Top News: North Korea is advancing its nuclear program and increasing illicit trade, new U.N. report says CBS News U.S. concerned about China’s activities at Lop Nur nuclear weapons test site Jane’s Any new nuclear arms talks must include China, Mike Pompeo tells Russia South China Morning Post United States The new American missile designed to deliver massive nuclear strikes Military Watch Magazine4/17/20 The U.S. Air Force is planning to field a new class of ballistic missile by 2029 which will retain an intercontinental rage and be able to deliver multiple nuclear warheads at hypersonic speeds. ANALYSIS: Deterrence, norms, and the uncomfortable realities of a new nuclear age War on the RocksGerald Brown 4/20/20 One of the most important events of the last century was one that never took place — that is, thermonuclear war. East Asia North Korea is advancing its nuclear program and increasing illicit trade, new U.N. report says CBS News4/17/20 North Korea is advancing its nuclear program and increasing illicit trade in new and more opaque ways, according to a 267-page U.N. report that provides surveillance photos and new evidence. U.S. concerned about China’s activities at Lop Nur nuclear weapons test site Jane’s4/17/20 Activities at China’s Lop Nur nuclear weapons test site throughout 2019 are a cause for concern, according to a 15 April report by the US State Department. Russia and Europe Russia shows willingness to include new nuke, hypersonic weapon in arms control pact Defense News4/18/20 U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed arms control and other issues Friday as Moscow has signaled readiness to include some of its latest nuclear weapons in the last remaining arms control pact between the two countries. Any new nuclear arms talks must include China, Mike Pompeo tells Russia South China Morning Post4/18/20 US secretary of state tells Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that future discussions must be based on Trump’s vision for trilateral deal Britain has 139 tons of plutonium. That’s a real problem. Bulletin of Atomic ScientistsChristopher Fichtlscherer, Friederike Frieb, Moritz Kutt 4/17/20 The United Kingdom’s last plutonium reprocessing plant, B205, located in Sellafield in northern England, will shut down by the end of 2020. South Asia OPINON: What India’s Covid-19 fight means for its nuclear strategy Sunday GuardianManpreet Sethi 4/18/20 None of India’s adversaries must believe that the fear of economic pain would stop India from nuclear retaliation. Pakistan Criticizes Proposed Sale of US Missile Systems to India Voice of America4/17/20 Pakistan said Friday that a proposed new multimillion-dollar sale of American missile systems to Islamabad’s archrival, India, would destabilize an already “volatile” situation in South Asia. Multilateral Arms Control PUBLICATION: Nuclear Risk Reduction: Closing Pathways to Use UNIDIRWilfred Wan 4/20/20 Reducing the risk of nuclear weapons has received renewed attention in a difficult geopolitical environment. This publication – Nuclear Risk Reduction: Closing Pathways to Use – brings together a collection of expert viewpoints across a series of cross-cutting domains and geopolitical regions in which nuclear weapons feature. ANALYSIS: COVID-19 and the Doomsday Clock: Observations on managing global risk Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 4/15/20 On January 23, 2020, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock forward to 100 seconds to midnight.