More than a dozen nations held talks yesterday on strengthening an international agreement on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.
No breakthroughs were immediately announced after the first meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation, a joint Australia-Japan venture that brings together officials from the world’s major nuclear powers and other interested countries.
Former diplomats and senior officials from 15 countries taking part in the forum will hold a second day of talks today.
The commission was announced by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on a visit to Japan in June. He said at the time its purpose would be to restore and strengthen fragmenting support for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
TREATY REVIEW
The group aims to influence a review of the treaty that is due in 2010.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said his country hoped to raise the profile of the nonproliferation issue and eventually to help rid the world of nuclear weapons.
US-INDIA DEAL
Former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans and former Japanese foreign minister Yoriko Kawaguchi co-chaired the first meetings of the commission.
One topic of note for the commission is a US nuclear accord with India that will reverse three decades of US policy barring the sale of nuclear fuel to countries that have not signed the treaty.
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
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