The dream of a shield against nuclear bombs has been around since the earliest days of the nuclear age. The idea has always been deceptively simple: Build missiles that can shoot down nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles as they come across the ocean from the Soviet Union toward the United States (or vice-versa). Although this would [...]

India launches nuclear-capable missile that would give it capability of striking major Chinese cities for the first time India test-fired a long range missile capable of reaching deep into China and Europe on Thursday, thrusting the emerging Asian power into an elite club of nations with intercontinental nuclear weapons capabilities. A scientist at the launch [...]

Iran’s Chief Nuclear Negotiator Saeed Jalili speaks to the media after day-long talks with six world powers in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, April 14, 2012. A banner with photos of five Iranian nuclear scientists that were assassinated over the past years is seen in the background. Iranian and European officials expressed confidence in the results of [...]

WASHINGTON — President Obama knows the Global Nuclear Summit, now meeting for the second time in Korea, is not specifically designed to tackle the world’s most dire nuclear flash points — North Korea and Iran (see GSN, March 21). The summit’s direct focus, and where it has achieved measurable success, is in reducing or securing [...]

The United States intends to seek additional reductions to its nuclear arsenal in exchange for potential comparable curbs by Russia, President Obama said on Monday (see GSN, Feb. 16). “We can already say with confidence that we have more nuclear weapons than we need,” Reuters quoted Obama as saying in South Korea on Monday, hours [...]

Outside a packed hearing room on Capitol Hill, where Representative Paul Ryan presided over a mark-up of his draconian budget bill, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus held a press conference to announce their own plan: the “Budget for All,” which follows along the rough outlines of last year’s “People’s Budget.” The exact details won’t [...]

Even as U.S. and Israeli intelligence has concluded with high confidence that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons and has demonstrated no intention to do so, fears continue to linger about Tehran’s enrichment program, lending credence to foolhardy calls for war. In a Washington Post “Iran fact sheet” on the nuclear program, it is reported [...]

South Sudan’s plan to start collecting some 20,000 weapons from civilians in Jonglei state in March, by force if necessary, is likely to worsen the volatile security situation there and complicate efforts to deliver essential humanitarian aid, the UN and several analysts have warned.

14 February 2012 – On the 45th anniversary of the treaty that created a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Latin America and the Caribbean, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today hailed the pact as an example of how regional initiatives can advance global norms on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of atomic energy. “The Treaty of Tlatelolco [...]

14 February 2012 – A senior United Nations official called today on countries to boost their efforts and find common ground to reach an agreement and end the existing impasse within the world’s sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum. “The level of frustration is approaching a tipping point,” said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Personal Representative of the Secretary-General [...]