ISIS warns of Pakistan's latest nuclear drive

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pak-nuclearA US arms control institute has warned that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programs could threaten the region.

“Pakistan is indeed progressing in a strategic plan to improve the destructiveness and deliverability of its nuclear arsenal,” the Institute for Science and International Security said.

The institute released satellite photos on Tuesday that showed the expansion of a chemical plant complex near Dera Ghazi Khan.

The plant produces uranium hexalfuoride and uranium metal, materials used to produce nuclear weapons, the ISIS report said.

Photos also suggested the Pakistanis “have added a second plutonium separation plant adjacent to the old one” at a site near Rawalpindi, according to the report.

The expansion would enable Pakistan to build smaller, lighter plutonium-fission weapons and thermonuclear weapons that employ “plutonium as the nuclear trigger and enriched and natural enriched uranium in the secondary,” it said.

The ISIS report stated that the nuclear progress “complicates efforts to improve the security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets.”

In response, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that its nuclear programs were not “static”.

“Our nuclear deterrence is an indispensable factor of stability in the region,” the Foreign Ministry statement asserted.

Iran clears candidates for presidential elections

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iran-cliear-electionTehran has vetted those who signed their names for the presidential polls and has approved the qualifications of four candidates.

Those approved are former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi, Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei and incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Press TV has learned.

Karroubi will contest the presidency on the Reformist platform while Rezaei and Ahmadinejad are considered Principlists.

Mousavi has refrained from officially linking his political tendencies to a certain camp.

Iran has scheduled its tenth presidential election for June 12.

The body that is tasked with vetting the qualifications of candidates and approving their ability to handle the country’s affairs is the 12-member Guardians Council.

IRI launches new advanced missile

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DF-SC-83-10646The Islamic Republic of Iran  launched advanced surface-to surface missile called ‘Sejjil-2’, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday.

President Ahmadinejad, who is in the northern province of semnan at the last leg of his 60-province tour, said the surface-to-surface missile was launched Wednesday morning in the province and successfully hit its pre-determined target.

The missile which belongs to the advanced generation of surface-to-surface missiles was first tested in November, 2008.

The Sejjil missile has a range of almost 2,000 kilometers and is different from Shahab-3 missile. It operates in two stages and uses solid fuel, whereas, Shahab-3 missile is one-stage operator and uses
liquid fuel.

Sejjil’s range is longer than Shahab-3.

President in Semnan on last provincial tour

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ahmadi3-nsPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cabinet members arrived in Semnan Wednesday morning on the 60th and last provincial tour of his government.

The initiative of visiting Iranian cities had started since President Ahmadinejad took office in 2005 to become closely familiar with people’s problems in different cities of the country.

This is the second visit of the President to Semnan to follow up the projects approved during his first round of provincial tour.

Later in the day, President Ahmadinejad is to address provincial residents at the city’s stadium.

He is also to hold separate meetings with families of Semnan’s wartime martyrs, war veterans and provincial scholars and Alims during his stay in the province.

Qassem: Lebanon's resistance in full readiness

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naim-nsSheikh Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, criticized stances adopted by certain Arab countries and reiterated that the resistance forces in Lebanon are in full readiness to confront with any potential aggression by the Zionist regime, Al-Minar TV network reported.

Speaking in the 9th anniversary ceremony of Resistance forces’ victory in Lebanon, he called on the Lebanese government to raise the issue of Israeli spying networks in all international communities to pave the way for punishing the Zionist regime.

Addressing Arab officials, Qassem said, “If you are not able to resist, if for any reason you are not able to support resistance and if you are afraid of ‘Israel’ and its power as well as America and its dominance, at least remain silence and do not offer humiliating proposals.”

“I challenge all members of March 14 Group (supported by America and certain western countries) and ask them to state even one case that one of the opposition leaders (March 8 Group) had announced officially or in media their desire for decreasing the Lebanese president’s tenure,” he added.

Qassem urged members of March 14 Group to accept what people select.

Brazil floods leave 45 dead, 378,000 homeless

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brazil-floodSevere flooding over the last month brought on by torrential rains has killed 45 people across northern Brazil and forced some 378,000 others to evacuate their homes, mainly to emergency shelters, officials said Tuesday.

The National Civil Defense Secretariat said deaths have occurred in eight out of the 11 states severely affected by the flooding, including Ceara with 15 deaths, 10 in Maranhao and seven in Bahia in the perennially drought-stricken northeast; and eight deaths in the northern state of Amazonas.

Over one million people in some 407 municipalities have been affected, including several areas placed under a state of emergency, with flooding on roadways leaving many towns and cities cut off from the outside world.

An initial government estimate put the damage at nearly 500 million dollars.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has visited inundated areas and met with flood victims and local authorities.