http://192.168.2.6/music/20061010/2006VOA1004.mp3

It's 15:00 Universal Time and here is the news from the Voice Of America.
I'm David Deforest from the VOA news center in Washington.

North Korea has announced plans to conduct a nuclear test in defiance of international efforts to end its nuclear weapons programs. VOA's Kurd Asian reports from Seoul.
A North Korean television announcer says Pyongyang will conduct a nuclear test in a condition where safety is firmly guaranteed. He does not specify when. But North blames what it calls the US extreme threat of a nuclear war and sanctions for its decision. Washington says it has no intention of attacking Pyongyang and has worked for three years with China,Russia, South Korea and Japan to persuade the North to end its nuclear programs. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso warned Tuesday that a nuclear test would be unforgivable. He says Japan will react harshly along with the international community to a nuclear test. The United States has warned the test would have serious consequences including possible United Nations sanctions. Kurd Asian VOA news, Seoul.

A top Iranian official has proposed that France creat a consortium to enrich uranium in Iran as a way to resolve the country's nuclear standoff with the West. The deputy chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammad Saeedi made the suggestion during an interview in Tehran with French radio. The interview was broadcast today. Saeedi says French nuclear manufacturers could be possible partners in the consortium which he said could allow France to control uranium enrichment activity in Iran in a tangible way.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon says he feels a burden of responsibility to address structural problems with the United Nations. Now that his appointment as UN Secretary General is almost certain. After learning he was the near unanimous choice of diplomats of the UN Security Council, Ban told reporters in South Korea today he will work hard to make the UN more transparent and restore its credibility and effectiveness.

For the second day in a row, Two Americans have taken the Nobel Prize. John Mather and George Smoot were awarded the coveted physics prize for their work in explaining the ancient cosmic radiation present in the universe. For VOA news, Tom R has a report from London.

Scientists John Mather and George Smoot garner the top physics prize for their work at NASA in [屏蔽] that helped to shed more light on the very beginnings of the universe and the origin of galaxies and stars. The award was for discovering the nature of so-called blackbody radiation, the cosmic background radiation believed to stem from the Big Bang when the universe was created. Their work was based on measurements taken from the NASA-launched Cosmic Background Explorer satellite. The ripples of light they detected go back to the early stages of the universe about 380,000 years after it was born. In its citation ,the Nobel Academy in Stockholm said their observations have played a major role in the development of modern cosmology, turning it into a precise science. In a practical sense, Mather and Smoot transformed the study of the early universe from a theoretical point of view to one of direct observation in measurement. Tom V for VOA news, London.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called on rival Palestinian factions to stop the fighting that has claimed at least ten lives since Sunday. In the Saudi city of Riyadh today Rice said innocent Palestinians have been caught in the fighting which has occurred in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Late Monday in Riyadh,Rice held talks with Saudi King Abdullah. Riyadh was the first stop of a Middle East tour aimed at exploring ways to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Rice is now in Cairo where she is due to meet with the foreign ministers of the Egypt, Jordan and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council. She will hold separate talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

An armed Palestinian faction linked to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Group has threatened to kill Hamas leaders,signaling further escalation of Palestinian infighting. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in a statement today specifically mentioned the three Hamas leaders, Palestinian Interior Minister Said Siyam, ministry official Youssef Zahar and the group's exiled political leader Khaled Mashaal. The threat follows the deaths of at least 10 Palestinians in fighting among rival factions in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank since Sunday.

I'm David Deforest, VOA news,more news on the internet at voanews.com.