US envoy: N.Korea nuclear plans another provocation

SEOUL: The top U.S. envoy to North Korea said on Monday revelations that Pyongyang had made rapid advances in enriching uranium was the latest in a series of provocations over the past 20 years.

“It is another in a series of provocative moves by the DPRK … it is a very difficult problem we have been struggling to deal with for 20 years,” said Stephen Bosworth after meeting South Korean officials in Seoul, on the first leg of a tour of the region’s main powers.

A U.S. nuclear scientist revealed at the weekend North Korean officials had shown him a uranium enrichment plant, with more than a thousand centrifuges, giving the North a second route to produce nuclear bombs. AGENCIES

US Expert Saw Hundreds of Centrifuges in North Korea

WASHINGTON: A U.S. nuclear scientist saw hundreds of centrifuges in North Korea this month, sources familiar with the matter said on Saturday, buttressing the case that Pyongyang has a uranium enrichment program giving it a second way to obtain fissile material for atomic bombs.

Washington has believed since 2002 that Pyongyang had such a program but the apparent sophistication of its effort could ignite fresh debate over how to deal with North Korea’s unpredictable leadership and whether to resume talks aimed at ending its nuclear ambitions.

North Korean officials told the expert, Siegfried Hecker of Stanford University, they had 2,000 centrifuges operating but the US team that visited the country was unable to verify that, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“But it certainly looked like an operating facility (to the team),” one source said.

Another source said Hecker was “stunned” by how modern and sophisticated the uranium enrichment facility was at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex.

But Hecker was unable to spend enough time there to establish whether the plant was designed to produce only low-enriched uranium needed to make fuel for a power plant or the highly enriched uranium needed for bombs, he said.

The source said Hecker was told the facility was producing 3.5 percent enriched uranium, the level needed for a power plant. To produce bomb-grade fissile material, uranium must be enriched to more than 90 percent.

It was not immediately clear why North Korea showed Hecker the facility.

Separately, the U.S. State Department said Stephen Bosworth, an envoy responsible for policy toward North Korea, left on Saturday on a trip to South Korea, Japan and China for consultations on North Korean issues.

North Korea, which conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, is believed to have enough fissile material from its separate, plutonium-based nuclear program to make between six and 12 atomic bombs.

Even though it has exploded nuclear devices, Pyongyang has not shown it has a working nuclear bomb.

Still, its nuclear program is seen as a direct threat to U.S. allies Japan and South Korea as well as a proliferation risk given North Korea’s long history of selling missile technology abroad.

North Korea has said it wants to return to stalled aid-for-disarmament talks but Seoul and Washington have dismissed its pledges to denuclearize as insincere. The United States had demanded tangible but unspecified steps to show Pyongyang’s seriousness about abandoning its nuclear programs.

A third person familiar with the matter said confirmation of a uranium enrichment facility was likely to make any deal with North Korea more expensive should the talks resume.

North Korea: Special parade held at 65th North Korean anniversary

North Korea has begun three days of celebrations to mark 65 years since the founding of the country’s Communist Workers’ Party. On this occasion a special arrangement of a military parade was also organised.
The festivities, which culminate in a massive military parade in capital, Pyongyang, on Sunday, are not only to mark the anniversary of communist rule. North Korean officials are expected to use the weekend’s celebrations to declare the historic handover of power from ailing leader Kim Jong-il to his son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-un. Chiefs of all three armed forces also participated in this parade.

US holds drills off Korea as Pyongyang talks war

ABOARD USS GEORGE WASHINGTON: US and South Korean warships and helicopters staged anti-submarine maneuvers off the Korean peninsula Monday meant as a warning to Pyongyang that aggression in the region will not be tolerated.

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US holds drills off Korea as Pyongyang talks war

Pakistan committed to efface terrorism: Malik

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Rehman Malik has said that Pakistan is always committed to coordinate with other countries of the region for the common cause of annihilating menace of terrorism.

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Pakistan committed to efface terrorism: Malik

Djokovic advances to French Open 4th round

PARIS: Third-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia has advanced to the fourth round of the French Open by beating Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

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Djokovic advances to French Open 4th round

TCP awards another sugar contract

KARACHI: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has awarded tender for import of 100,000 metric tons sugar to the lowest bidder at $ 558 per metric ton CF.

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TCP awards another sugar contract

SKorea, Japan united against North Korea

SEOGWIPO, South Korea: South Korea and Japan on Saturday vowed to stand united against North Korea ahead of a regional summit likely to press China over its reluctance to taken on Pyongyang over the sinking of a South Korean ship.

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SKorea, Japan united against North Korea

solyndra

Obama Touts Alternative Energy In Fremont
In a trip designed to highlight green jobs created by the Recovery Act and the need for renewable alternatives to oil, President Barack Obama toured solar manufacturer Solyndra on Wednesday morning before speaking to a crowd of about 200 in the Fremont company’s new factory.

Obama arrived at Solyndra shortly before 9:30 a.m., making a point of shaking hands with workers in white lab coats and hard hats before a tour with Chris Gronet, Solyndra’s CEO, and Ben Bierman, executive vice president of operations and engineering.

Their conversation during the tour was largely drowned out by the noise of the factory, but at one point the president could be heard saying, “This is impressive. It really is.”

Obama then had a short private meeting with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger before his public remarks.
Obama said Americans understood the need for change and the devastation from the Gulf spill highlighted how perilous the process of extracting oil had become.

“Just think about it. Part of what is happening in the Gulf is that oil companies are drilling a mile under water before they hit ground, and a mile below that before they hit oil.

“With the increased risks, the increased costs, it gives you a sense of where we’re going. We’re not going to be able to sustain this kind of fossil fuel use. This planet can’t sustain it,” he said.

Though the president has tried to use the spill to galvanize support for his energy overhaul, a bill to do that is anguishing in the U.S. Senate.

Making things more difficult, a key plank of that policy — expanding offshore drilling — has been thrown into question by the spill. That expansion was seen as a key sweetener for winning Republican support for the bill.
Obama journeyed to San Francisco to raise campaign cash for Democrat Barbara Boxer, who is battling to win a fourth term in November congressional elections.

“I don’t travel for just anybody,” Obama said at the first of three fundraising events on his second trip to California for Boxer, a sign of the importance he puts on getting her re-elected in what is normally a safe state for Democratic candidates.

The events were expected to raise $600,000 specifically for Boxer and $1.1 million for Democratic Senate candidates.

Like his last trip, Obama had to defend his administration’s pace at changing the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

“Move faster on ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,’” a man in the audience shouted, interrupting the president. The White House on Monday backed a proposal that would move toward repeal of the ban.
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Obama spent a big part of his remarks criticizing Republicans for leading the country into an economic mess before his election and working against him now in Congress.

nikki haley

SC governor hopeful denies blogger claim of affair
A South Carolina blogger, and former aide to Governor Mark Sanford claims he had an affair with GOP gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley.

On his blog Monday morning, Will Folks wrote, “several years ago, prior to my marriage, I had an inappropriate physical relationship with Nikki Haley.“

Haley’s campaign “emphatically” denied the claim to WIS-TV in Columbia.
The candidate, Rep. Nikki Haley, vehemently denied the allegation, made in a post on blogger Will Folks’ website that contained no proof of a relationship. Haley called the claim a “disgraceful smear” planted to derail her campaign, which has gained steam from high-powered endorsements, including one from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Haley, who married her husband Michael in 1996, was recently endorsed by Sarah Palin.

Folks said he came clean with the affair after being targeted by Haley’s political opponents, who were slowly leaking out the news “while simultaneously forcing either evasive answers or denials on my part or on Nikki’s part.”

Folks said in a blog post that he went public about the purported affair with Haley because political adversaries were leaking proof of it to mainstream media outlets to impugn his reputation and destroy her.
“The truth in this case is what it is,” he wrote. “Several years ago, prior to my marriage, I had an inappropriate physical relationship with Nikki.”
Folks, a former Sanford spokesman, is a political consultant who now runs FITSNews.com, a conservative site that features occasionally insightful commentary, thinly sourced stories of state political intrigue and photos of women in bikinis. It refers to him as “Sic Willie,” sports the tag line “Unfair. Imbalanced,” and often promotes Haley’s campaign.

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