Iran nuclear deal talks: the key issues on the Vienna negotiating table

As talks resume, Iran and the signatories to the 2015 agreement face a web of sanctions to untangleA joint commission responsible for overseeing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is looking for a way for the US to rejoin the agreement – abandoned under Donald Trump – and lift its sanctions on Tehran, and for Iran to end its retaliatory breaching of the limits placed on its nuclear programme. Continue reading...
Tags: US, World news, Joe Biden, US foreign policy, Iran, Vienna, United Nations, Nuclear Weapons, Tehran, Donald Trump, Iran's Nuclear Programme, Iran Nuclear Deal

Biden is trying to derail China's effort to build the world's fastest supercomputer needed for unstoppable missiles

Military vehicles carry DF-17 missiles, a weapon armed with a hypersonic glide vehicle, during an October 1, 2019 military parade in Beijing. Thomas Peter/Reuters The US added seven China supercomputer entities to its economic blacklist. China is using supercomputers to speed up the development of hypersonic (unstoppable) missiles. The US is in a global arms race with China and Russia to build the most advanced hypersonic missile. See more stories on Insider's business page. The Biden...
Tags: Post, Politics, News, Washington Post, China, Russia, US, International, Trends, Joe Biden, Infrastructure, Nuclear Weapons, Supercomputer, Biden, Commerce Department, Department of Commerce

Democrats call for $1bn shift from weapons of mass destruction to 'vaccine of mass prevention'

Exclusive: Investing in Cures Before Missiles Act would stop funding on ballistic missile and help develop a Covid vaccineCongressional Democrats are introducing legislation to transfer $1bn in funding from a controversial new intercontinental ballistic missile to the development of a universal Covid vaccine.The Investing in Cures Before Missiles (ICBM) Act, introduced in the House and Senate on Friday, would stop funding on the proposed new missile, known as the ground-based strategic deterrent...
Tags: Senate, World news, US foreign policy, US news, House, Nuclear Weapons, Coronavirus

North Korea test fires two ballistic missiles in challenge to Biden

Projectiles are believed to have landed in the sea outside Japan’s exclusive economic zoneNorth Korea test fired two ballistic missiles early on Thursday, in the biggest challenge so far to Joe Biden’s attempts to engage the regime over its nuclear weapons program.The projectiles were launched on North Korea’s east coast and are believed to have landed in the sea outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, officials in Tokyo said. Continue reading...
Tags: South Korea, Japan, North Korea, Joe Biden, Asia Pacific, Nuclear Weapons, Tokyo, Biden, zoneNorth Korea

North Korea may have test fired ballistic missile, says Japan

Launch could be the regime’s first ballistic missile test of the Biden administrationSouth Korea’s military says North Korea has fired at least one unidentified projectile into its eastern waters, in what could be its first ballistic missile test during the Biden administration.South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday didn’t immediately provide further details about the launch. Continue reading...
Tags: South Korea, Japan, North Korea, Asia Pacific, Nuclear Weapons, Biden, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Biden administrationSouth Korea

North Korea has test fired two ballistic missiles, says Japan PM

Launches represent the regime’s first ballistic missile test of the Biden administrationNorth Korea test fired two ballistic missiles early on Thursday, Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has said, the first such mission to be carried out during the administration of Joe Biden.The projectiles were launched on North Korea’s east coast and are believed to have landed in the sea outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Tokyo officials said. Continue reading...
Tags: South Korea, Japan, North Korea, Joe Biden, Asia Pacific, Nuclear Weapons, Tokyo, Yoshihide Suga, Biden administrationNorth Korea

US dismisses North Korean missile launches as Biden says he’s open to talks

Biden officials say the two short-range test-fires launched over the weekend were not covered by UN Security Council resolutionsSenior Biden administration officials are playing down North Korean short-range missile launches last weekend, and saying the US president is still open to a dialogue with North Korea.Officials, who briefed reporters on the missile launches, said on Tuesday that they were on the low end of the spectrum and not covered by various UN security council resolutions. They sai...
Tags: South Korea, Japan, North Korea, US, World news, US news, Foreign Policy, Nuclear Weapons, UN Security Council, Biden, Jake Sullivan, Biden Administration

How the US considered helping France nuke its way out of an embarrassing military defeat

French Foreign Legion paratroopers land near Dien Bien Phu, March 16, 1954. ullstein bild via Getty Images In March 1954, French troops were in northern Vietnam for what commanders thought would be a decisive blow against the Viet Minh. By May, after weeks of brutal fighting, French forces surrendered, ending the battle of Dien Bien Phu and the French Indochina War. Western countries saw that war as essential to stopping the spread of communism, and the US was willing to take extreme actio...
Tags: UK, Congress, Navy, France, White House, China, US, International, Trends, Britain, Paris, Nuclear Weapons, Cambodia, National Security Council, Cia, Vietnam

The Guardian view on defence and foreign policy: an old-fashioned look at the future | Editorial

A reconsideration of Britain’s place in the world is necessary. But this paper fails to meet the challenges of the 21st century The integrated review offers a nostalgic – at times, even anachronistic – response to the challenges of the 21st century. Its intent is laudable: acknowledging that attempting to defend the status quo is not enough, and seeking to carve out a path ahead. It recognises the multiple threats that the UK faces – from future pandemics to cyber-attacks – and the need for seri...
Tags: Europe, Politics, UK, China, Russia, India, European Union, UK News, World news, US news, Britain, Military, Asia Pacific, US politics, South and Central Asia, Foreign Policy

Cap on Trident nuclear warhead stockpile to rise by more than 40%

Exclusive: Boris Johnson announcement on Tuesday will end 30 years of gradual disarmament Britain is lifting the cap on the number of Trident nuclear warheads it can stockpile by more than 40%, Boris Johnson will announce on Tuesday, ending 30 years of gradual disarmament since the collapse of the Soviet Union.The increased limit, from 180 to 260 warheads, is contained in a leaked copy of the integrated review of defence and foreign policy, seen by the Guardian. It paves the way for a controvers...
Tags: Politics, Russia, UK News, Britain, Military, Defence policy, Nuclear Weapons, Boris Johnson, Trident, China Continue

The Biden administration has been quietly trying to reach out to North Korea, but keeps getting ignored

A composite image of President Joe Biden and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Alex Brandon/AP; Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images Biden's administration has been trying to contact North Korea since mid-February, reports say. But North Korea has not responded to any of those attempts to talk, a US official said. Biden has not yet shared his policy on North Korea, which is still developing nuclear weapons. See more stories on Insider's business page. President Joe Biden's administratio...
Tags: Japan, Politics, New York, North Korea, White House, China, Singapore, Defense, US, Trends, Joe Biden, Cnn, Kim Jong Un, United Nations, News UK, Nuclear Weapons

Trident nuclear warhead numbers set to increase for first time since cold war

Defence and foreign policy review expected to signal rise, in move analysts say is diplomatically provocativeDowning Street’s integrated review of defence and foreign policy is expected next week to signal a potential increase of the number of Trident nuclear warheads for the first time since the end of the cold war.Whitehall sources indicated that a cap on total warhead numbers – currently set at 180 – is expected to increase, although the exact figure is not yet known, in a move that analysts ...
Tags: Politics, UK News, World news, Military, Foreign Policy, Defence policy, Nuclear Weapons, Trident, Whitehall, Non-proliferation treaty (NPT

'Cold war-era weapon': $100bn US plan to build new nuclear missile sparks concern

Scientists say the GBSD project is outdated and the result of lobbying rather than a clear sense of what it will achieveThe US is building a new $100bn nuclear missile based on a set of flawed and outdated assumptions, a new report by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) will say.The report, due to be published next week, will argue the planned ground-based strategic deterrent (GBSD) is being driven by intense industry lobbying and politicians from states that will benefit most from it ec...
Tags: China, Russia, US, World news, US news, US military, Nuclear Weapons, Federation of American Scientists FAS

France underestimated impact of nuclear tests in French Polynesia

Groundbreaking new analysis could allow more than 100,000 people to claim compensationFrance has consistently underestimated the devastating impact of its nuclear tests in French Polynesia in the 1960s and 70s, according to groundbreaking new research that could allow more than 100,000 people to claim compensation.France conducted 193 nuclear tests from 1966 to 1996 at Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls in French Polynesia, including 41 atmospheric tests until 1974 that exposed the local population, ...
Tags: Technology, France, Cancer, Environment, Nuclear Weapons, South Pacific, French Polynesia, Moruroa

Sorting the No 11 flat and our priorities | Brief letters

Nuclear weapons | Tottenham cake | Perseverance | Golf costs | Downing Street refurbishmentDespite the UK’s current budgetary crisis (Spend now, pay later: Sunak flags major tax rises as Covid bill tops £400bn, 3 March), major parties think it makes sense to spend at least £205bn on a new generation of nuclear weapons. They will be so non-independent that we have to borrow, from the US, the missiles on which to put the warheads. Bonkers is a bit rude, but nothing else comes to mind.Bruce KentVic...
Tags: Food, Cake, Politics, UK, US, Tottenham, Golf, Nuclear Weapons, Boris Johnson, Yemen, Carrie Symonds, Bruce KentVice, Martyn Day Twickenham London Continue

Here's where the 'nuclear football' came from and why it follows US presidents wherever they go

A US military officer carrying the "nuclear football" Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images Every American president since Eisenhower has been followed by a bag known as the "nuclear football." The briefcase was born from the Cold War belief the president needs to be able to order a launch in minutes. Much of the briefcase's contents are highly classified, but over its decades-long history, a lot has been learned. Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories. Wherever a US pre...
Tags: Politics, Congress, Washington Post, White House, Russia, Defense, Football, US, International, Trends, Joe Biden, Ap, Analysis, Fbi, Beijing, Ronald Reagan

How Green Berets prepared to carry 'backpack nukes' on top-secret one-way missions during the Cold War

A Green Light operator conducting a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump with the MK54 SADM. Courtesy photo During the Cold War, military planners wanted nuclear weapons they could use without sparking an all-out nuclear war. That led to the development of tactical nuclear weapons for use against military or military-related targets. Teams of Army Green Berets were trained to carry those nukes to their targets, which they saw as a one-way mission. Visit the Business section of Insider for...
Tags: South Korea, Europe, North Korea, Berlin, Halo, New York City, US, International, Trends, Aberdeen, Iran, Nato, Army, Poland, Nuclear Weapons, Pentagon

How a daring raid by Norwegian commandos kept the Nazis from building a nuclear bomb

National Archives of Norway/Wikimedia Commons In late February 1943, nine commandos set out of daring raid against the Germans in the Norwegian wilderness. Their mission, to destroy a plant producing heavy water, would fulfill one of the Allies' most important goals: Prevent the Nazis from building an atomic bomb. Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories. At 8:00 p.m. on February 27, 1943, nine Norwegian commandos trained by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) lef...
Tags: London, France, Germany, Nazis, US, International, Trends, British Army, World War Ii, Nuclear Weapons, Norway, Hitler, Soe, Special Operations Executive, Manhattan Project, Stuttgart

Trump's erratic presidency is the latest sign giving one person control of the nukes is 'dangerous,' experts say

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to Air Force personnel during an event September 15, 2017 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Alex Wong/Getty Images A congresswoman and former defense secretary recently argued the US needs a "no first use" policy for nukes. Trump's presidency shows the risks of giving a president total control over the nuclear arsenal, they said. Nuclear experts say the US should change the status quo, but military leaders disagree. Visit the Business section of Insider ...
Tags: Politics, Maryland, Congress, California, White House, Massachusetts, Russia, Defense, US, International, America, Trends, Reagan, Joe Biden, Fbi, United States

Iran nuclear deal: US agrees to join talks brokered by EU

Tehran yet to answer European invitation seeking reinstatement of 2015 agreement torn up by Donald TrumpThe US has agreed to take part in multilateral talks with Iran hosted by the EU, with the aim of negotiating a return by both countries to the 2015 nuclear deal that is close to falling apart in the wake of the Trump administration.The state department spokesman, Ned Price, said the US would accept the invitation of the EU high representative for discussions with Iran and the five other countr...
Tags: US, Eu, World news, US news, Iran, Middle East and North Africa, Nuclear Weapons, State Department, Tehran, Trump, Ned Price, Donald TrumpThe

Israel expands nuclear facility previously used for weapons material

Satellite images show significant expansion of desert site over past few yearsIsrael is carrying out a major expansion of its Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev desert, where it has historically made the fissile material for its nuclear arsenal.Construction work is evident in new satellite images published on Thursday by the Independent Panel on Fissile Material (IPFM), an independent expert group. The area being worked on is a few hundred metres across to the south and west of the domed react...
Tags: Israel, World news, Middle East and North Africa, Nuclear Weapons, Negev, Independent Panel on Fissile Material IPFM, Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, Dimona Continue

A NATO war game had the Soviet Union readying for nuclear war in a terrifying Cold War close call, new documents show

NATO forces during a 1983 military drill Marc DEVILLE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images New documents have offered insights into the 1983 incident that could have started a nuclear war. A routine NATO military exercise triggered a "war scare" and the Soviets were readying their forces for battle. The Soviets were making preparations for the "immediate use of nuclear weapons," the documents revealed. Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories. During the Cold War, the US and the Sovi...
Tags: Europe, US, International, Trends, West, United States, Nato, Nuclear Weapons, Archer, Nuclear War, Soviet Union, East Germany, Air Forces, Federation of American Scientists, US Russia, Kristensen

North Korea upgraded nuclear missile programme in 2020, says UN diplomat

Confidential UN report reveals Pyongyang was acting in violation of international sanctions North Korea maintained and developed its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes throughout 2020 in violation of international sanctions, said a UN diplomat with knowledge of a confidential report given to security council members on Monday.The report by independent sanctions monitors said Pyongyang “produced fissile material, maintained nuclear facilities and upgraded its ballistic missile infrastructur...
Tags: North Korea, Joe Biden, US news, Nuclear Weapons, Un, Kim Jong-un, Pyongyang

George Shultz obituary

Secretary of state to Ronald Reagan at the heart of moves to work with Mikhail Gorbachev to end the cold warMany politicians and diplomats from the 1980s lay claim to a pivotal role in ending the cold war, but the former US secretary of state George Shultz, who has died aged 100, had a better claim than most. And he was not shy in letting people know, as he did at length in his 1,184-page account of his years at the state department, Turmoil and Triumph (1993).When he became secretary of state i...
Tags: Russia, US, Cold War, Reagan, World news, US foreign policy, US news, Middle East and North Africa, US politics, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Nuclear Weapons, Iceland, Mikhail Gorbachev, State, Soviet Union

Castle Bravo: the chilling history of the 1954 US nuclear bomb test

As part of his Half-Life series, Kyle Hill looks at one of the most controversial moments in the history of nuclear weapons: the Castle Bravo atmospheric thermonuclear test detonated over Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. It was dubbed the "Second Hiroshima" by Japan and others outraged by the test. — Read the rest
Tags: Video, Japan, News, US, History, Nuclear Weapons, Castle Bravo, Kyle Hill, Global Thermonuclear War, Second Hiroshima

Putin signs last-minute extension to nuclear weapons treaty with US

Russian president spoke to Joe Biden earlier in the week about arms control pact due to lapse in FebruaryVladimir Putin has signed a bill extending the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States a week before the pact was due to expire.Both houses of the Russian parliament voted unanimously on Wednesday to extend the New Start treaty for five years. Putin and the US president, Joe Biden, had discussed the nuclear accord a day earlier, and the Kremlin said the...
Tags: Putin, Vladimir Putin, Russia, US, World news, Joe Biden, US news, United States, Nuclear Weapons, Kremlin, Donald Trump, FebruaryVladimir Putin

Biden expected to appoint nuclear deal architect as US Iran envoy

Obama-era diplomat Robert Malley will face task of repairing ties that worsened under Trump after withdrawal from nuclear pactThe Biden administration is expected name Robert Malley, a former top adviser in the Obama administration, as special envoy for Iran, according to multiple sources.Malley was a key member of former Barack Obama’s team that negotiated the nuclear accord with Iran and world powers, an agreement that Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 in the face of strong opposition from Washin...
Tags: Obama, Washington, Barack Obama, US news, Iran, Middle East and North Africa, Nuclear Weapons, Biden, Donald Trump, Iran's Nuclear Programme, Iran Nuclear Deal, Trump, Malley, Robert Malley, US Iran, Biden Administration

Nukes aren't just for bombers and subs. Here are some unusual ways militaries have also planned to drop the bomb

Hiroshima, Japan, shortly after the "Little Boy" atomic bomb detonated on August 6, 1945. Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images Throughout the Cold War, the prospect of bombers dropping nuclear bombs and submarines launching nuclear-tipped missiles terrified people around the world. Those were the major delivery methods, but both militaries developed an array of smaller nuclear weapons for tactical use, and planners in those militaries gave very real consideration to using them. V...
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Doomsday clock panel welcomes Biden win but keeps hands at '100 seconds to midnight'

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ measure of the world’s vulnerability to catastrophe, remains at 100 seconds to minuteThe election of Joe Biden could be a step towards a “safer and saner world” but the planet remains dangerously close to nuclear and climate change catastrophe, at “100 seconds to midnight” according to a panel of top scientists.The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the hands of its “Doomsday Clock”, a measure of the “world’s vulnerability to catastrophe”, had...
Tags: World news, Joe Biden, US news, Nuclear Weapons, Biden

North Korea diplomacy is only used to advance nuclear programme, says top US official

Washington’s top intelligence officer warns that Pyongyang is not intending to ‘find a way out’ of weapons developmentThe top US intelligence officer for North Korea has warned the country sees diplomacy only as a means to advance its nuclear weapons development, even as the new Biden administration says it will look for ways to bring Pyongyang back to talks.Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday the new administration planned a full review of the US approach...
Tags: Washington, North Korea, US, World news, Joe Biden, US news, Asia Pacific, Nuclear Weapons, Biden, Pyongyang, Antony Blinken