Mayor of city where Little Boy atom bomb was dropped says nuclear deterrence is ‘folly’
Japan’s prime minister has hit out at Russian threats to use nuclear weapons as the country marked the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and 74,000 in Nagasaki three days later, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on the two Japanese cities days before the end of World War II.
Continue reading...Leader tightens grip over country’s military leadership with biggest shake-up in a decade
Two of China’s top generals overseeing its nuclear missiles have been replaced with scant explanation in the biggest shake-up of the country’s military leadership in a decade, underlining Xi Jinping’s commitment to tightening control over the armed forces.
Two men from outside the ranks of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) were appointed to head the unit, state media have reported. Wang Houbin, from the navy, was appointed as commander and Xu Xisheng, from the air force, its political commissar – a Chinese Communist party role of equal grade to military commander.
Continue reading...Pacific nation plagued by environmental effects of 67 bomb tests between 1946 and 1958, including Castle Bravo detonation in 1954
The foreign minister of the Marshall Islands has called for more US compensation over the legacy of massive US nuclear testing to enable the renewal of a strategic agreement governing bilateral relations.
Marshall Islanders are still plagued by health and environmental effects of 67 nuclear bomb tests from 1946 to 1958, which included Castle Bravo at Bikini Atoll in 1954 – the largest US bomb ever detonated.
Continue reading...Xi Jining reportedly warned Russian counterpart against using nuclear weapons on visit to Moscow in March
The Kremlin has denied a report that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, had personally warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
“No, I can’t confirm it,” Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Wednesday when asked about a Financial Times report that said Xi delivered the message when he visited Moscow in March.
Continue reading...Decision by UK and other European powers comes amid uncertainty over future of 2015 agreement
The UK and other European powers are expected to announce plans to breach the 2015 Iran nuclear deal for the first time when they confirm they are not going to lift sanctions on Tehran’s use of missiles this October as required in the agreement.
Donald Trump took the US out of the nuclear deal in 2018, but Germany, France and the UK remained inside the deal, even though Iran responded to the US walkout by breaching the agreed limits on the quality and quantity of enriched uranium. Iran is closer to producing weapons-grade uranium than ever before.
Continue reading...Several groups wrote to the Hiroshima city government asking it not to sign the agreement with US counterparts
Survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima have reacted angrily to an agreement that links the city’s peace park with a memorial in Pearl Harbor.
The sister-park agreement, signed this week by the US ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, and the mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui, is designed to promote peace and friendship between the former Pacific war enemies.
Continue reading...Robert Malley expects investigation ‘to be resolved favourably and soon’ in wake of inquiry reportedly assessing his handling of classified documents
The US special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, has said his security clearance is being reviewed and he is on leave in the meantime.
“I have been informed that my security clearance is under review. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favourably and soon,” Malley, a key figure in efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, told Reuters, Axios and CNN on Thursday. “In the meantime, I am on leave.”
Continue reading...One person killed and seven injured while clearing mud, officials say; Air raids reported in Lviv, Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that yesterday Russia shelled 19 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region, and that one person was injured in Orikhiv as a result. It cited the local authority. Zaporizhzhia is one of four Ukrainian regions that the Russian Federation claimed to annex late last year.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Continue reading...There are now an estimated 12,512 warheads across the globe, with most of the new ones in military stockpiles said to be China’s
The number of operational nuclear weapons in the arsenals of the major military powers is on the rise again according to a leading thinktank, whose analysts warn the world is “drifting into one of the most dangerous periods in human history”.
At a time of both deteriorating international relations and the escalation of nuclear sabre-rattling, there are now said to be an estimated 12,512 warheads globally, of which 9,576 are in military stockpiles ready for potential use, up 86 on a year ago.
Continue reading...Tokyo says any missile entering its territory will be destroyed as Pyongyang completes preparations to launch first military spy satellite
Japan’s military has said it will destroy any North Korean missile that violates its territory and is making preparations to do so, after Kim Jong-un’s regime told Tokyo it plans to launch a satellite between 31 May and 11 June.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, said any launch by North Korea, even if termed a satellite launch, affected the safety of Japanese citizens. “The government recognises that there is a possibility that the satellite may pass through our country’s territory.”
Continue reading...International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons wants Labor to send a ‘message to the region’ and sign and ratify a treaty to impose a ban on atomic weapons
Anthony Albanese is being urged to take a firm stand against nuclear weapons when he attends the G7 summit in Hiroshima this weekend.
The prime minister has been invited to attend the summit in Hiroshima, which along with Nagasaki was devastated by the US atomic bombing in the closing stages of the second world war.
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Continue reading...Ukraine and China’s Taiwan ambitions are expected to dominate summit discussions, but Fumio Kishida will have a powerful backdrop
The war in Ukraine and Chinese aggression towards Taiwan will dominate G7 discussions this week, but host Fumio Kishida is expected to carve out time to push for a pledge on nuclear weapons when leaders meet in Hiroshima, the first place on Earth targeted by an atomic bomb.
The leaders began to arrive on Thursday, ahead of an expected visit on Saturday to the city’s Peace Memorial Museum, which contains exhibits showing the scale of the tragedy that unfolded after the US dropped a nuclear bomb on the morning of 6 August 1945, killing 140,000 people by the end of the year.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Letter calls on US and Russia to isolate weapons agreements from other disputes
A global array of former world leaders and defence ministers, nuclear experts and diplomats have called on the leaders of G7 countries at their meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, not to let progress on nuclear arms control continue to be the victim of growing geopolitical conflict, including the conflict between the west and Russia over Ukraine.
The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, who is from Hiroshima, chose the G7 venue to lend seriousness to his personal call to world leaders to at least agree a roadmap to resume nuclear arms control talks.
Continue reading...Kim Yo-jong’s broadside came after US and South Korea enhance nuclear cooperation and Biden warns Pyongyang an attack would end the regime
The powerful sister of North Korea’s leader has said her country will stage more displays of military might in response to a new US-South Korean nuclear deterrence agreement and compared Joe Biden’s comments about it as a “nonsensical remark from the person in his dotage”.
Kim Yo-jong’s broadside came after Biden attended a summit with the South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, on Wednesday. The US president said later that any North Korean nuclear attack on the US or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime” took such action.
Continue reading...Yoon Suk-yeol meets Joe Biden in Washington amid concerns in South over North’s nuclear buildup
The US and South Korea have reaffirmed their alliance, agreeing that nuclear-armed submarines would resume port visits and threatening a “swift, overwhelming and decisive response” to any North Korean nuclear attack, including retaliation in kind by the US.
The South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, said that response would include US nuclear weapons, making explicit an element of the alliance that normally remains unspoken.
Continue reading...Officials ready for nuclear threats and cyber-attacks as part of Russian response to predicted counter-offensive
Western leaders are preparing for Vladimir Putin to use “whatever tools he’s got left” including nuclear threats and cyber-attacks in response to an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russia.
British officials at the G7 foreign ministers’ summit in Japan said they were expecting Russia to retaliate and “must be prepared” for extreme tactics as it attempted to hold on to Ukrainian territory.
Continue reading...Global director general says ‘state of in-limbo cannot last longer’, with about 40 citizens still believed to be detained indefinitely
Australia and other countries must continue to rescue their citizens from “dire” conditions in camps in north-eastern Syria, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.
The global director general of the Geneva-based humanitarian organisation, Robert Mardini, said the “state of in-limbo cannot last longer”.
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Continue reading...US defence department releases statement saying object was used in training after photo emerged of military inspection
The Pentagon has said that a picture that featured in a report by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) on Monday about apparent damage to a US nuclear bomb at a Dutch airbase was a dummy weapon used for training emergency response teams.
FAS published a photograph of a B61 bomb being inspected for damage by US soldiers, including two from an explosive ordnance disposal unit, and a civilian. The rear of the bomb appears to have been twisted by an impact and one of the tail fins is missing. There is pink sticky tape covering an apparent hole.
Continue reading...As it happened: US government ‘keenly, strongly, closely’ tracking Evan Gershkovich’s detention; IAEA chief Rafael Grossi expected to visit on Wednesday
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass is reporting an explosion in occupied Melitopol. It reports the city administration said a car was blown up in the city centre, and that one person was injured.
The Telegram channel of the Russian-imposed authority in the city has named the injured person as Maxim Zubarev, the head of the occupying authority in the Yakymivka settlement in the region. This is unconfirmed.
Continue reading...Although Alexander Lukashenko has agreed to host nuclear bases little construction work seems to have started
Like a lot of what Vladimir Putin says about nuclear weapons, his suggestion that Russia would start storing its bombs in Belarus may add up to less than it appears.
In February last year, Putin said he was putting Russia’s nuclear arsenal on high alert, but there was no perceptible change in the country’s nuclear posture, or any unusual movements of its weapons.
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