Free Republic

After North Korea's nuclear bomb test, the People's Republic of China insists that "punishment should not be the purpose" of any response. Maybe the problem isn't North Korea, but China. There's another, more ominous reason for China's reluctance to help: The country is responsible for much of the proliferation of nuclear technology to terrorist states in recent years. That includes its main client, North Korea. As the State Department noted in a 2003 report, "Chinese state-owned corporations have engaged in transfer activities with Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and Libya that are clearly contrary to China's commitments to the U.S." China...

WASHINGTON: The US Congress was divided on the groundbreaking India-US nuclear cooperation agreement finalised on Thursday by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, even as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came out in support of the deal. Members of the Congress who have traditionally supported the deal, like Joe Wilson and Joe Crowley, sent out a "Dear Colleague" letter to members of the house urging them to support the pact that requires the Congress to change US laws for its implementation. At the same time, others like Ed Markey vocally opposed the agreement on the grounds...

NASA is spending £4m on developing futuristic electric propulsion systems that may one day carry people to Mars. The three-year programme, part of the American space agency's Prometheus project, will involve designing new kinds of nuclear power plant for spacecraft.