Top News: How the Coronavirus scare could impact North Korea talks Voice of America A new nuclear warhead? STRATCOM chief can’t answer yes or no Defense One U.N. disarmament chief: nuclear arms race is threatening world Associated Press United States A new nuclear warhead? STRATCOM chief can’t answer yes or no Defense One2/27/20 Is the United States developing an all-new nuclear weapon for its missile submarines? Esper says N. Korea seeks legitimacy with nuclear weapons Korea Herald2/27/20 U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that North Korea seeks to attain legitimacy by developing its nuclear and ballistic missile capability. OPINION: America’s new nukes: better not bigger Washington ExaminerJamie McIntyre 2/27/20 When Defense Secretary Mark Esper visited the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command in Omaha in late February, he was given a tabletop demonstration of a hypothetical lose-lose confrontation with Russia. OPINION: Donald Trump’s America is threatening the nuclear peace Financial TimesPhilip Stephens 2/27/20 This year marks the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. East Asia IAEA ready to inspect N.Korea if deal reached Daiji World2/27/20 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is ready to deploy its inspectors to Pyongyang as soon as an agreement was reached to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, its head said here on Thursday. How the Coronavirus scare could impact North Korea talks Voice of America2/27/20 North Korean authorities have sealed their borders and imposed strict quarantine measures, declaring coronavirus prevention measures a matter of “national survival.” Middle East U.S. maintains pressure on Iran, stalling diplomacy while expecting attacks New York Times2/27/20 Nearly two months after the death of Iran’s most important general, the Trump administration insists its “maximum pressure” campaign is working. Parties to Iran nuclear deal meet but make little progress on saving it Jerusalem Post2/27/20 Parties to Iran’s nuclear deal made little progress on Wednesday towards saving the agreement as Iran is still breaching many of its central terms in response to U.S. sanctions, but efforts to ease Tehran’s economic pain continued, delegates said. Russia/Europe Russia stages first ship-launched ‘Tsirkon’ hypersonic missile test The Moscow Times2/27/20 Russia has conducted the first ship-launched firing of its new hypersonic missile called Tsirkon and plans further tests from nuclear submarines, two unnamed military sources told the state-run TASS news agency Thursday. U.S., NATO policy delays efforts on creating nuclear-weapons-free world – Russia’s U.N. envoy Tass2/26/20 The United States’ threats against a number of states, including Russia, postpone the efforts on creating a nuclear-weapons-free world, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya has said. Multilateral Arms Control U.N. disarmament chief: nuclear arms race is threatening world Associated Press2/27/20 The U.N. disarmament chief warned Wednesday that the specter of an unbridled nuclear arms race is threatening the world for the first time since the 1970s, the height of the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union.