A three-day review conference on the nuclear test-ban treaty ended at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday, calling for early ratification by the US, China, Israel, Iran and seven other countries and stressing benefits of the pact for tsunami early-warning systems.
In a final declaration, participants from 117 countries said cessation of all nuclear weapon-test explosions and all other nuclear explosions "constitutes an effective measure of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in all aspects."
Progress
"We note that significant progress has been made in signing and ratifying the [Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty - CTBT] which has achieved near universal adherence," the declaration said.
But it also noted with concern that the pact has yet to come into force nine years after it was adopted.
The CTBT cannot come into force until it is ratified by the required 44 states which had nuclear research or power facilities when it was adopted in 1996.
Only 33 have done so. The US, the world's leading nuclear power, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, China, Iran, Israel and Vietnam are among the remaining 11 countries that have not ratified
Diplomats fear that unless key countries like the US and China come into the fold, the treaty may well collapse.
"There's no change in the position of the US," said UN Under Secretary General for Disarmament Affairs Nobuyasu Abe, noting that there was no expectation that Washington would ratify it in the near future.
"We call upon all states which have not yet done so, to sign and ratify the treaty without delay," the declaration said, echoing an appeal made by UN chief Kofi Annan at the opening of the conference on Wednesday.
"The longer entry into force is delayed, the greater the risk that someone somewhere will test nuclear weapons," Annan warned. "That would be a major setback for the cause of non-proliferation and disarmament."
Stressed
Participants also stressed the importance of building up an effective, global verification regime to ensure compliance with the treaty when it comes into force.
"We agree that in addition to its essential function, the CTBT verification system currently being built would be capable of bringing scientific and civil benefits, including for tsunami-warning systems and possibly other disaster-alert systems," the participants added.
A quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26 triggered huge waves that slammed into coastlines across the Indian Ocean, killing more than 270,000 people.
CTBT monitors detected the quake and immediately alerted both Indonesia and Thailand. Yet critics have accused countries of failing to act on the information quickly enough and not evacuating people from the coastlines.
The Vienna-based CTBT organization decided on March 4 to consider contributing to the tsunami-warning system.
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
FLYBY: The object, appears to be traveling more than 60 kilometers per second, meaning it is not bound by the sun’s orbit, astronomers studying 3I/Atlas said Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through the solar system — only the third-ever spotted, although scientists suspect many more might slip past unnoticed. The visitor from the stars, designated 3I/Atlas, is likely the largest yet detected, and has been classified as a comet, or cosmic snowball. “It looks kind of fuzzy,” said Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation. “It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail.” Originally known as A11pl3Z before