Report: Secret China-Pakistan nuclear deal revealed

Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan said that in 1982, China sent Pakistan 15 tons of enriched uranium as a way of jump-starting the South Asian country's nuclear program, according to a report in The Washington Post. Khan further elaborated that China provided instructions for a simple nuclear weapon, thereby providing Pakistani scientists with everything but the personnel to build a bomb. The secret deal reportedly was set in motion in a 1976 meeting between China's then-leader, Mao Zedong, and Pakistan's then-Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. U.S. officials said they confronted China about the transfer but that Chinese officials denied it. The Washington Post (11/13)

• UN, U.S. acknowledge delay for climate treaty 
• WHO racing to aid in flu fight 
• Report: U.S., Japan to call for emission cuts 
• Arabs still waiting for post-Cold War freedoms 
• Medvedev puts emphasis on modernization 

• UN, U.S. acknowledge delay for climate treaty
  UN and U.S. officials are resigned to the fact the long-awaited climate talks in Copenhagen next month are unlikely to produce much more than an agreement to cut carbon emissions despite UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's stern language about the consequences of failing to arrive at a binding deal. The Wall Street Journal (11/13) , Google/The Associated Press (11/13)

• UN meets with food businesses to discuss food security
  The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said foreign direct investment in agriculture has ballooned from $1 billion in 2000 to $3 billion in 2007 -- a number that nevertheless represents less than 1% of total foreign direct investment. The number also falls short of the $44 billion the FAO urges world leaders to pledge toward helping impoverished nations fight poverty. Major food and agribusiness companies, including Nestle and Cargill, met with international aid experts in Milan to discuss new investment opportunities that would boost food security in developing countries. Reuters (11/12)

• WHO racing to aid in flu fight
  The World Health Organization is rushing supplies of antiviral drugs and other supplies to countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia where hospitals report being overwhelmed by H1N1 flu cases. To counter rising death tolls in those regions, WHO is recommending anyone with flulike symptoms for three days to begin antiviral treatment. The New York Times (11/12)

• Health officials race to cure malaria before resistance takes
  Health officials are racing to find a cure for an increasingly deadly strain of malaria along the Thai-Cambodian border before it develops a resistance to artemisinin, the world's only remaining effective drug against the disease. The Global Fund is developing a $220 million Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria that will greatly subsidize the price of the anti-malarial medication in the region. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has determined an abundance of substandard and counterfeit artemisinin in the region accelerates the rate at which the parasite develops resistance. Reuters (11/12) , TIME (11/13)

• Homegrown development makes strides in Jurum Valley
  Residents in the Jurum Valley in northeast Afghanistan have taken charge of the area's development path, achieving some modest successes and providing a possible model for development efforts across the country. Residents used village councils and direct grants to secure water and electricity supplies, launch female literacy centers and install phone networks. The New York Times (11/12)

• Report: U.S., Japan to call for emission cuts
  U.S. and Japanese officials jointly will call for an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 during U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to the country, according to Japanese press reports. The draft statement reportedly makes no mention of midterm targets. AlertNet.org/Reuters (11/13)

• Denmark issues Copenhagen talks invitations to 191 world leaders
  Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has sent formal invitation to the leaders of 191 United Nations member states to attend the Copenhagen talks on climate change. Forty world leaders, including Britain's Gordon Brown and Germany's Angela Merkel, have indicated they will attend. Reuters (11/12)

• Arabs still waiting for post-Cold War freedoms
  In light of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Lebanon's Daily Star considers the plight of the Arab world -- an area not touched by the wave of democratization and liberalization that has swept the world in the past two decades. Though the level of state control varies among Arab countries, most Arabs feel vulnerable as citizens and believe their economic well-being has suffered as a result of their form of government. The Daily Star (Lebanon) (11/11)

• South Africa moves to protect HIV-positive soldiers
  South African authorities have approved a new policy against discrimination of military personnel and applicants who are HIV-positive. Previously, HIV-positive individuals could be labeled ineligible for retirement benefits, international deployments or promotions. AllAfrica Global Media/Irin Plus News (11/11)

• Medvedev puts emphasis on modernization
  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called on Russians to back his efforts to modernize the economy, end the country's mass use of finite natural resources and shed Soviet-style attitudes that hinder development. "The prestige of our homeland, the national welfare, cannot depend on the achievements of the past forever," Medvedev said in a nationally televised speech. Medvedev's entreaty contained little in the way of concrete proposals to realize his vision. The New York Times (11/12)

• More suicide attacks rattle Pakistan
  Suicide attacks on a Pakistani intelligence agency building in Peshawar and another in Bannu left at least 10 people dead. The Taliban has stepped up attacks on government and civilian targets in recent weeks in response to a Pakistani military campaign to dislodge militants from the border area with Afghanistan. BBC (11/13) , Yahoo!/Agence France-Presse (11/12)

• Obama declines invitation to tour Hiroshima, Nagasaki
  Like his predecessors, U.S. President Barack Obama will not accept an invitation to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the devastation wrought there by U.S. nuclear bombs 64 years ago. Japanese hopes ran high that Obama -- who is popular in Japan despite the fact sentiment toward the U.S. is lukewarm -- would be the first American President to visit the cities. Obama only intends to spend one day in Tokyo during his Asian tour but said he would be honored to go another time. The Washington Post (11/13)

• Obama says Iran, North Korea must live up to world standards
  Joined by Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, U.S. President Barack Obama said Iran and North Korea must live up to international obligations on their nuclear programs and must work more broadly toward nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. Iran chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi said the country should consent to the UN-drafted agreement that would see the nation's low-enriched uranium transferred by the International Atomic Energy Agency to Russia and France to be processed for nuclear fuel rods. Ha'aretz (Tel Aviv, Israel) (11/13)

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• Khalid Sheik Mohammed to be tried in New York
  The Washington Post (11/13)

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