Three German businessmen have been charged with attempting to smuggle uranium processing materials into North Korea. The three are alleged to have plotted to export more than 200 aluminium tubes to North Korea, via China. Prosecutors suspect the alleged despatch could have been used in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. German authorities believe the British-made tubes were in fact ordered by a North Korean state company. The main suspect is a 57-year-old manager of a German company who was arrested on 9 April, a spokesman for the Stuttgart prosecutors said. He was charged with breaching German weapons export laws by failing to obtain a government permit for the shipment. Full Story