International Glance
Deep beneath desert sands, an embattled Middle Eastern state has built a covert nuclear bomb, using technology and materials provided by friendly powers or stolen by a clandestine network of agents. It is the stuff of pulp thrillers and the sort of narrative often used to characterise the worst fears about the Iranian nuclear programme. In reality, though, neither US nor British intelligence believe Tehran has decided to build a bomb, and Iran's atomic projects are under constant international monitoring.
The exotic tale of the bomb hidden in the desert is a true story, though. It's just one that applies to another country. In an extraordinary feat of subterfuge, Israel managed to assemble an entire underground nuclear arsenal – now estimated at 80 warheads, on a par with India and Pakistan – and even tested a bomb nearly half a century ago, with a minimum of international outcry or even much public awareness of what it was doing.
The truth about Israel's secret nuclear arsenal
Iran nuclear deal to take effect on January 20
Iran's interim nuclear deal with six major powers will come into force on January 20, the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the European Union said on Sunday.
"Capitals have confirmed the result of the talks in Geneva ... the Geneva deal will be implemented from January 20," Marzieh Afkham, spokeswoman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Tehran, the semi-official Mehr news agency said.
Former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon dies
Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, one of his nation's most controversial and iconic leaders for a half-century — on and off the battlefield — died Saturday at the age of 85, of complications from a stroke eight years ago.
Sharon's son, Gilad Sharon, announced his death Saturday afternoon outside the hospital where he was being treated. "He has gone. He went when he decided to go," he said.
Russia security on high alert after five bodies found
Russia has put security forces on combat alert in the southern Stavropol region, about 150 miles northeast of Sochi, after the discovery of five bodies with gunshot wounds and an explosive device, a regional security spokesman said.
Russia has already tightened security before next month's Winter Olympics in Sochi, on which President Vladimir Putin has staked his political and personal prestige, and is on high alert after suicide bombers killed at least 34 people in separate attacks in the southern city of Volgograd last month.
Suicide bomber kills 23 Iraqi army recruits
A suicide bomber killed 23 Iraqi army recruits and wounded 36 in Baghdad on Thursday, officials said, in an attack on men volunteering to join the government's struggle to crush al Qaeda-linked militants in Anbar province.
Brigadier General Saad Maan, spokesman for the Baghdad Security Operations Centre which coordinates among military, police and other security organizations, said the bomber had blown himself up among the recruits at the small Muthanna airfield, used by the army in the Iraqi capital.
Construction, master plan OK'd for Israeli settlement in West Bank
Israeli officials approved construction of 272 homes for settlers and gave the Ofra settlement its first master plan since it was created in the West Bank.
"After 40 years of waiting, this is a celebration," Ofra secretary Sami Karsenti told the Jerusalem Post Monday. Ofra, established in the Binyamin region of the West Bank in 1975, is beyond Israel's security barrier and is considered an isolated settlement, the Post said.
UN: First chemicals have left Syrian port
The first batch of Syrian poison gas precursor chemicals was loaded onto a Danish cargo ship and taken out of the war-torn country Tuesday - a week later than initially planned, the United Nations announced.
The announcement that the raw materials had been loaded onto the ship at Syria's Latakia port marked a belated but crucial step in the international operation to rid President Bashar Assad of his declared chemical weapons program by mid-year.
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