India abstained from a procedural vote taken in the United Nations Security Council to call for a rare special emergency session of the UN General Assembly on Russia's aggression against Ukraine, even as New Delhi welcomed Moscow and Kyiv's decision to hold talks at the Belarus border.
The US dismissed a report suggesting that India is covertly enriching its nuclear weapons capabilities, describing it as "speculative".
Continued instability in Pakistan could impact safety of its nuclear weapons and materials, a latest US Congressional report has said as it described the sale of two nuclear reactors by China to Pakistan a violation of the NSG guidelines.
Once completed, the 10 reactors of 700 MW each will give much needed fillip to the domestic nuclear industry.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday said the United States should offer Pakistan a civil nuclear cooperation deal similar to the one it finalised with India in order to maintain "balance" in the region.
At least three blasts ripped through a Pakistan Army arms depot on the outskirts of Islamabad on Monday, injuring two persons, said police officials. The blasts at the arms depot in Sihala area, located nearly 20 km from the garrison city of Rawalpindi, were believed to be accidental in nature. The blasts damaged a building and triggered a fire. Army troops and policemen cordoned off the area and prevented people and the media from approaching the arms depot.
With Pakistan moving towards tactical nuclear weapons, there is an increasingly higher risk of nuclear theft, a US think-tank report has warned ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington later this month.
Unlike conventional subs that must surface every 48 to 72 hours, these subs can stay submerged for up to 14 days.
China on Monday said Sri Lanka has allowed its satellite and missile tracking ship to berth at the Hambantota port on Tuesday, but declined to reveal details of talks with Colombo leading to the bankrupt island's government reversing its earlier stand to defer the high-tech vessel's entry.
With the commissioning of the much-delayed Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project expected by end of December 10, anti-nuclear activists are planning to lay siege to the facility on December 10 to press for scrapping the project.
Dr Kakodkar's strategic stubbornness ultimately got India what it wanted though the negotiations with the US went to the wire, notes Shivanand Kanavi.
Pakistan has a nuclear weapon stockpile of 110 to 130 warheads, a rise from an estimated 90 to 110 in 2011, a US think-tank said on Wednesday.
'It seems likely that the February 2019 crisis is over.'
A collection of some of the best photos from around the world in the last 24 hours.
Indian plants -- who plan to begin production with 28 nano metre chips -- will take two to four years to get off the ground. By that time, in the fast changing world of chip making, the global market would have shifted to 22 nm.
The presence of the private sector at a prestigious military training institution is an important acknowledgement of its growing capabilities in designing and manufacturing cutting edge aerospace and defence equipment, reports Ajai Shukla.
China on Tuesday said the activities of its high-tech research vessel will not affect the security of any country and should not be 'obstructed' by any 'third party', as the ship berthed at Sri Lanka's strategic southern port of Hambantota amid Indian and United States concerns.
The reversal of Trump's policy with regard to Iran, like the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, may not be a matter of just turning the clock back, but one of patient negotiations, with uncertain consequences in the post-COVID-19 world, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Top United States nuclear scientists have shockingly revealed in a report that Pakistan is enhancing its nuclear weapons and production capabilities.According to the report, which is yet to enter the public domain, Pakistan is readying a new nuclear capable ballistic missile for deployment and two nuclear capable cruise missiles. It is believed that this secretive and substantial arsenal build-up is targeted at India.
Rediff.com present a comprehensive listing of the nuclear nations and their collective and active stockpile.
We bring forth to our readers the list of nations sitting on a nuclear stockpile, based on the study findings:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday sought to address concerns of international community over India not signing the non-proliferation treaty by saying that the country's commitment to peace and non-violence is engrained in the "DNA of Indian society" which is above any international treaty or processes.
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 and Pakistan on Monday exchanged lists of their nuclear installations and facilities covered under an agreement of 1998.
It currently has between 140 and 150 nuclear weapons in its control and stockpiled around 200 to 300 kilogram of plutonium.
Russia has handed over the much-awaited nuclear-powered attack submarine Nerpa to India on a 10-year lease, boosting the Indian Navy's fire-power. The Akula-II class Nerpa nuclear submarine had recently finished sea trials.
'As far as Kashmir is concerned, a 'solution' was very much in play, and had brought endemic violence across the Jammu and Kashmir regions very much under control before the disruptive adventurism of the present regime resulted in a limited and localised escalation.'
Unless India agrees to open its military facilities to nuclear inspectors, sale of uranium by Australia to that country will be a breach of the federal government's obligations under the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty. "Australia would be in breach of the so-called Rarotonga Treaty, if India does not change its stand," Donald Rothwell of Australian National University said. The Rarotonga Treaty bans uranium sales to most countries.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Friday soft-launched imported COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V, with Deepak Sapra, a senior executive of the drug-maker, taking the first shot in Hyderabad.
Protesters attacked what they deemed to be US' disproportionate response -- the killing of 24 militiamen on Sunday in retaliation for the death of an American contractor on Friday.
'Well begun is half done, today there are more hits than misses by the Modi government in its support towards science in India,' says Pallava Bagla.
'The Chinese are only about 160-170 km behind.' 'It will not take much time for them to bring their troops back, considering that they have better infrastructure -- and the weather is now favourable.' 'They can move in much faster as the terrain favours them.'
Under fire for its handling of the atomic crisis at radiation-leaking Fukushima nuclear complex, the plant's operator on Sunday said it aims to stabilise the facility within six to nine months, as United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed unwavering support to tsunami-hit Japan during a solidarity visit to Tokyo.
Japan will freeze plans to build new atomic facilities and carry out a thorough review of its nuclear energy policy, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Monday, as robots engaged at the crippled Fukushima plant measured the new radiation level as "tough" for workers.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will review the damage caused to the plant on Tuesday.
'Hardliners who are against denuclearisation may be working secretly on North Korea's nuclear activities, despite official claims that dismantling its nuclear arsenal has already begun.'' 'Does it mean that Kim does not have full control over the military,' asks Dr Rajaram Panda.
At 1:23 am on April 26, 1986, operators in the control room of Reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power facility botched a routine safety test, resulting in an explosion, and a fire that burned for 10 days.
Japan's public has been lukewarm about the Games amid a resurgence in new coronavirus infections and worries that an influx of visitors may create a super-spreader event, straining an already-stretched medical system. Only around 20% of the population is fully vaccinated.
"This nuclear fuel is definitely for the development of Iran and expansion of peace in the world," Ahmadinejad said.
The spread of the Taliban in Pakistan has senior American officials concerned about the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, including the potential for terrorists to get their hands on a weapon in transport or to infiltrate laboratories and nuclear fuel-production facilities.
