Top News: Iran crosses a key threshold: It again has sufficient fuel for a bomb New York Times Trump picks official involved in Bush-era torture program as his nuclear envoy The Guardian U.S. Lawmakers: Iran, North Korea Are Biggest Threats to Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Voice of America United States U.S. Lawmakers: Iran, North Korea Are Biggest Threats to Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Voice of America3/3/20 U.S. lawmakers stressed that Iran and North Korea pose the biggest threats to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), in a hearing Tuesday marking the 50th anniversary of the treaty. The White House gave this nuclear agency a giant funding increase. Can it spend it all? Defense News3/4/20 Members of Congress used a hearing Tuesday to question whether the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous arm of the Department of Energy that handles development of nuclear warheads, can spend an almost 20 percent funding increase requested by the Trump administration. OPINION: A budget where nukes beat diplomacy? The HillAnthony Wier 3/3/20 Which should rank higher on America’s to-do list: engaging with the world or preparing to nuke it? East Asia Trump’s reaction to North Korea’s missile launches: “No reaction,” he says NK News3/3/20 U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he had “no reaction” to North Korea’s latest missile launches, conducted on Monday according to the official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA). OPINION: North Korea’s first missile launch of 2020 shouldn’t be a cause for concern The DiplomatDan DePetris 3/4/20 On Monday, March 2, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered yet another short-range ballistic missile test. Middle East Iran crosses a key threshold: It again has sufficient fuel for a bomb New York Times3/3/20 Iran’s growing stockpile of nuclear fuel recently crossed a critical threshold, according to a report issued Tuesday by international inspectors: For the first time since President Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran appears to have enough enriched uranium to produce a single nuclear weapon, though it would take months or years to manufacture a warhead and deliver it over long distances. Russia/Europe Trump picks official involved in Bush-era torture program as his nuclear envoy The Guardian3/5/20 The Trump administration has chosen a special envoy for nuclear talks, with the principal task of negotiating a new arms control agreement with Russia and China, according to congressional sources and former officials. OPINION: How Russia got hypersonic missiles before the US Washington ExaminerAbraham Mahshie 3/3/20 Department of Defense officials sought to answer this week the question of how the United States fell behind in hypersonic weapon development and what it is now doing to catch up with Russia and China. South Asia Autoclave seized from Chinese ship can be for Pak’s Shaheen II Nuke Missile Hindustan Times3/4/20 Experts from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have confirmed that an industrial autoclave seized from the Chinese ship Dai Cui Yun can be used for the manufacture of very long-range ballistic missiles or satellite launch rockets. Africa UN: Hilale underlines Morocco’s commitment to disarmament Morocco World News3/5/20 Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Omar Hilale, underlined the North African country’s commitment to disarmament during a thematic seminar yesterday in New York. Multilateral Arms Control OPINION: Relentless spread of coronavirus obliges postponing the 2020 NPT review to 2021 In Depth NewsTariq Rauf 3/4/20 As Spring is in the offing, the days are drawing near when representatives of up to 191 countries will convene at a review conference at the United Nations in New York, from 27 April to 22 May, to celebrate 50 years of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) being in force.