A.Q. KHAN: NUCLEAR HERO TO PAKISTAN, VILLAIN TO WEST
To provide some background and context to the current nuclear and missile situation in Pakistan, North Korea and Iran one could do worse than read the Yahoo News article of 29th June on AQ Khan, the “father of the Islamic bomb”. It says that Pakistani atomic scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, is hailed as a national hero for transforming his country into the world’s first Islamic nuclear power but regarded by the West as a dangerous renegade responsible for smuggling technology to rogue states. He also found himself accused of illegally proliferating nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. His crucial contribution to Pakistan’s nuclear programme was the procurement of a blueprint for uranium centrifuges, which transform uranium into weapons-grade fuel for nuclear fissile material. He stole it from the Netherlands while working for Anglo-Dutch-German nuclear engineering consortium, Urenco, and brought it back to Pakistan in 1976, where the then prime minister put Khan in charge of the government’s nascent uranium enrichment project, and by 1978 his team had enriched uranium and by 1984 they were ready to detonate a nuclear device.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/q-khan-nuclear-hero-pakistan-villain-west-174331532.html
BELGIUM SUSPENDS 4 ARMS EXPORT LICENCES TO SAUDI ARABIA
On 30th June, the Brussels Times reported that 4 export licences issued by the Walloon regional government for sales of weapons by FN Herstal to Saudi Arabia have been suspended. It was said that the Walloon government had not carried out enough research into whether the arms in question would be used in a manner in keeping with Belgian law on arms exports., including whether they would be intended for use against their own or other people outside of self-defence. The article says that in 2017 Walloon arms producers sold €153 million of goods.
INSIDE LONDON FAKE PASSPORT FACTORY ‘WHERE HUNDREDS OF COUNTERFEIT DOCUMENTS WERE SOLD ON’
On 1st July, the Metro in London provided photographs of an alleged fake passport ‘factory’ in London used to supply hundreds of forged documents which has been raided by police.
CANADA RETALIATORY TARIFFS ON US GOODS FROM KETCHUP TO LAWN MOWERS BEGIN
The Daily Mail on 1st July reported that Canada has begun imposing tariffs on $12.6 billion in US goods as retaliation for the Trump administration’s new taxes on steel and aluminium imported to the US. Some U.S. products, mostly steel and iron, face 25% tariffs, and other U.S. imports, from ketchup to pizza to dishwasher detergent, will face a 10% tariff at the Canadian border.
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