Do Not Ignore Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions, Warns UN Atomic Agency
Sarah White | Financial Times
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has urged world powers to relaunch talks with Iran and not lose sight of the risks posed by its stockpiling of enriched uranium while attention has turned to the war between Israel and Hamas. “There needs to be some recreation of a system of dialogue with Iran,” Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Financial Times. “Attention . . . may of course be on something else. But this doesn’t solve the issue. It may even make them more acute, in the sense that there’s a sense of a certain indifference,” Grossi said. “People may not be looking at [Iran’s nuclear ambitions], but the problem exists.”
US: North Korea Trying to Advance Nuclear Program With Satellite Launch
Margaret Besheer | VOA News
The United States accused North Korea on Monday of using the prohibited launch of a military spy satellite to try to advance its nuclear weapons program, a charge Pyongyang denied. “The DPRK is unabashedly trying to advance its nuclear weapons delivery systems by testing ballistic missile technology in clear violation of this council’s resolutions,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told council members, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
UN Atomic Chief Backs Nuclear Power at COP28 as World Reckons with Proliferation
JON GAMBRELL | Associated Press
The world wants more nuclear energy as a means to fight climate change and supply an ever-growing demand for electricity, part of a generational shift in thinking on atomic power, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press at the COP28 climate talks. He called the inclusion of nuclear power at the summit, where he said a major nuclear agreement was likely, showed just how far the formerly “taboo” subject had come decades after the disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
Yoon Vows Stronger Deterrence Against N.Korea Nuclear Threat
Korea Times
President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Tuesday to work together with the United States and Japan to strengthen deterrence against North Korea's nuclear threat and improve the human rights situation in the country…"The history of mankind proves that peace dependent on the other side's goodwill is nothing but a dream and an illusion," he continued. "True peace is built on overwhelming and strong power, and a firm will to use that power at any time to protect oneself."
'Let Us Be a Lesson', say Kazakhs Wary of Return to Nuclear Testing
Mariya Gordeyeva | Reuters
As Russia warns of the rising risk of nuclear war, and relations with the United States sink into a deep freeze, communities close to the vast Soviet-era nuclear testing site in northern Kazakhstan have a message for leaders: "Let us be a lesson."..."Let our suffering be a lesson to others," said Serikbay Ybyrai, local leader in the village of Saryzhal, who saw tests being carried out some 20 km (12 miles) away when he was a boy. "If this (testing) resumes, humanity will disappear."
The Militarized AI Risk That’s Bigger Than “Killer Robots”
Jeffrey Lewis | Vox
Of all the potential risks, it is the marriage of AI with nuclear weapons — our first truly paradigm-altering technology — that should most capture the attention of world leaders. AI systems are so smart, so fast, and likely to become so central to everything we do that it seems worthwhile to take a moment and think about the problem. Or, at least, to get your experts in the room with their experts to talk about it.