Briefcase bombs remain
The week's news at a glance.
Shchuchye, Russia
A U.S. program to dismantle millions of Russian warheads and shells filled with deadly nerve gases screeched to a halt this week after its congressional funding ran out. The U.S. has spent $230 million so far building a facility in Shchuchye to destroy 5,000 tons of chemical weapons left over from the Soviet arsenal. But Congress has frozen the hundreds of millions of dollars it pledged to finish the construction because Russia was not properly accounting for its spending. Sen. Richard Lugar, who co-authored the bill setting up the dismantlement program, said such concerns were trivial. “This is the kind of stuff, at Shchuchye, that terrorists are after,” Lugar said. “We have an opportunity to get rid of it and we’re not moving forward.” Many of the shells are small enough to fit in a briefcase, and a single one could kill more than 100,000 people if detonated in a city.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What's the best time of year to buy a house?
The Explainer There are pros and cons to each season
-
Africa's largest dam is making diplomatic waves
Under the Radar Ethiopians view using the Nile as a 'sovereign right' but the vast hydroelectric project has 'fuelled nationalist fervour' in Egypt and Sudan
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is more
Feature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more