By Patrick Oppmann, reporting from Cuba
Fifty years ago, 15-year-old Omar Lopez knew a secret that governments around the world would have killed to learn or safeguard: Soviet troops were building hidden military installations in Cuba.
One of those installations was on the farm where his family raised chickens and pigs.
In 1962, Fidel Castro's revolution was just beginning to reshape Cuba. Thousands of Cubans had fled the country, and the year before, Castro's troops had routed a U.S.-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs.
But little of the drama of those times reached the remote Lopez farm in western Cuba, where palm trees vastly outnumber human residents.
By the CNN Wire Staff
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Sunday that the United States must establish a clear "red line" that Iran cannot cross with its nuclear program if it wants to avoid war.
"I think the issue is how to prevent Iran from completing its nuclear weapons program. They're moving very rapidly to completing the enrichment of the uranium that they need to produce a nuclear bomb. In six months or so, they will be 90% of the way there," Netanyahu said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"I think it's important to place a red line before Iran, and I think that actually reduces the chance of a military conflict because, if they know there's a point, a stage in the enrichment or other nuclear activities that they cannot cross because they'll face consequences, I think they'll actually not cross it," Netanyahu told CNN's Candy Crowley.
Concerns in Washington that Israel could launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities prompted a wave of visits this summer to Israel by several top Obama administration officials.
By Barbara Starr
President Barack Obama talked with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call Tuesday night about the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program, according to a White House statement.
Obama placed the call to Netanyahu, a senior administration official told CNN.
The one-paragraph statement from the White House, which referred to the Obama-Netanyahu discussion as "a part of their ongoing consultations," followed reports earlier in the day that the White House had rejected a request by Netanyahu to meet with Obama this month to discuss Iran's nuclear program.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer, citing Israeli sources, reported that the Israelis were told Obama's schedule would not permit a meeting even though Israel offered to have Netanyahu travel to Washington.
Obama and Netanyahu are both due to address the United Nations in New York in late September but not at the same time.
By Paula Hancocks
South Korea said Tuesday that it will halt all Iranian oil imports from the start of July in response to a European Union insurance ban on tankers carrying crude from Iran.
The EU and United States have been widening sanctions against Iran recently to put pressure on Tehran to curtail its nuclear program.
Western powers say they believe the program is intended to build nuclear weapons, but Iran insists it is for peaceful purposes.
South Korea is the first major consumer of Iranian oil in Asia to suspend all imports. Iran's other big oil customers in the region are Japan, China and India - none of which have announced plans to stop receiving shipments.
By Paula Hancocks and Jethro Mullen
North Korea is planning a new nuclear test in the area where it staged previous atomic blasts, according to a report from South Korean intelligence officials obtained by CNN.
The intelligence report has come to light as North Korea gets ready to carry out a controversial rocket launch this week, a move that would further strain ties between the reclusive, nuclear-armed state and other countries in the region. The planned rocket launch is scheduled to take place just months after the ascendancy of its new leader.
Stalled talks between Iran and world leaders over its nuclear ambitions will resume April 13 at a yet-undetermined venue, the country's state-run media reported Wednesday.
The announcement, by Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, comes amid growing pressure from world powers over Iran's controversial nuclear program.
FULL STORY
By Elise Labott
Never a regime to do something for nothing, North Korea took what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called a "modest first step" in agreeing to halt its nuclear and missile program in exchange for food aid.
But Clinton knows full well that 20 years of broken promises by North Korea to successive American administrations, both Democrat and Republican, give good reason to pause before celebrating.
The deal though is a promising sign, a first step that is conciliatory rather than belligerent, as North Korea agreed to stop nuclear activity at its main facility in Yongbyon and impose a moratorium on nuclear tests and long-range missile launched in exchange for 240,000 tons of food assistance.
It also promised to allow international inspectors into nuclear sites that have gone unexamined for close to five years.
By Kevin Flower reporting from Jerusalem
As national security teams in Washington and Jerusalem busily prepare for the meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the pages of newspapers in Israel and the U.S. are full of analysis, reporting and predictions about what exactly the two will discuss.
Iran and its nuclear program, of course, are expected to top the agenda. All eyes will be on the post-meeting statement that the two leaders are expected to issue as well as the respective speeches each will deliver before the annual Washington gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group better known as AIPAC.
Israel and the United States believe Iran is working to develop a nuclear weapon program while the government in Tehran maintains its program is peaceful.
By Adam Levine, with reporting from Matthew Chance
Iran has stepped up its enrichment of uranium in the months since international inspectors last visited, according to a new report from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The report was sent to member nations on Friday and posted online by the Institute for Science and International Studies. The new IAEA report cites an increase in centrifuges used to enrich uranium, at the Fordow and Natanz sites, at both lower levels and to 20%, a key level of achievement if Iran decides to create nuclear weapons.
Iran has failed to cooperate with efforts to verify that its nuclear program is purely peaceful, Director General Yukiya Amano concluded in the report.
By Jamie Crawford
The Pentagon is currently analyzing U.S. nuclear options under the Nuclear Posture Review Implementation Study - a process that could result in significant cuts in the number of warheads. And one senior Republican senator is sounding a warning.
"Obviously this is going to create a huge stir in Congress," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, said during a keynote address Thursday at a nuclear deterrence summit in Arlington, Virginia. "We will have a battle royal in Congress if the president moves forward with these kinds of plans."
As recently as last month, the Defense Department did not discount the possibility of further cuts to its arsenal eventually.
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