US, China meet on rising sea tensions

Source: AFP

The United States and China were holding first-of-a-kind talks Saturday on rising tensions in the South China Sea, with Beijing angry over Washington's support of Southeast Asian countries.

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Obama to give speech on Libya Monday—White House

Source: Agence France-Presse



WASHINGTON—US President Barack Obama will give a speech to the American people Monday on Libya and US policy going forward, the White House said Friday.

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Airstrikes targeting Gadhafi ground troops—US

Source: PDI

WASHINGTON—Ground troops loyal to Libyan leader Moammer Gadhafi who are threatening rebel-held cities are now being targeted by coalition airstrikes, the US military said Wednesday.

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West pounds Libya - Gadhafi vows retaliation

Source: PDI

TRIPOLI – (UPDATE 3) The US, Britain and France pounded Libya with Tomahawk missiles and air strikes into the early hours of Sunday, sparking fury from Moammar Gadhafi who said the Mediterranean was now a "battlefield."

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One nuclear bomb per year from N. Korea

N.Korea can build one nuclear bomb a year: US official

SOURCE: AFP

Former US defence chief William Perry said North Korea was capable of producing one nuclear bomb a year and that Washington should consider high-level talks to defuse tension, in an interview published Wednesday.

Perry, who served as defence secretary under president Bill Clinton, told the Nikkei daily the US government should review its policies towards North Korea and impose economic sanctions to reiterate its stance against Pyongyang's nuclear programmes.

Then, Washington should coordinate policies with Seoul and Tokyo before eventually sending a special envoy for direct talks with Pyongyang, Perry told the Nikkei.

Perry suggested former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former US senator Sam Nunn, an expert on nuclear arms reduction, as possible candidates for such talks, the Nikkei said.

The interview was released in Japanese, with no original English text immediately available.

If North Korea dedicated all of its recently unveiled uranium enrichment facility to making weapons-grade fuel, it could build one nuclear bomb a year, Perry told the paper.

Perry said he had been briefed by American scientist Siegfried Hecker, who recently toured a new uranium enrichment plant with 2,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex.

The facility is likely designed for making fuel for a civilian reactor and not bombs, but there is no way to confirm whether North Korea has another facility to build nuclear weapons, Perry said.

The former defence chief said he still believed in diplomatic solutions to the North Korean crisis.

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Korea tensions came close to 'war', says China diplomat

Korea tensions came close to 'war', says China diplomat
SOURCE: AFP

UNITED NATIONS: A top Chinese diplomat told a Security Council debate on Tuesday that hostilities between North and South Korea had come "close to fighting a war."

China's deputy UN ambassador Wang Min told a Security Council debate with youth from around the world that tensions between the North and South had been very high "especially in the past two days. It came close to fighting a war."

China has blocked Western attempts to condemn North Korea's November 23 artillery attack on a South Korean island which set off the new tensions, according to diplomats.

Wang said China and all 15 members of the Security Council wanted a peaceful end to the tensions, when asked about the Korean hostilities by a 14-year-old Chinese-American Wang Yuqi at the special debate with 150 teenagers.

"Their feud has gone on for decades, it did not start yesterday," Wang said. The two have remained at an official state of war since their 1950-53 conflict which was only halted with a truce.

"Therefore it is unlikely that the problems can be resolved overnight," he added.

"First of all we hope that they can remain calm, we hope that they will refrain from engaging in any conflict," Wang said.

"Next, what we hope for is for them to sit down to negotiations that will discuss how the problems between them can be addressed through peaceful means," Wang said.

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