Worldcrunch
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 FINAL IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS BEGIN The last round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program began this morning in Vienna with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confident that a deal could be reached before next Monday’s deadline if the other six world powers don’t make “excessive demands,” AFP reports. The BBC […]
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was smart to reject a pact that offered no long-term guarantees for Iran to dismantle its nuclear program. A Le Monde editorial.
BERLIN — During his election campaign, Iran’s new president Hassan Rouhani had criticized his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s aggressive behavior towards the West. He claimed that Iran needed to moderate its tone in order to win the West’s trust about its nuclear program. Since his election victory, Rouhani has launched an unprecedented charm offensive on the […]
GENEVA — The resumption of talks this week on Iran’s nuclear program will provide a clear opportunity to verify Hassan Rouhani’s true intentions. During his charm offensive at the United Nations General Assembly at the end of September, the new Iranian President, a moderate religious figure, surprised many by meeting with French President François Hollande, […]
REUTERS, ABC, WALL STREET JOURNAL Worldcrunch TOKYO — Radiation readings near tanks holding toxic waters at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant have jumped to a new high, according to Japan’s nuclear regulator, as the government prepares to step in to help contain leaks. According to Reuters, this new rise in the radiation levels and […]
BBC, REUTERS, AL JAZEERA Worldcrunch TOKYO – The Japanese nuclear agency upgraded the severity level of a toxic leak at the Fukushima nuclear power plant from 1 to 3 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (0 to 7). The raising of the toxic level Wednesday marks the first time Japan has issued such a warning […]
Tuesday, July 29, 2014 U.S. SAYS RUSSIA VIOLATED NUCLEAR MISSILE TREATY The United States claims Russia has violated a landmark Cold War-era arms treaty by testing a prohibited cruise missile, an assertion that President Barack Obama has conveyed by letter to President Vladimir Putin, The New York Times reports. “It is the most serious allegation […]
TEHERAN – In the middle of the election campaign, Washington has found a way to remind Iranians that the next president they will elect will have to pull the country out of an unprecedented economic crisis. The crisis, of course, is largely the result of the tough sanctions imposed by Western countries in response to […]
MOSCOW – The Volga River, the longest in Europe and one of Russia’s natural jewels, has not so much flowed for decades. When it’s not covered with ice, it fills with fish-killing microorganisms, and emits a putrid stench. Environmental organizations describe the situation in the Volga region in alarming terms, noting that the region is […]
ARUTZ SHEVA, HAARETZ, JERUSALEM POST (Israel); REUTERS Worldcrunch TEL AVIV – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons against civilians, an Israeli Intelligence official stated on Tuesday. Haaretz reports that the head of the Research Division at Military Intelligence, Brig. Gen. Itai Brun said: “To the best of our professional understanding, the regime has […]
YONYAP (South Korea), JAPAN TIMES, THE DIPLOMAT (Japan) Worldcrunch TOKYO – North Korea warned Japan on Friday that Tokyo would be its first target of a nuclear strike if it continued to maintain its hostile stance, reports Yonyap news agency. North Korea criticized Tokyo’s standing orders to destroy any missile heading toward Japan, threatening that […]
IRNA (Iran), AP, BBC Worldcrunch TEHRAN – By midday Wednesday more than 80 aftershocks had been registered in southwestern Iran following a 6.1 magnitude earthquake that killed at least 37 people and injured 850. Twelve villages were completely destroyed by the quake, forcing thousands of terrified residents to spend the night in the open, according […]
KCNA (North Korea), YONHAP (South Korea), BBC NEWS (UK), REUTERS, AFP Worldcrunch North Korea has warned foreigners to evacuate South Korea to avoid being dragged into a “thermo-nuclear war” – the latest in a series of provocative declarations that led Japan to deploy Patriot missiles in Tokyo on Tuesday. Here’s a look back at the […]
YONHAP (South Korea), CNN, (USA), REUTERS Worldcrunch SEOUL – South Korea has backtracked from an earlier statement that said there was evidence North Korea was preparing for its fourth nuclear test. South Korea’s Defense Ministry on Monday denied earlier suggestions by South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae that a nuclear arms test was imminent in […]
Nuclear arms are more shield than weapon, so long as no one is suicidal.
YONHAP (South Korea), BBC (UK) Worldcrunch PYONYANG – North Korea blocked South Korean workers from accessing a jointly operated industrial park on Wednesday. North Korea banned South Korean workers from crossing the border to work at the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex, only allowing about 800 South Koreans who stayed overnight at the border town to […]
KOREA TIMES, YONHAP (South Korea), KCNA, (North Korea), AP, U.S. Military (USA) Worldcrunch SEOUL – Thousands of North Korean students and soldiers turned out for a rally in Pyongyang on Friday to support their leader’s call to arms, adding fuel to rising nuclear-charged tensions with South Korea and the United States, reports the AP. The […]
KCNA (North Korea), THE KOREA TIMES (South Korea), AFP, REUTERS Worldcrunch North Korea announced on Tuesday that it had put its artillery and rocket units into “combat posture,” and threatened to attack South Korea and U.S. bases in Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. mainland. The Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army released a statement […]
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, TEPCO, KYODO (Japan) Worldcrunch TOKYO – Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) announced on Tuesday that cooling systems at the Fukushima nuclear plant have been partially restored after a power failure had suspended cooling operations at three spent fuel ponds on Monday. Map Saneef/Babbage The shutdown of cooling systems occurred after a power […]
Those who managed to survive the March 11, 2011 disaster that killed nearly 19,000 have suffered from both physical and social fallout.
JAPAN TIMES, ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan) AFP Worldcrunch TOKYO – On Monday, Japan honored the victims of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis that killed nearly 19,000 people two years ago. At 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck northeast Japan, triggering a tsunami with 30-meter high waves that wiped out entire […]
CNN (USA), REUTERS, AFP, UN PRESS OFFICE Worldcrunch NEW YORK – The United States and China have struck a tentative deal on a draft UN Security Council sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for the nuclear test it conducted last month. A deal, the details of which have not been revealed so far, was agreed […]
KYODO (Japan), WHO, AFP Worldcrunch TOKYO – The Japanese government on Friday refuted a World Health Organization report that found a higher cancer risk for people living in areas contaminated by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, reports Kyodo news. The UN health agency’s report, which was published on Thursday, said that there was a 70% […]
THE KOREA TIMES, THE KOREA HERALD (South Korea), REUTERS Worldcrunch SEOUL – Park Geun-hye was sworn in on Monday as South Korea’s first female president ; she began her five-year term by urging an increasingly hostile North Korea to drop its nuclear ambitions. “North Korea’s recent nuclear test is a challenge to the survival and […]
KCNA (North Korea), REUTERS Worldcrunch North Korea has confirmed it “successfully” conducted a third nuclear test at a northeastern underground test site, in defiance to UN Security Council’s orders to shut down its atomic activity. “It was confirmed that the nuclear test that was carried out at a high level in a safe and perfect […]
Police have arrested “yakuza” mob members, who recruited people who owed them money or were mentally disabled to do cleanup work in contaminated nuclear zones.
THE KOREA TIMES (South Korea), URIMINZOKKIRI (North Korea), AFP Worldcrunch North Korea, which is expected to carry out a third nuclear test any day now, has released a video depicting a city that resembles New York under missile attack. The footage shows a dream sequence, set to the tune of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie’s […]
Sources tell Le Monde that the Syria regime fired rockets with a non-lethal chemical agent during a deadly Dec. 23 attack in Homs. So why didn’t Western leaders follow through on their threats?
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany) Worldcrunch Süddeutsche Zeitung has seen the draft of an amendment to German legislation that would for the first time legalize exporting German nuclear waste. While the change would impose tight conditions on such transfers and official agreements with the countries providing disposal sites, environmentalists are equating the amendment to a “burst dam.” […]
-OpEd- BEIJING – Despite strong opposition from the international community, North Korea went ahead with its planned use of a long-range rocket to launch a satellite. As the North Koreans were cheering the successful Dec. 4 launch, their longtime Chinese ally was in no mood for celebrations. North Korea’s missile and nuclear capabilities have been […]
Also signs of additional facilities that could produce weapons-grade uranium.
DAILY YOMUIRI, JAPAN TIMES, ASAHI SHIMBUN, (Japan) SKY NEWS (UK), WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA) Worldcrunch TOKYO– After three years in the opposition, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) crushed the left-wing Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in this Sunday’s House of Representatives election, reports the Daily Yomiuri. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda suffered a harsh defeat […]
CAIRO – How do you turn a blackout into a business opportunity? According to some consumption statistics, Cairo is also one of the world’s most brightly lit cities, with such high amounts of energy used for illuminating homes and streets that can often exceed the capacity of what electricity networks can deliver. That leaves the […]
GEO NEWS (Pakistan), DAINIK BHASKAR (India), AP Worldcrunch Pakistan’s military successfully test fired a missile Monday that is capable of carrying nuclear warheads and has a range of 700km, reports Geo News. A statement from the Inter Services Public Relations announced: “The test consolidates and strengthens Pakistan’s deterrence capability and national security.” The statement described […]
BERLIN – After the initial euphoria, it’s back to earth for Germans. The decision to exit nuclear power was initially quite popular, but today many are having second thoughts. Their main issue with the decision is its resulting cost, which is paid for by households and small businesses but has spared big industrial consumers. When […]