Pakistan appears to be building a new nuclear reactor to produce weapons-grade plutonium at Khushab in Punjab province, an American watchdog group has said citing satellite imagery.
India and the United Kingdom have agreed on the text of a landmark civil nuclear agreement and a formal pact may be signed within a week, Britain's Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson announced on Thursday. "The civil nuclear deal text has been agreed to and it will be signed soon, may be within a week after ministerial approvals," Lord Mandelson told a joint press conference with Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.
The United States is worried over the safety of Pakistan's nuclear assets and believes that they are 'vulnerable', as the army continues to consider India as a prime threat.
The BJP chief said this had exposed the Left and added that his party opposed the deal with "honesty".
What this means is that India's choices will be limited to some French and Russian companies, when it comes to seeking nuclear power reactors, because even major American companies like GE and Westinghouse, which manufacture atomic reactors and have expertise in this area, have tie-ups with Japanese companies like Toshiba, which will not sell such equipment to India. Without Japan's nod, India's choices remain almost as limited as they were before the Indo-US civil deal.
North Korea, with the help of Pakistan, may have opened an alternative way to clandestinely build nuclear weapons as early as 1990s by constructing a plant to manufacture a gas needed for uranium enrichment. Pyongyang may have been enriching uranium on a small scale by 2002.
As the United Progressive Alliance-Left standoff over the Indo-US nuclear deal continued, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said party supremo Bal Thackeray will play a "crucial" role in the unfolding political crisis. The statement by party spokesman Sanjay Raut, MP, came at a time when the Congress is desperately seeking support from new parties and groups in the wake of threats by the Left parties to withdraw support over the nuke deal.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday left for a three-day visit to Russia during which the two sides are expected to sign a framework agreement on civil nuclear cooperation and three pacts in the field of defence.Dr Singh, who will be undertaking his sixth visit to Russia since 2004, said he will also meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, under whose presidency the annual dialogue was set up.
He said Pakistan's missiles and warheads are kept apart under the nuclear command he heads with Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.
"India, with long-standing experience in operating nuclear plants and building human and knowledge resources, can be a guiding force for new entrants seeking to harness atomic technology for producing power."
"India today is a rising and responsible global power. So I believe that the relationship between the United States and India will be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century," Obama said at a joint press conference with the Indian leader after their delegation-level and one-on-one talks at the White House. President Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reaffirmed their "full and complete" commitment to implementation of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
In an exclusive interview with Ajit Jain, rediff India Abroad Managing Editor, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who recently completed his maiden visit to India, reveals that the two countries are very close to signing a nuclear agreement.
Renowned United States investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has clarified that his article in The New Yorker never claimed that there was any agreement between Pakistan and the US over nuclear weapons, adding that an 'informal understanding' existed between the Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, over the safety of Pakistan's nuclear installations.Hersh's article created a huge furore in Pakistan
With the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal in a limbo in the wake of the Indian Parliament's nuclear liability law, the Barack Obama administration has asserted that complete implementation of the accord is imperative for the full transformation of the relationship.
India on Tuesday banned exports and imports of all items from North Korea that can be used in nuclear or ballistic missile plans. The Commerce Ministry imposed a blanket ban on "all items, materials, equipment, goods and technologies which could contribute to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear-related, ballistic missile-related and other weapons of mass destruction-related programmes".
Iranian advisers regularly visit North Korea to participate in missile tests.
Acting swiftly after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa accused the Centre of "abdicating" its responsibilities, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday spoke to her seeking her guidance to resolve the issue arising out of protests over the Koodankulam nuclear power project.
One person was killed and three others were injured in an explosion at a nuclear plant in Marcoule, southern France, on Monday.
India is planning a 15-fold increase in its civilian nuclear power programme in the next two decades, the UN's nuclear watchdog said on Thursday. In its latest report titled 'Year in Review 2008', the International Atomic Energy Agency said while no new reactors came online anywhere last year.
Iran is poised to produce its first nuclear warhead and will be able to do so within a year of an order from its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a media report said on Monday. Quoting Western intelligence sources, The Times daily claimed that Iran has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the green signal from its Supreme Leader.
A Chinese company has agreed to pay a penalty of $3 million after pleading guilty to the charges of illegally exporting high-performance coating to Pakistan's Chashma nuclear power plant, US federal authorities said.
'The nation, at this critical juncture, depends on its representatives in Parliament to ensure that decisions taken today do not inhibit our future ability to develop and pursue nuclear technologies for the benefit of the nation'
Predicting the "defeat" of Pakistani military in its fight against the Taliban in North West Frontier Province, a top Al-Qaeda commander on Monday warned that if his group takes over Islamabad's nuclear weapons, it will "use them" against the United States.
The latest report by Congressional Research Service -- a research wing of the US Congress that prepares reports for Congressmen - has confirmed the recent statements and media reports that Pakistan was expanding its nuclear arsenal.
India on Monday voiced its worries over the underground nuclear test carried out by North Korea, terming it a 'development of serious concern'. He was asked how India viewed the announcement by North Korea that it has 'successfully' conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defence.
Top space scientist and former Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Kasturirangan Tuesday asserted that the country was capable of dealing with International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of its nuclear installations.
Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan has said that despite "saber rattling" between Islamabad and New Delhi, there is no chance of a nuclear war between the two neighbours.
Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme is expanding at a rapid pace and the country is expected to soon have a fourth operational reactor to ramp up the production of plutonium, according to a media report.
Pakistan turned to China after the US refused it a civilian nuclear agreement.
India plans to produce about 20,000 mega watt of nuclear power keeping safety features in mind, former President A P J Abdul Kalam on Friday said as he certified the Kudankulam atomic plant as safe.
Failure or inordinate delay in taking forward the deal, by way of engaging with the Internation Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group will actually result in keeping India's sovereignty shrunk and eroded the very objective that the Left parties are claiming to advance!
Cyprus and India also finalised an agreement on combating terrorism, illicit drug trafficking and organised crimes.
A Republican Congressman has mooted a proposal to amend the US Atomic Energy Act, 1954, so that it could formalise the civilian nuclear deal reached between India and the United States early in March.
The two sides also signed six agreements, including in the field of defence and civil aviation.
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