Support
for a conference in 2017 to negotiate a treaty banning nuclear weapons
August 25, 2016. During the final session of the UN working group on nuclear disarmament
in Geneva this month, the following 107 nations expressed support for the
convening of a conference in 2017 to negotiate a legally binding instrument to
prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination. This
proposal formed the key recommendation in the working group's report, adopted
on 19 August with overwhelming support.
US
agreed to 'secret' exemptions for Iran after nuclear deal, think tank report
claims
The United States and its negotiating partners agreed "in secret" to
allow Iran to evade some restrictions in last year's landmark nuclear agreement
in order to meet the deadline for it to start getting relief from economic sanctions,
according to a new think tank report.
Australia
writes itself out of nuclear disarmament diplomacy
23 August 2016. On Friday at the United Nations in Geneva, Australian diplomats
called a vote they knew they would lose, split their already modest support
base in half, and enraged more than 100 other countries that had been ready to
agree to a painstakingly negotiated compromise. For its
trouble, Australia gained precisely nothing, and seriously damaged its credibility
and influence. If it sounds like a diplomatic train wreck, it was. What on
earth was going on?
Low-level radiation leak from Adelaide-built air warfare destroyer
LOW-LEVEL radiation has leaked from the hi-tech radar of the first air warfare destroyer being built in Adelaide in a $9 billion programme.