade and will press Beijing to tighten enforcement of a U.N. ban on such military sales, a U.S. official said on Saturday.

The Obama administration suspects the Chinese manufacturer sold the chassis - not the entire vehicle - and may have believed it was for civilian purposes, which means it would not be an intentional violation of U.N. sanctions, the senior official said.

But such a sale - coming to light amid tensions over a failed North Korean rocket launch earlier this month - raises concerns in Washington on whether China is making enough of an effort to abide by the prohibition on weapons sales to Pyongyang.

The New York Times first reported on U.S. findings about the origin of parts of the transporter launcher system - essentially a large truck on top of which a missile is mounted - displayed in a parade in Pyongyang on Sunday. Read More

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San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Makes Notification of an Unusual Event to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, California

OSEMEAD, Calif., Apr 20, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Operations personnel at Southern California Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) declared the occurrence of an unusual event as the result of a small fire in an electrical panel in the non-radiological side of Unit 2. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was immediately notified.

Operators declared an unusual event at 12:49 p.m. and exited the event less than an hour later at 1:41 p.m. The SONGS fire department responded and extinguished the fire.

There was no threat to the public or employees, and no one was hurt. The cause of the fire is now being investigated.

Unit 2 was taken out of service for a planned outage on Jan. 9. Both Units 2 and 3 remain shut down for steam generator testing and analysis. Read More

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Limerick Generating Station, Pennsylvania: Nuclear power plant shutdown after loss of power

Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) said operators at the two-unit, 2,345 MW Limerick Generating Station in Pennsylvania removed Unit 1 from service at approximately 8 a.m. April 19 following an electrical malfunction on the non-nuclear side of the plant.

The malfunction caused a temporary loss of power to the plant’s main generator cooling pumps, which are not part of the reactor system. Exelon said operators responded according to procedures and safely removed the reactor from service so the electrical issue could be corrected.

Operators are working to determine the cause of the malfunction and will restore the unit to service only after the cause is understood, repairs are performed and the system is fully tested.
Exelon said there was no risk to the public or injuries associated with the shutdown.
Limerick Unit 2 continues to operate at full power. Source

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North Korea concludes investigation into failed rocket launch

Hong Kong (CNN) -- North Korea says its scientists have concluded their investigation into the failure of the country's long-range rocket launch last week, but it declined to divulge why the flight ended in a trail of debris strewn across the sea.

Experts have "wound up the specific and scientific probe into the cause" of the rocket's failure to put a satellite into orbit, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report late Thursday without elaborating on what the cause was.

Pyongyang had insisted that the purpose of the launch was to send an "earth observation satellite" into space. But the United States, South Korea and Japan called the operation a ballistic missile test in disguise. Read More

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China assisting North Korean missile program: Panetta

(Reuters) - China has provided some assistance to North Korea's missile program, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday, a week after the hermit state's failed rocket launch triggered international condemnation.

Under United Nations Security Council resolutions from 2006 and 2009, states, including China, are banned from helping North Korea with its ballistic missile program, its nuclear activities as well as supplying heavy weapons.

Beijing has denied it has broken any rules, although a modern missile transporter seen in Sunday's military parade to celebrate the founder of North Korea was said by some western military experts to be of Chinese design and possibly origin.

"I'm sure there's been some help coming from China. Read More

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Thousands Continue Power Plant Protest in Hainan, China

More protests have broken out in China’s southern island province of Hainan over a planned coal-fired power plant. Authorities dispatched military police to Foluo Township in Ledong County on Tuesday after thousands of locals protested the day before.

Protestors stormed the Folou government building on Monday when officials failed to meet with them to discuss their concerns. In response, authorities dispatched truckloads of military police and set up checks around town.

“A lot of trucks have been hauled in, maybe 50 or 60 groups of military police and police have been dispatched to Foluo town. A lot of them are here.” Read More

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Netanyahu defends comparison of Iran, Nazi Holocaust

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected criticism of his likening of a nuclear-armed Iran to the Nazi Holocaust as improper, saying in an address to the country on Wednesday that "uncomfortable truths" must be aired.

He defended his analogy on the eve of Israel's annual day of Holocaust remembrance against those who say it is not only irreverent to the six million Jews killed by Hitler's Germany but also stokes panic about a new war.

The Jewish state has not ruled out military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities if international sanctions imposed on Tehran or diplomacy fail to curb its atomic programme.

Western states suspect Iran is enriching uranium to develop the capability to build atomic bombs. The Islamic Republic says its enrichment programme is solely for peaceful energy purposes and poses no threat to anyone. Read More

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Experts: North Korea missile carrier likely from China

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The enormous, 16-wheel truck that North Korea used to carry a missile during a recent parade likely came from China in a possible violation of U.N. sanctions meant to rein in Pyongyang's missile program, experts say.

The carrier, also believed capable of launching missiles, caught the eye of experts during last Sunday's military show in Pyongyang because it was the biggest carrier yet displayed by North Korea and gives the country— truculently at odds with the U.S., Japan and South Korea — the ability to transport long-range missiles around its territory, making them harder to locate and destroy.

The large size of the vehicle "represents a quantum leap forward" for the North Koreans, said Wendell Minnick, a reporter on Asian military developments for Defense News, a Washington-based publication.

Unlikely to have been made by North Korea because of its technical sophistication, experts said the design of the vehicle shows that China is the probable source. Pinning a sanctions-busting charge on Beijing would be difficult, however, because it would be hard to prove that Beijing provided the technology for military purposes or even that it sold the vehicle directly to North Korea, the experts said. Read More

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U.S.: North Korea threat 'tops list'....I thought Iran made the Top of the list?

Brussels, Belgium (CNN) -- The United States is prepared for "any contingency" when it comes to dealing with North Korea, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told CNN.

"We're within an inch of war almost every day in that part of the world, and we just have to be very careful about what we say and what we do," Panetta said Wednesday on "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer."

During a wide-ranging interview at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked about Syria, the Secret Service and North Korea. The two were in Belgium for meetings to prepare for a NATO summit in Chicago next month.

Panetta's assessment of North Korea followed last week's launch by Pyongyang of a long-range rocket. Despite the failure of the launch -- with the rocket breaking apart 81 seconds after liftoff, it drew condemnation from the United States and countries in the region.

When asked whether the threat posed by North Korea kept him awake at night, Panetta said: "Unfortunately these days, there's a hell of a lot that keeps me awake. But that's one that tops the list." Read More

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Congressman alleges China helping North Korea with ICBMs

China may be helping North Korea develop long range ballistic missiles that could reach the United States, and one Republican congressman wants the Obama administration to do something about it.

"As you have likely seen, the press is reporting that North Korea unveiled a new mobile missile at a military parade in Pyongyang in honor of the founder of that dictatorship, Kim Il Sung," Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), wrote in an April 17 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, obtained by The Cable. Turner is the Chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee.

"Whether this missile is the new road mobile intercontinental missile (ICBM) the administration has been warning about is, as yet, unclear based on these public reports," Turner wrote. "Of deeper concern, however, are allegations that the missile, unveiled at the recent military parade in Pyongyang, is based on Chinese technology, in violation of international obligations and a threat to the national security interest of the United States." Read More

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Rumors have spread in Pyongyang that the rocket failed due to opposition toward Kim Jong Un, citing sabotage

There are various claims inside North Korea for cause of the failed rocket launch. The North Korean authorities announced on the 13th four hours after its satellite launch through its state media the Chosun Central TV that it failed to enter into orbit.

The North Korean people are waiting for an official announcement stating reasons for the launch failure. The majority weigh their reasons on technical fault on the other hand some claim that it is an ‘outside interception’ or a ‘high-level cadre opposition towards the Kim Jong Eun system’. In particular, rumors have spread in Pyongyang that the rocket failed due to opposition powers toward Kim Jong Eun.

A source from Pyongyang revealed today, “There are rumors that the ‘cause of the failure of rocket launch is not because of technical fault but because the cadres who are against the Kim Jong Eun system have deliberately manipulated the machine’”. Read More

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Analysts: China broke sanctions if North Korea using its missile launcher

China likely provided the mobile long-range missile launcher that North Korea displayed in a military parade over the weekend, which would put Beijing in violation of U.N. sanctions, analysts say.

The 16-wheeled vehicle, known as a transporter-erector-launcher (TEL), is apparently based on a Chinese design, said Ted Parsons of IHS Jane's Defense Weekly.

The Chinese and North Korean versions of the TEL “have the same windscreen design, the same four windscreen wiper configuration, the same door and handle design, a very similar grill area, almost the same front bumper lighting configuration, and the same design for the cabin steps,” Mr. Parsons noted.

North Korea’s TEL was featured in a massive parade in Pyongyang over the weekend, one of a series of events held to commemorate the centenary of the communist regime’s founder, Kim Il-sung. Read More

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North Korea’s Kim Says His Regime Can’t Be Blackmailed

North Korea won’t be bullied by its nuclear-armed enemies, third-generation dictator Kim Jong Un said in his first public address at a military parade as South Korea warned that his regime may conduct an atomic test.

Dressed in a dark Mao suit and standing on a podium high above Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang yesterday, the new leader said, “the days of enemies threatening and blackmailing us with nuclear weapons are forever over.” Goose-stepping soldiers, mobile rocket launchers and tanks rumbled through the streets below in a celebration broadcast on state television.

North Korea’s humiliation from a long-range rocket that disintegrated within minutes of liftoff two days earlier increases the chance of Kim ordering an atomic test to regain face, South Korean Deputy Defense Minister Lim Kwan Bin said on April 13. The launch also ended a U.S. food-aid deal. Read More

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India Test 'Nuke Missile' Capable Of China Strike

India has test launched a new nuclear-capable missile that could strike the major Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai, according to reports.

The government has hailed the Agni-V missile, with a range of 3,100 miles (5,000km), as a major boost to its efforts to counter China's regional dominance.

"It will be a quantum leap in India's strategic capability," Ravi Gupta, spokesman for India's Defense Research and Development Organisation said.

Indian media reported the missile was launched just after 8am local time from Wheeler Island off India's east coast.

News channel Times Now showed footage of what it described as the missile streaking through the sky.

Avinash Chandra, mission director for the test, said the missile performed as planned.

"We have achieved exactly what we wanted to achieve in this mission," he told Times Now.

The Agni-V is designed to carry a 1.5-tonne nuclear warhead.

It can be moved across the country by road or rail and can be used to carry multiple warheads or to launch satellites into orbit. Read More

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New wars to disarm rogue states

NEW YORK ― On April 13, Iran is scheduled to meet with representatives of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States ― the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council ― plus Germany (the so-called “P5+1”) in an effort to decide the fate of Iran’s nuclear program. Meanwhile, North Korea is reportedly preparing its third nuclear test, as if to provide a discordant sound track for the talks.

If the talks fail, and military action against Iran becomes more likely, no one should be surprised. Over the past decade, a new kind of war has been invented: a war designed to stop a country from obtaining nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

The first “disarmament war” was the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Its goal, spelled out plainly by U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration to the Security Council and the U.S. Congress, was to destroy Iraq’s WMD stockpiles and production facilities. Of course, as it turned out, no such stockpiles or facilities were found, and the war proved to be an exercise in bloody futility.

This experience illustrates one of the great drawbacks of the use of force as a tool of disarmament. An attack must be timed to perfection, and it must be launched after the WMD programs are in operation and evident, but before they have produced any weapons. If the attack comes too early ― or if, as in Iraq, the programs are not there at all ― people will die for nothing. But if the weapons have already been produced, the attack could prompt their use and, possibly, counter-use by the invading party, leading, conceivably, to the world’s first two-sided nuclear war. Read More

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Radioactive device found on campus, University of Memphis.

Brian Wilson: University of Memphis officials recently discovered a radioactive device inside of a Dumpster on campus. The device was discovered on April 5 and its radioactive nature was confirmed on April 9.

A radioactive device was extracted from a scrap metal Dumpster in an alley between the Heating and Cooling Plant and the Meeman Journalism Building on April 12.

Sharon Whitaker, who works inside Meeman, said she was alarmed when she looked out her window and saw men in HAZMAT suits inside the Dumpster.

“I just kept thinking in my mind, ‘Something is not right,’” she said. “Whenever you put on a HAZMAT suit, it’s got to be something that has to do with your health.”

The radioactivity in the Dumpster was first detected on April 5 by monitors at Sims Metal Management, where a truck took the bin to dispose of the waste.

The metal processing company routinely scans the contents of bins brought there to check for radioactive substances before admitting their contents into its facilities.

Monitors initially detected radiation levels that were 35 percent above normal background radiation, also known as naturally-occurring radiation, in the bin brought from The University of Memphis. Read More

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Road workers ill after finding suspected radioactive waste after they unearth 1980 toxic site, Australia

Road workers have become sick after finding suspected radioactive material during an upgrade to the Pacific Highway south of Port Macquarie on the NSW mid north coast.

A truck believed to be carrying radioactive waste from Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor was involved in a crash on that stretch of highway in 1980 and the waste was subsequently buried near the crash site. Source

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Nuclear test expected from bristling North Korea

(Reuters) - A bristling North Korea said on Wednesday it was ready to retaliate in the face of international condemnation over its failed rocket launch, increasing the likelihood the hermit state will push ahead with a third nuclear test.

The North also ditched an agreement to allow back inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. That followed a U.S. decision, in response to a rocket launch the United States says was a disguised long-range missile test, to break off a deal earlier this year to provide the impoverished state with food aid.

Pyongyang called the U.S. move a hostile act and said it was no longer bound to stick to its side of the February 29 agreement, dashing any hopes that new leader Kim Jong-un would soften a foreign policy that has for years been based on the threat of an atomic arsenal to leverage concessions out of regional powers.

"We have thus become able to take necessary retaliatory measures, free from the agreement," the official KCNA news agency said, without specifying what actions it might take. Read More

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Official 'decommissioning' of Fukushima reactors brings locals no peace

At the stroke of midnight on April 19, Japan's nuclear reactor count will officially drop from 54 to 50, as the ruined No. 1-4 reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant will be formally retired.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) submitted the decommissioning paperwork to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at the end of March this year, and the necessary legal procedures have been progressing quietly ever since. While the operational lives of the shattered reactors may be officially over, however, they continue to be the source of significant problems, as well as of a serious threat to the lives and livelihoods of many across Japan.

The load is particularly heavy on those who have been literally dislocated by the March 2011 meltdowns, forced from their homes by radioactive contamination, such as the people of Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture. Read More

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Japan should push N. Korea to abandon missile, nuclear programs

Japan is urged to play a leading role in the international community's efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its missile and nuclear weapons program as the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) has adopted a presidential statement condemning Pyongyang for firing a missile.

It is feared that North Korea may conduct a third nuclear test following its failure to launch a long-range ballistic missile, which its regime said was a rocket carrying an "Earth observation satellite."

The presidential statement, which was unanimously adopted at a UNSC meeting on April 16, is more strongly-worded than one issued following North Korea's previous launch of a missile in 2009. It warns North Korea that the UNSC is determined to "take action accordingly" if the country conducts a nuclear test.

The UNSC adoption of the statement came three days after the launch. In 2009, it took the council nine days to issue such a statement because the United States conflicted with China and Russia over the wording of the document. Read More

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