The United States and Pakistan are heading towards a confrontation as the Obama administration is preparing to pursue Islamabad to halt the production of nuclear bomb materials by forcing it to sign the Fissile Material Cut off Treaty, a media report said on Friday.
It is important to protect fissile material from extremists in Pakistan more than nuclear bombs because the latter has multi-layer security unlike the former, a senior Pakistani nuclear expert said on Saturday.
Protesting against the NSG waiver to India, Pakistan today blocked negotiations on Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), describing the move as "discriminatory" that will help New Delhi stockpile bomb- making nuclear materials.
'Once the military starts to draw up plans for using nuclear weapons, then nuclear weapons could be used earlier in a crisis than otherwise.'
At the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul the focus is on countering nuclear terrorism, strengthening nuclear security and ensuring that nuclear material does not fall in the wrong hands.
Vajpayee had always felt that India must act with conviction and panache. He decided that, irrespective of the attendant risks, he would undertake what many felt was a precarious course. A fascinating excerpt from N K Singh's Portraits Of Power: Half A Century Of Being At Ringside on Atalji's 96th birthday, December 25.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying said China-Pakistan cooperation is in accordance with the 48-member nuclear club, which supervises global nuclear commerce.
United States President Barack Obama on Tuesday warned that the threat of nuclear weapons remains a challenge as there are still "too many bad actors in search of these dangerous materials", asserting that the world's security depends on the actions that the global community takes.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his remarks after discussions with US President George W Bush, said "For 34 years, India has suffered from a nuclear apartheid. We have not been able to trade in nuclear material, nuclear reactors, nuclear raw materials. And when this restrictive regime ends, I think a great deal of credit will go to President Bush."
Canada is considering the proposed exemption for India from the Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines. The exemption will allow India to import nuclear material and technology under the India-United States civilian nuclear agreement. As a member of NSG, Canada gets a vote on whether to accept an agreement between the US and India to resume trading of civilian nuclear technology and material.
A Pakistani national pleaded guilty on Friday before a United States court to charges of illegally exporting nuclear-related material to restricted entities back home, Justice Department said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to raise pitch at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington for strong commitments by individual countries and firm responses by international community against proliferation, amid fears about terrorists gaining access to atomic material.
The annual audit of nuclear material at all of Britain's civil nuclear plants is expected to reveal that the quantity of plutonium at Sellafield was classified as "material unaccounted for" last year, The Times said.
'In 1999, Gen Musharraf sent me along with Gen Iftikhar, who was the then chief of Air Defense Command. We were fighting India at Kargil, and we were in dire need of anti-aircraft missiles. Musharraf said we could purchase the missiles from North Korea. We went to North Korea and purchased 200 missiles from them.'
'India must close the missile technology gap with both China and Pakistan as early as possible, or else the credibility of India's nuclear deterrence will remain suspect,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
To avoid the kind of nuclear disaster that has happened in Japan, Professor Dirk Matten of the Schulich School of Business, York University, suggests that India should rely more on coal-fired energy generating plants and energy efficiency, instead of going for nuclear reactors in a big way.
US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet in Washington on Sunday, during which the two leaders will discuss the civil nuclear deal and other bilateral and regional issues.
In its 28-page report, the CRS noted that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking military action against it, but Islamabad's expansion of its nuclear arsenal, development of new types of nuclear weapons and adoption of a doctrine called "full spectrum deterrence" have led some observers to express concern about an increased risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India, which also continues to expand its nuclear arsenal.
The worst terror attack in Iran this century occurred when Iranians marked the fourth anniversary of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander General Qassem Soleimani's death. Soleimani was killed by a US drone on January 3, 2020.
The cargo on board the suspect North Korean vessel MV Mu San will be off loaded in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh on Sunday and searched for any suspect material onboard. Sources said central security agencies and nuclear scientists will conduct a thorough investigation to check if the ship is carrying any radioactive and nuclear material. The 39-member crew of the ship, its North Korean captain Yun Jong Sun, would be questioned by the authorities at the port itself.
Taking cognisance of the threat of nuclear terrorism, 47 countries, including India, have vowed to prevent non-state actors from obtaining information or atomic technology and effectively cooperate globally to advance security in the field.
India had enough weapons-grade plutonium by 2014 to possess an estimated arsenal of 75 to 125 nuclear weapons, according to a prominent US-based think-tank.
After critically examining the ship 'M V Mu San' at Kakinada port, a team of scientists from Kalapakkam nuclear centre concluded that they found no 'CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear) traces' from the ship, which was detained by the Coast Guard off the Andaman waters in the first week of last month, official sources said in New Delhi.
Maryland-resident Nadeem Akhtar, 46, and his conspirators used a US-based company to obtain and export radiation detection devices, resins for coolant water purification, calibration and switching equipment, attenuators and surface refinishing abrasives to Pakistan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented India's Action Taken Report at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul on Tuesday morning. This is what he said:
Even though the civilian nuclear agreement between Canada and India was signed in Toronto on June 27 in the presence of Canadian Prime Ministers Stephen Harper and his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh, the Canadian companies do not have any authorisation as yet to export uranium or other nuclear materials to India.
After a day-long search of a Malta-registered ship following an anonymous call that it contained radioactive material, authorities allowed it to anchor inside the Chennai port. on Friday, as they found "no apparent radioactivity" in the vessel.
'We are relying on the understanding of other partners in this effort. We are asking people to look closely and quickly in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, to move expeditiously, and we hope that will happen, and then we'll go to the US Congress,' Boucher was quoted as saying last week in Japan, a transcript of which has been released in Washington.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday embarked on a visit to the United States to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, where he is expected to pitch for firm response to the challenges of proliferation and the possibility of terrorists gaining access to nuclear material. During the eight-day visit, Dr Singh will also travel to Brazil to attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China and India-Brazil-South Africa summits.
Noting that the 123 Agreement between India and the US reflected deepening relationship between the two countries, top Obama Administration officials have said that it would have broader impact in the Indo-US ties.
Cautioning about the growing risk of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists or extremists, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said that all countries must ensure that dangerous hands are denied atomic material and technology.Underlining that India has no intention to engage in an arms race with anyone, Singh said New Delhi is "fully committed to nuclear disarmament that is global, universal and non-discriminatory in nature."
The seized North Korean ship was inspected for the second time on Monday, for any trace of nuclear material after it reached Kakinada port in Andhra Pradesh. During its preliminary probe, a team of nuclear scientists from Kalapakkam ruled out prima facie any existence of any "CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear) traces" in the ship.
'Only when India's adversaries are convinced that India has both the necessary political and military will and the hardware to respond to a nuclear strike with punitive retaliation that will inflict unacceptable loss of human life and unprecedented material damage, will they be deterred,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
"Every country, whether it be India, United States, other country, could be potentially part of this small network of countries where terrorists can obtain material or expertise," said a senior US official.
All of Pakistan's existing nuclear power generation plants are under IAEA safeguards.
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Strongly hitting out at Pakistan for again raking up the Kashmir issue at the United Nations, India has said a constructive contribution cannot be expected from a country that has an established practice of hosting terrorists and is the "epicentre" of global terrorism, and the biggest destabilising force in the world.
Canada and India are optimistic about reaching a deal that could open the door for the Canadian industry to export nuclear reactors to New Delhi for the first time in over three decades, media reports said in Toronto on Wednesday. Industry representatives say that it is clear that the Canadian government is waiting for the ratification of the IndoUS agreement before moving forward with a new deal. Canada severed its nuclear ties in 1974 after India detonated a nuke weapon.
The bill clearly states what is required of India.
Pakistan military has appointed Lt Gen Zubair Mahmood Hayat as the new chief of the Strategic Plans Division, which manages and secures the country's nuclear arsenal.
Cyber terror is the new danger that haunts cops, says security analyst B Raman
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