IRAN: Non-Western Big Powers Enjoy Growing Influence

Thursday's seven-party talks in Geneva on Iran's nuclear programme resulted in a breakthrough agreement on Russian enrichment of materials Tehran needs for nuclear-medical work.

POLITICS: New Doubt Cast on U.S. Claim Qom Plant is Illicit

An Iranian assertion that construction on its second enrichment facility began only last year and further analysis of satellite photos of the site have cast fresh doubts on the Barack Obama administration's charge that the construction of the plant near Qom involved a covert decision to violate Iran's obligations to report immediately to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on any decision to build a new facility.

POLITICS-US: Nukes Agency Pushes New Bomb Production

Despite statements by U.S. President Barack Obama that he wants to see the world reduce, and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration continues to push forward on a programme called Complex Modernisation, which would expand two existing nuclear plants to allow them to produce new plutonium pits and new bomb parts out of enriched uranium for use in a possible new generation of nuclear bombs.

POLITICS: U.S. Story on Iran Nuke Facility Doesn’t Add Up

The story line that dominated media coverage of the second Iranian uranium enrichment facility last week was the official assertion that U.S. intelligence had caught Iran trying to conceal a "secret" nuclear facility.

POLITICS: U.N. Chief Weighs in on Iran, Libya and Afghanistan

Addressing his monthly press conference Tuesday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon refused to back a Western endorsement of a premature election victory for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, implicitly criticised Libyan Leader Muammar el-Qaddafi for denigrating the U.N. charter, and faulted Iran for lack of transparency in its nuclear programme.

Q&A: 'Closer Now to a Nuke-Free World'

A world free of nuclear weapons is no longer utopia - it is a concrete possibility, says Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Buddhist association Soka Gokkai International (SGI).

MIDEAST: A Good Time Not to Make Peace

Most analysts agree that the past week of Middle East diplomacy has actually set back the cause of peacemaking. If they are right that the intensive U.S.-led effort has actually diminished prospects for a breakthrough towards Palestinian-Israel peace, who is to blame?

IRAN: New Nuke Charges Raise Stakes in Upcoming Talks

Charges by U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain Friday that Iran is building a secret underground plant to enrich uranium appear certain to heighten tensions just days before critical talks between Tehran and its three accusers, as well as Germany, China and Russia.

POLITICS: Obama Seeks U.N. Backing for Nuke-Free World

When Barack Obama chaired a summit meeting of the Security Council Thursday - a historic first for a U.S. president - his primary motive was to push for his ambitious, long-term agenda for "a world without nuclear weapons".

IRAN: Poll Finds Public Support for Nuke Power over Weapons

A poll released Tuesday shows that Iranians are still strongly in favour of continuing their government's nuclear programme, but are open to compromises which would permit uranium enrichment while allowing international inspectors access to ensure that no bomb-making activities are taking place if sanctions are dropped.

POLITICS: Nuclear Agency Demanding Iranian Missile Blueprints

Iran stopped meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency last year over Western allegations of covert Iranian nuclear weapons work because the nuclear agency was demanding access to the designs for its Shahab-3 missile and other secret military data, according to both Iranian and IAEA officials.

POLITICS: Libya’s Mercurial Leader Keeps U.N. Guessing

Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, who will be making his maiden appearance before the United Nations next week, has been described as a gadfly with a penchant for stirring up controversies.

POLITICS: Obama and Netanyahu Still Tussling over Priorities

As world leaders prepare to gather here for the all-star "general debate" at the U.N. General Assembly on Sep. 23, two of them - U.S. Pres. Barack Obama and Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu - are still tussling over whether to prioritise their anti-Iran campaign or the push for a Palestinian-Israeli peace.

U.S.: Obama Scraps Missile Defence in Czech Republic, Poland

In a move with potentially major strategic implications, U.S. President Barack Obama announced Thursday he is scrapping plans by the George W. Bush administration to deploy long-range-missile defence systems in Poland and the Czech Republic.

POLITICS: Libya Brings Focused Agenda to U.N. Presidency

Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya, the newly-anointed president of the 192-member U.N. General Assembly, hails from a country with a mostly radical and far-reaching political agenda.

POLITICS: IAEA Conceals Evidence Iran Documents Were Forged

The International Atomic Energy Agency says its present objective regarding Iran is to try to determine whether the intelligence documents purportedly showing a covert Iranian nuclear weapons programme from 2001 to 2003 are authentic or not. The problem, according to its reports, is that Iran refuses to help clarify the issue.

US-IRAN: War Drums Begin Beating in Washington

As nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West continue to move slowly, U.S. President Barack Obama is coming under growing pressure from what appears to be a concerted lobbying and media campaign urging him to act more aggressively to stop Iran's nuclear programme.

MIDEAST: Israel Taking Sharp Measures Over Iran

Questions about Iran's nuclear thrust are tumbling out, echoing around the world in several directions.

LATIN AMERICA: "The More Guns, the More Violence"

Traffic in light weapons and small arms is one of Latin America's major disarmament concerns, because they fuel urban violence, especially in countries like Mexico, Guatemala and Brazil.

POLITICS-US: Obama Struggles to Regain Early Momentum

The United States Congress returns to work Tuesday after a turbulent summer recess that has raised doubts over President Barack Obama's ability to face down domestic opposition from Republicans and enforce party cohesion on issues ranging from healthcare reform to troop commitments in the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan.

DISARMAMENT: Africa Joins the Nuclear-Free Club

Africa, the second-largest continent after Asia, has now become the world's largest nuclear-free zone comprising 53 countries with about a billion people. This means denuclearisation of one of the richest uranium producing regions.