Addressing hundreds of Iranians who had gathered at the Azadi (Freedom) Square in capital Teheran on Thursday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran was now a "nuclear state" and had produced its first batch of 20 percent enriched uranium and could enrich up to 80 per cent.
However, government officials said the letter contained no details about any specific location of the second plant, or any other information that government agencies across the world would be interested in, The Daily Express reports.
In its latest bid to press Iran to halt its uranium production, the US is planning to impose strong and immediate new sanctions against Teharan that will target its elite Revolutionary Guards, the military force believed to run the clandestine nuclear weapons effort.
The chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission makes a case for nuclear energy saying all other forms of power gerenration will not be able to meet the country's staggering demand.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned to New Delhi on Tuesday after a three-day visit to Russia, during which the two sides signed a path-breaking civil nuclear agreement and three defence pacts. Dr Singh had met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday and discussed a wide range of issues, including terrorism. On Monday, the two sides signed a path-breaking civil nuclear agreement that will guarantee uninterrupted uranium fuel supplies.
India and Russia underlined their determination to deepen their "time tested" relationship on Monday, as they inked a path-breaking civil nuclear agreement that will ensure transfer of technology and uninterrupted uranium fuel supplies to its nuclear reactors and signed three pacts in the defence sector.
Trade between Australia and India stands at around $15 billion a year, or just a tenth of that between Australia and China.
India on Friday joined the United States in voting against Iran in a resolution passed by United Nations atomic watchdog IAEA censuring the Islamic nation over its controversial nuclear programme and demanding that it stop uranium enrichment.
The Washington Post said the deliberate act of proliferation was part of a secret nuclear deal struck in 1976 between Chinese leader Mao Zedong and Pakistan's then Prime Minister Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto.
"Iran is a self-sufficient country. If it decides to make a nuclear bomb, it will do that all right, sanctions or no sanctions," Vladimir Yevseyev said on the Ekho Moskvy radio.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in the Democratic People''s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for talks with top leader Kim Jong-il Sunday and said that he would pushing for the creation of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
In an unusual declaration ahead of the start of the G-20 Summit, Obama, flanked by President Nicholas Sarkozy of France and Premier Gordon Brown of Britain, announced they had detailed information that Iran is building a secret uranium enrichment facility near Qom, 160 km south of Tehran, for the past few years, which is not consistent with its energy needs.
With 47 per cent of Australians favouring Free Trade Agreement with India in a recent poll, the feasibility study by the two sides has revealed the agreement could boost Australia's GDP by AUD 45 billion in the next 20 years.
Pakistan is producing more bomb grade uranium for new generation of nuclear weapons, even while being racked by insurgency, raising questions on Capitol Hill whether billions of dollars in proposed US military aid could be diverted to its nuclear programme.
Within days of India approaching International Atomic Energy Agency for country-specific safeguards for nuclear power plants, the ministry issued advertisements in newspapers explaining what the uranium extracted energy can do to the nation's energy security. Energy-hungry India has a huge unmet power demand and the heavily subsidised diesel is being used as fuel to generate electricity.
State Department's Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey made this observation on Monday when asked whether the US has any concerns about Ahmadinejad proposed visit to New Delhi and whether there had been any message sent to India about the proposed meetings. Casey said it's up to every country to determine for itself how it's going to organise its bilateral relations.
Official sources said Kakodkar will meet Chief Minister Donkupar Roy and other government officials, besides conveying the Centre's views to the anti-mining groups, including political parties in the ruling coalition like the Hill State People's Democratic Party and Khun Hynnieutrip National Awakening Movement.
He said the country has all the capabilities it needs, it just needs opportunities now.
To the extent the nuclear race in West Asia is slowed down by the Iran nuclear deal, the world as a whole has reason to be happy, says Virendra Kapoor.
Delivering a public lecture on 'Evolving Indian nuclear programme: Rationale and perspectives' organised by Indian Academy of Sciences in Bangalore on Friday, he said the currently-known uranium resources in the country were enough for setting up nearly 10,000 MWe installed capacity pressurised heavy water reactors and the country will need to import nuclear reactors and the fuel to achieve energy security.
Russia has completed delivery of nuclear fuel for India's Kudankulam Atomic Power Plant, which is in its final stages of construction in Tamil Nadu. According to Russian nuclear energy industry Atomenergoprom's website, the nuclear fuel rods consisting of not more than 4.1 per cent uranium-235 have been delivered strictly under the IAEA guidelines and contractual obligations. The fuels will suffice for the physical launch of one reactor.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee left for New Delhi on Tuesday concluding his first visit to Australia during which both the sides inked treaties on extradition and mutual legal assistance and reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties including the possible sale of uranium to India.
"Australia wants to take the relationship with India to the front ranks of the partnerships we have," Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said at a joint press briefing with visiting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee after the agreements were signed in Canberra. The two countries agreed to further strengthen their relationship by forming a new body to hold yearly talks and by signing treaties to increase anti-terror efforts.
The sad part of the whole story was that, unlike China, India had no such serious security problems (it had a Friendship Treaty with the USSR) and that it violated a sacred trust by clandestinely using the Canadian reactor and American heavy water to make this weapon. Nothing damaged the NPT as much as the Indian nuclear explosion did, declares Dr A Q Khan
Iran is also defying UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment and is producing more powerful centrifuges, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a strongly worded report, which is bound to renew demands from the US and its western allies for tougher sanctions against Tehran. The report is yet to be released officially, but is said to accuse Iran of not providing all information, especially relating to 'high explosives testing' relating to nuclear programme.
An overall assessment of the Chinese civilian nuclear programme reveals that the objectives are well defined, the roadmap is clear, assistance from western countries is forthcoming readily and will be appropriately exploited to establish a strong, comprehensive indigenous capability. In contrast, India would appear to be behind in all the above aspects
The present offer is a third of Homeland Mining's initial valuation. GMR Energy, a part of GMR Infrastructure, had valued this coal mining firm at $310 million when it acquired a small stake in April 2008. "In our due diligence, we have found out that we had valued this firm much higher based on various factors such as how many layers one has to mine to access the worthwhile coal," a GMR Group official said.
Both the countries have formed a strategic partnership for setting up joint projects in construction, oil and gas, minerals and metallurgy. Besides, Kazakhstan will supply uranium to India for peaceful purpose.
Google.org announces it will help find ways to tap the heat under the earth's surface.
Canada will soon sign a deal with India to sell nuclear technology and uranium for civilian use, the country's International Trade Minister Stockwell Day has said.
The study conducted by G C Chowdhary, former professor at the Geology Department of Banaras Hindu University and S K Agarwal, also a professor of Geology, has shown that the drinking water in the University premises some other places in the city contains radioactive Uranium more than the recommended limit.
Russia and China on Friday signed a US$ one billion deal under which Moscow would build a nuclear fuel enrichment plant and deliver uranium to Beijing as the two strategic partners condemned the United States for its proposed missile defence plans.
In the 1980s, there were about 400 nuclear suppliers and 900 nuclear-certified companies in the US. These have shrunk to fewer than 80 suppliers and 200 certifications.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has unearthed a scam in the purchase of uranium extraction filters worth Rs 50 lakh by some senior officials of the public sector Indian Rare Earths Ltd, the investigating agency officials said. The CBI, which conducted raids on the official and residential premises of the IRE officials -- two general managers, two deputy general managers and one manager -- at Kalmaserry in Kerala, has seized several incriminating documents.
India on Monday asserted its "entire nuclear technology has been developed indigenously and action consistent with responsible behaviour."\n
Any form of entanglement with India or the US on the strategic plane will be anathema to Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa rulers, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A club of the world's leading nations is starting to look hollow without China - the fourth-largest economy in dollar terms, according to the World Bank
In a significant development, Australia on Tuesday promised to support the Indo-US civil nuclear deal in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and indicated its readiness to supply uranium to India.
Australia, in a bid to take a leading role in getting a global ban on nuclear weapons, may ask the non-Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty signatory nations like India and Pakistan to join its newly set up nuclear disarmament commission. "Australia, being the world's biggest uranium supplier with a track record of its engagement over a range of nuclear issues, is well-equipped to play some kind of leadership role here," said Gareth Evans, who will co-chair the commission.
"The Lampih area is extremely mineral rich," Assam government Spokesman and Health Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said, as he led a huge convoy through the dense forest and muddy slippery jungle track over a mountain to assert Assam's right over the disputed land and announce a slew of packages for 3,200 villagers who have to travel for six hours on horseback to reach the nearest road fit for motor vehicles.
