North Korea said Thursday it planned to carry out a third nuclear test and more rocket launches aimed at its "arch-enemy" the United States in response to tightened UN sanctions, but offered no timeframe.
A defiant North Korea on Wednesday condemned a new round of UN sanctions and hinted it might carry out a nuclear test, while ruling out a resumption of talks on denuclearising the Korean peninsula.
North Korea has repaired extensive rain damage at its nuclear test facility and could conduct a detonation on two weeks notice, a US think-tank said Friday, citing satellite imagery analysis.
China is resisting US-led efforts to order new sanctions against North Korea over its rocket launch and the UN Security Council could take weeks to decide a formal move, diplomats said.
Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest bank, must pay US authorities a fine totaling some 8.6 million dollars for flouting US sanctions on Iran, Sudan, Myanmar and Cuba.
With North Korea seemingly intent on going ahead with its planned rocket launch, the international community must decide how it can punish a country that has proved largely impervious to past sanctions.
The UN Security Council on Wednesday ordered sanctions against an Al-Qaeda linked Islamist group in a new sign of the tougher line being taken with militants who have taken over much of the Mali.
Iran is ready to significantly boost output at its most controversial nuclear plant, a new UN nuclear agency report showed Friday, taking Tehran closer in theory to being able to develop a nuclear weapon.
North Korea tried to export ballistic missile parts to Syria in May in violation of UN sanctions, Japanese media said Wednesday, citing diplomats who have seen a classified UN report.
The US on Monday accused Iran of extreme economic mismanagement as biting sanctions wreak havoc on the Iranian economy, and the European Union agreed a new slew of moves against the regime.
The European Commission plans to sanction EU members to nudge them into action on efforts to create a pan-European airspace that would cut costs and delays.
Iran will press on with its nuclear programme despite the problems caused by Western sanctions, including a dramatic slide in the value of its currency.
The US lifted sanctions on two of Myanmar's top leaders on Wednesday, as the Congress hailed Aung San Suu Kyi as a hero of democracy in a lavish ceremony unthinkable only months ago.
Western countries will seek to turn the screw further on Iran at a meeting of UN atomic agency board of governors from Monday following the watchdog's latest damning report on Tehran's nuclear programme.
A new UN atomic agency report due Thursday or Friday is expected to detail how Iran is continuing to expand its nuclear programme despite painful sanctions and talk of Israeli military action.
Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog were due in talks Friday to make a fresh push to patch up relations as Tehran feels the heat from sanctions and amid fevered speculation of imminent Israeli military action.
Iraq insisted on Monday that its trade with neighbouring Iran was above board, and denied reports that it was helping the Islamic republic skirt sanctions by smuggling oil and secretly moving cash.
