2 September 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: ITAR-TASS World Service

HIROSHIMA, September 2 (Itar-Tass) — Issues of nuclear disarmament and specifics of the work of two-chamber systems are the main issues of a summit of the parliamentary G8 underway in Hiroshima. The heads of the lower houses of the parliaments of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia, the United States, France and Japan will hold on Tuesday the main part of the discussion the results of which will be summarised at a press conference by Japanese speaker Yohei Kono presiding at the meeting. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

2 September 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: States News Service

The following information was released by the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi released this statement at the conclusion of the G8 Speakers’ Conference held in Tokyo and Hiroshima, Japan, August 31 to September 2. In addition to formal sessions, Pelosi and the other G8 members met with His Majesty Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Climate Change, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

1 September 2008
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• Source: ITAR-TASS World Service

TOKYO, September 1 (Itar-Tass) —— A meeting between the speakers of the lower houses of parliaments of the G8 states will open in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Monday. The speakers are expected to discuss peacekeeping issues.

“In this part (of debates – Itar-Tass) the discussion on the events in the Caucasus is quite possible,” the chairman of the State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs, Konstantin Kosachyov, who is accompanying Russian State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, told Itar-Tass. This issue has already been raised at the Sunday bilateral talks between Gryzlov and his Japanese counterpart Yohei Kono, who chairs the meeting. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under East-West Relations and Russia, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

28 August 2008
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• Author: Alexander Osipovich, Alexander Osipovich

Russia on Thursday tested an inter-continental missile, heightening tensions with the West as France said the European Union could impose sanctions on Moscow over the Georgia conflict.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, East-West Relations and Russia, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Regional Security, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

7 August 2008
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• Author: Indrani Bagchi
• Source: The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Japan is likely to swallow its non-proliferation reservations in the interests of a broader and deeper relationship with India as the Indo-US nuclear deal heads towards the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

7 August 2008
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• Author: Farhad Pouladi
• Source: Agence France Presse

The UN atomic watchdog’s number two was in Tehran on Thursday for a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear drive as Western governments said the time had come for the Security Council to impose more sanctions.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

7 August 2008
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• Author: Praful Bidwai
• Source: Inter Press Service

NEW DELHI — Two potential stumbling blocks are threatening to block India and the United States’ efforts to secure exemptions for their nuclear cooperation deal from the tough export rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

5 August 2008
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• Source: Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies

NEW DELHI, Aug. 5 Kyodo - Japan called for India’s support on Tuesday for a target of halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but India made it clear it is difficult to accept a long-term target as developed and developing nations have different responsibilities. The request was made during talks between Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura and his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi. Japan, which holds this year’s Group of Eight presidency, is eager to convince India, one of the world’s major emitters, to agree to the 2050 target and to join a post-2012 global framework. The G-8 summit in July agreed to seek other nations in the world to ‘’share'’ the goal of halving emissions. At Tuesday’s meeting, Komura also said Japan plans to provide 104.7 billion yen worth of low-interest loans to India for subway and road construction, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Climate Change, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

27 July 2008
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• Source: Business Today

A former wrestler, who has been floored several times in the political arena, Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav suddenly appears to have found redemption for his sagging political fortunes, which were being singed by UP Chief Minister Mayawati. From his defeat in the UP Assembly elections in 2007 to becoming the toast of the Congress Party, Yadav has shown that even in his 69th year, he has lost none of his Machiavellian political instincts that have seen him rise every time he has been down. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

22 July 2008
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• Author: Janice Tang
• Source: Kyodo News

SINGAPORE, July 22 — Food and energy security, economic conditions and political concerns such as Myanmar and a Cambodian-Thai border row will top the agenda when foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN nations begin a series of annual talks Tuesday with their counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea and other key dialogue partners in Singapore.

Meanwhile, an expected flurry of diplomacy on the sidelines among the six nations involved in talks on North Korea’s denuclearization will also be in the spotlight, including a number of bilateral meetings among the respective ministers before they gather for a six-way informal meeting that may take place Wednesday. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Democratization and Human Rights

22 July 2008
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• Author: Janice Tang
• Source: Kyodo News

SINGAPORE, July 22 — Foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN nations and their counterparts from China, Japan and other key dialogue partners agreed Tuesday on the need to improve crop productivity in the region to overcome the looming food crisis and create a mechanism to deal with rapidly growing energy consumption amid soaring fuel prices. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, The Environment, Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Regional Security

20 July 2008
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• Source: The Hindu

If the 123 Agreement is not bound by the overarching Hyde Act, then what else is its purpose?

“At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom…” Thus spoke Nehru at midnight on August 14, 1947. Sixty-one years later, as India slept in the wee hours of July 9, 2008, the Congress-led government bartered away our sovereignty in the Japanese scenic town of Tôyako. On the sidelines of the G-8 summit, the repudiation of the Nehruvian principles of foreign policy found its culmination before the American President George Bush, with the brokering of the nuclear deal. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

17 July 2008
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• Author: Raghavendra
• Source: The Press Trust of India Limited

China today for the first time hinted that it might not raise any objections when India’s case for exemption to conduct nuclear commerce comes up before the IAEA in moving forward the Indo-US nuclear deal.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

15 July 2008
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• Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

Tokyo, Kyodo - Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura will attend the foreign ministerial talks in Singapore next week with ASEAN, China and South Korea as well as a regional security meeting, but has no plans to meet on the sidelines with his North Korean counterpart, the ministry said Tuesday. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Climate Change, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

14 July 2008
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• Source: Jiji Press English News Service

Lower house speakers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations will hold talks in Hiroshima, western Japan, on Sep. 1-2.

The meeting, first held in 2002, will be the seventh of its kind and the first to be hosted by Japan. (more…)

Filed by Sarah Cale under Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

13 July 2008
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• Author: Mark Franchetti
• Source: The Sunday Times

RUSSIA is thinking of aiming nuclear weapons at western Europe for the first time since the end of the cold war, according to defence sources in Moscow.

The move is being considered in response to American plans to develop a defence shield against missiles from Iran and other countries.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, East-West Relations and Russia, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

13 July 2008
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• Source: ITAR-TASS World Service

Democrat Senator from the Illinois State Barack Obama who has virtually insured his right to run for the US presidency from the Democratic Party, opposed an idea of striking out Russia from the eight industrialised nations of the world.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Other, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

11 July 2008
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• Source: Nikkei Report

During Tuesday’s working dinner at the Group of Eight summit at the Lake Toya resort in Hokkaido, which featured dishes prepared with fresh fish caught off Hokkaido as well as discussions on political issues, the leaders of the eight most powerful nations plunged into heated debate over the issue of nuclear proliferation. (more…)

Filed by Marianne Madeline Lau under Climate Change, Energy and Nuclear Safety, Terrorism, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

10 July 2008
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• Author: Surinder Arora
• Source: UNI (United News of India)

After securing the support of US President George Bush for pushing India’s civil nuclear agreement with the United States through the IAEA and the NSG, India scored a sixer by getting the support of the world’s eight powerful economies with the G-8 countries also deciding to adopting a “more robust” approach to the agreement to enable India meet its growing energy needs. ‘’We look forward to working with India, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and other partners to advance India’s non-proliferation commitments and progress so as to facilitate a more robust approach to civil nuclear cooperation with India to help it meet its growing energy needs in a manner that enhances and reinforces the global non-proliferation regime,'’ the Chair’s Summary released at the end of the G8 summit said here. The statement came after a successful bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President in Toyako, Japan on the sidelines of the G8 summit. The G8 is made up of US, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia. Briefing the media on board the Prime Minister’s special plane on way home to Delhi, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said,” All G8 leaders are on board(the Indo-US nuclear deal).” Asked if their decision to cooperate with India on the deal meant they are committed to it, he replied with a categorical yes. But he declined to say if securing G8 support to the nuke deal was her biggest takeaway from the summit of world’s rich nations because they deliberated on several other important issues like the fuel and food crisis, financial imbalance in the world markets and climate change. Lending weight to Menon, National Security Advisor M K Narayana said response of all G-8 countries to India’s nuclear deal with the US was “positive”. On Australia’s response in view of its flip-flop on the supply of uranium to India, Narayanan said the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was also ” extremely positive” during his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister on the margins of the G-8 summit. But at the same time, he added, ‘’there is no deficit of uranium (in the country).'’

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

10 July 2008
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• Author: Najmeh Bozorgmehr
• Source: Financial Times

Iran yesterday test-fired ballistic missiles in an exercise officials said was designed to show how the country could retaliate against a US or Israeli attack, state television reported.’
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

10 July 2008
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• Author: Surinder Arora
• Source: UNI (United News of India)

Having secured the support of Group of Eight leaders of the major economies of the world for India’s civil nuclear agreement with the United States, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned home early today to face political divide and a possible trust vote in Parliament on the issue. Chair of the G8, in a summary report after the conclusion of the three-day summit in Toyako, Japan, last evening, said ‘’We look forward for working with India, the IAEA, the NSG and other partners to advance India’s non-proliferation commitment and progress so as to faciliate a more robust approach to civil nuclear cooperation with India to help it meet its growing energy needs in a manner that enhances and reinforces the global NPT regime.'’ Earlier, unfased by the Left parties withdrawal of support to his government, the Prime Minister said in Japan that India’s relationship with the United States ‘’has truly acquired the characteristic of a genuine strategic partnership.'’ In a statement made after his 50-minute bilateral meeting with US President George W Bush on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Toyako, the confident PM said ‘’We have (made) progress in nuclear cooperation, space cooperation, defence cooperation and educational exchanges.'’

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

10 July 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: The Press Trust of India Limited

Russia today declared that it has means to rebuff the potential threats posed by the planned US missile shield in Central Europe and ensure national security.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Conflict Prevention and Human Security

9 July 2008
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• Source: SBS World News Headline Stories

Iran has warned it will “set fire” to Israel and US forces in response to any attack over its nuclear drive, as the world’s leading industrial powers told Tehran to freeze uranium enrichment.

Leaders of the Group of Eight nations at a summit in Japan urged Iran to fully comply with UN Security Council resolutions “in particular to suspend all enrichment-related activities”. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Regional Security

9 July 2008
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• Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

Toyako, Japan (Kyodo) - The following is the full text of the chair’s summary released Wednesday by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda after the three-day Group of Eight summit was wrapped up.

Chair’s Summary Hokkaido Toyako, July 9, 2008 We met at Hokkaido Toyako to address key challenges we face today. We adopted the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit Leaders Declaration and three independent statements on Global Food Security, Counter-Terrorism and Zimbabwe. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, Multilateral Trade, Development, Climate Change, Health and Infectious Disease, Terrorism, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD, Democratization and Human Rights

9 July 2008
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• Author: Wang Jingzhong and Bao Erwen
• Source: Xinhua News Agency

TOYAKO, Japan (Xinhua) — In spite of demonstrating their resolve to tackle the world’s most pressing issues by releasing a series of statements, the Group of Eight (G8) once again stopped short of pledging immediate and concrete action instead of words, to the disappointment of many.

While it is a positive sign the leaders are hammering home their determination to tackle the issues, the G8 nations, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the world economy, should turn their words into action, analysts say. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, Climate Change, Terrorism, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD