CND Press Digest: Monday 23rd October 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• The BBC looks at the shortage of drones available for use in Ukraine following the new export restrictions put in place by China, a major supplier of the technology.

• Mitch McConnell backs Biden’s $106bn aid request for Israel and Ukraine
  Republican Senate minority leader says he and president are “in the same place” on support linked to both conflicts.

• Royal Engineers are delivering a training programme to Ukrainian civilian engineers on how to defend the energy sector from attacks by Russian missile strikes this winter.

AUKUS

• Reuters: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will seek progress on the AUKUS defence technology partnership and critical mineral supply chains during a visit to Washington next week, as Canberra tries to reduce its long-term trade exposure to China.
• That’s as the head of Mi5 said China was seeking to “disrupt” the AUKUS programme. Without disclosing specific details, Ken McCallum said that in the two years since the project was announced, China’s spay agencies had been tries to infiltrate the project and steal its secrets including areas like quantum computing and synthetic biology.  

China

• China has accused the US of distorting facts after a Pentagon report claiming Beijing was rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal and would have over 1,000 warheads by 2030. Additional coverage by The Guardian and BBC.

Israel & Palestine

• Some of the coverage of Saturday’s Palestine demo by The Guardian (report and video), BBC, and Reuters.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Energy minister Andrew Bowie will visit Suffolk next month after a letter signed by 37 councils called for “greater engagement” from the government on energy projects, including the planned Sizewell C nuclear plant.

Fukushima

• Nuclear Fee Local Authorities: “Over seven weeks have passed without an acknowledgement or reply to a letter the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities co-signed which was sent to the UN International Atomic Energy Authority calling for transparency over claims that the organisation collaborated with the Japanese Government to ‘manage the message’ over the ocean dumping of 1.3 million tonnes of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site.”

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Al Jazeera: How significant is lifting of UN curbs on Iran’s missile programme?

CND

• Kate Hudson writes in The Morning Star and CND blog on the 40th anniversary of the landmark Hyde Park peace demonstration.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament