Obama welcomes agreement by 65-nation Conference on Disarmament toward new arms control treaty

September 9th, 2009 MEXICO CITY - Noting that disarmament is back on the global agenda, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautioned Wednesday that the "world is over-armed and peace is under-funded". Ban opened a disarmament conference at the former convent of San Hipolito in central Mexico City, and said that there are more than 20,000 nuclear weapons around the world, and that many of them may even be activated any time.

September 9th, 2009 MEXICO - Mexico is hosting the 62nd Annual Conference of Non Governmental Organisations to focus on disarmament and nonproliferation of weapons of massive destruction. Experts from 70 countries are participating in the conference Sep 9-11.

July 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India and Germany Thursday held talks on non-proliferation issues and underlined their commitment to nuclear disarmament, officials said here. Germanys Commissioner for Disarmament and Arms Control Peter Gottwald met Vivek Katju, Special Secretary (Political and International Organisations) in the external affairs ministry, and held talks on a range of nuclear issues.

July 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India and Germany are set to step up dialogue on nuclear issues when the German pointsperson on arms control holds two-day talks with Indian officials beginning Wednesday. Germany's Commissioner for Disarmament and Arms Control Peter Gottwald will meet his counterpart Special Secretary Vivek Katju as well as Deputy National Security Advisor Shekhar Dutt and hold talks with them on a range of nuclear issues.

July 7th, 2009 NEW YORK - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday praised the new pact by the US and Russia to reduce by as much as a third of their nuclear arsenals, which was reached in Moscow between the leaders of the two countries. US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed Monday a Joint Understanding for a follow-on agreement to the Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START), committing themselves to reduce strategic warheads to a range of 1,500-1,675, and their strategic delivery vehicles to a range of 500-1,000.

July 6th, 2009 Obama, Medvedev agree to pursue nuclear reductionMOSCOW — President Barack Obama said he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are countering "a sense of drift" in relations between their nations with preliminary agreement Monday to reduce the world's two largest nuclear stockpiles to as few as 1,500 warheads each. "We must lead by example, and that's what we are doing here today," Obama said as he and his Russian host pointed their arsenals toward the lowest levels of any U.S.-Russia arms control agreement.

July 5th, 2009 US-Russia framework deal on arms control expectedMOSCOW — The White House said Sunday it expects President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to announce progress in negotiations that could lead to a new nuclear arms control treaty by the end of the year. Gary Samore, the president's coordinator for weapons of mass destruction, didn't offer any details on a possible agreement, but he said it will "register some progress." Obama is scheduled to arrive Monday in Moscow for two days of meetings.

June 11th, 2009 NEW YORK - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Thursday criticised North Korea for pursuing its nuclear ambitions and hampering the global campaign for nuclear disarmament. Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, said the nuclear test conducted by North Korea in May and subsequent launches of ballistic missiles ran counter to disarmament.

May 29th, 2009 Disarmament body steps toward nuclear talksGENEVA — The 65-nation Conference on Disarmament has taken a step toward negotiating a new nuclear arms control treaty after a dozen years of deadlock. Diplomats in Geneva welcomed the adoption of a "program of work" as a breakthrough for the conference.

May 29th, 2009 Arms body breaks 12 years of deadlock on nukesGENEVA — The 65-nation Conference on Disarmament broke a dozen years of deadlock Friday and opened the way to negotiate a new nuclear arms control treaty. Diplomats welcomed the adoption of a "program of work" as a breakthrough for the conference, which has been stalemated since it wrote the nuclear test ban treaty in 1996.

May 16th, 2009 NEW YORK - The world's five recognised nuclear powers Friday endorsed the review of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), stressing the importance of nuclear disarmament and treaty's obligations. The US, Russia, China, France and Britain, the five permanent UN Security Council members, jointly renew support for the NPT, which will come under a periodic five-year review in 2010.

May 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US and Russia are making progress towards a new nuclear disarmament treaty, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday as the one-time Cold War foes continue an effort to improve relations that have become strained over the last few years. Lavrov and Clinton said a new arms control treaty was the top priority for the two countries and insisted the talks would not be derailed by disagreements over other international issues, including the situation in Georgia and Iran's own nuclear programme.

May 6th, 2009 Obama: Tougher treaty to halt nuke weapons neededUNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama urged delegates at a U.N. meeting to strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty so it can deal with the threats of nuclear terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons.

April 24th, 2009 ROME - The first round of Russian-US consultations on a new strategic arms reductions treaty began here Friday. The Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START 1), signed in 1991, obliges Russia and the US to reduce nuclear warheads to 6,000 and their delivery vehicles to 1,600 each.

February 3rd, 2009 LONDON - US President Barack Obama is to convene ambitious arms reduction talks with Russia that could see both countries slash 80 percent of their nuclear weapons, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The radical treaty would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 each, The Times newspaper reported.