Opinion: An Iranian Offer Worth Considering: What We're Reading Now
Sep 29, 2011

IRAN
Opinion: An Iranian Offer Worth Considering
Alivaez and Charles D. Ferguson, The New York Times -- September 29, 2011
A nuclear research reactor in Tehran may hold the key to resolving the prolonged nuclear stalemate between Iran and the West. The Iranian government is running out of the 20 percent-enriched uranium it needs to operate the reactor, and that appears to be making it amenable to compromise.

Iran to Send Navy Near U.S. Coast: Commander
Lee Ferran, ABC News -- September 28, 2011
Iran plans to send Navy vessels steaming across the Atlantic and towards the U.S. to build up an open sea presence along the marine border with the east coast, according to the Iranian Navy's top commander.

NORTH KOREA
France to open North Korea office
CNN -- September 29, 2011
France is to open an office in North Korea in the coming days to build cultural ties and help with aid efforts, the French Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Activist unfazed by N. Korea assassination threat
AFP -- September 29, 2011
Undeterred by an alleged North Korean plot to assassinate him, a South Korean activist Thursday launched leaflets across the tense border calling for the overthrow of Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong-Il.