BEIJING – North Korea has slowed nuclear disarmament to a snail's pace because it has received only part of the energy aid it was promised in return and does not believe it has made progress toward being removed from the U.S. state terrorism list, a delegation of U.S. experts reported yesterday after spending four days in the isolated nation.
Siegfried Hecker, former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, said he and his colleagues – Joel Witt, a former diplomat associated with the National Academy of Sciences, and W. Keith Luse, an assistant to Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind. – were told North Korea remains committed to a landmark Oct. 3 agreement.
The Washington Post
Destroying satellite plan piques Russia
MOSCOW – Russia said yesterday that U.S. military plans to shoot down a damaged spy satellite may be a veiled test of the U.S. missile defense system. Left alone, the satellite would likely hit Earth during the first week of March.
Associated Press
Danish lawmakers cancel visit to Iran
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – A group of Danish lawmakers canceled a four-day trip to Iran that was to begin tomorrow after Tehran demanded they condemn the reprinting of controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons, a spokeswoman said yesterday.
Meanwhile, police arrested 50 people after mobs of youths torched cars and lobbed rocks at officers in a sixth consecutive night of violence in Danish cities. Some observers said the cartoon reprinting aggravated the situation.
Associated Press
Bomb kills, wounds dozens in Afganistan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A bombing at an outdoor dog-fighting competition killed and wounded dozens of people in southern Afghanistan today, an official and a witness said.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said “tens of people” had been killed and dozens more wounded. The cause of the blast was unclear.
Associated Press
