Japan marked the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the United States on Hiroshima

Hiroshima Japan marked the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the United States on Hiroshima, on Friday, with the United States was represented at the ceremony for the first time.Peace bell was rung at 8:15 pm local time, when atomic bombs were dropped by B-29 war plane Enola Gay on August 6, 1945, and tens of thousands of survivors are now elderly, children and the authorities do under one minute silence hot summer sun, as quoted from Reuters.

“Clearly, the urgency of the elimination of nuclear weapons will penetrate our global conscience,” Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said in a speech which was followed by the release of white pigeons.Hiroshima bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy”, which issued a mixture of very fast air waves caused by aircraft, heat rays and radiation, killing thousands of people instantly.

In late 1945, the death toll has risen to around 140,000 people from roughly 350 000 residents of the city. Thousands more people died due to illness and injuries later.Three days after the Hiroshima attack, on August 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki in southern Japan. Japan’s surrender six days later, ending the military aggression that has brought the country into World War II.

U.S., involved in disputes with Japan because of the relocation of a U.S. air base on the island of Okinawa in southern Japan, sent a representative to the ceremony for the first time, reflecting the encouragement of President Barack Obama on cleansing the world of nuclear weapons.”We want the nuclear disarmament and if the U.S. take the lead, other countries might follow his steps,” says Tomiko Matsumoto, people who survived the atomic bomb who is now 78 years old.

“First I hate them (United States), but the hatred (against USA) was gone. Now I want to see a peaceful world.”Obama, who received the Nobel peace prize last year in part because his vision of a nuclear free world, has signed a strategic arms treaty with Russia, April, involving former enemies in the Cold War was to reduce nuclear  with about 30 percent. “We see the new leadership of a very powerful country,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-mon at the ceremony. “We must maintain momentum.”

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that Japan, the only country ever to suffer nuclear attack, will lead other countries to realize a world without nuclear weapons.Japan have adopted their own prohibitions against the possession, production and letting nuclear weapons into the country, as part of post-war constitution which loves peace. Democrats in power, the military alert to the possibility of an increase in its giant neighbor China, has planned a review of its defense at the end of this year.(AFP)

Russia now says Iran sanctions ban S-300 air-defense missiles

MOSCOW The new U.N. sanctions prevent Russia from delivering S-300 air-defense missiles to Iran, a Kremlin official said Friday, in a reversal of the position announced by Russia’s Foreign Ministry the day before.The Kremlin statement was sure to please Israel and the United States, which have long urged Russia not to supply the powerful missile system. Russia signed a deal to sell the missiles in 2007, but has delayed their delivery.

The U.N. Security Council resolution passed Wednesday bans Iran from developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, investing in nuclear-related activities and buying certain types of heavy weapons. (AP)

new U.S.-Russian treaty to reduce long-range nuclear weapons

PRAGUE has agreed to host the signing of a new U.S.-Russian treaty to reduce long-range nuclear weapons, the Czech Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.The announcement is the clearest sign yet that Washington and Moscow are close to completing the deal on an accord to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, which expired in December.

Ministry spokesman Filip Kanda said that Prague agreed to host the signing of the accord by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when the negotiators reach a deal. He said negotiations have not been completed yet.

“As an ally, we have consulted with the U.S. side on an option for us to complete the signing when a deal is done,” Kanda said. “We’ve agreed,” he said.It was not clear if the plan for the signing ceremony had also been discussed with the Russian government.

The negotiations are still under way in Geneva. The treaty is likely to limit the number of deployed strategic warheads by the United States and Russia. Any agreement would need to be ratified by the legislatures of both countries and would still leave each with a large number of nuclear weapons, both deployed and stockpiled.

Both U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said following talks in Moscow last week that a deal was near – but not done.

The expired START treaty, signed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush, required each country to cut its nuclear warheads by at least one-fourth, to about 6,000, and to implement procedures for verifying that each side was sticking to the agreement.

The two sides pledged to continue to respect the expired treaty’s limits on nuclear arms and allow inspectors to continue verifying that both sides were living up to the deal.

Obama and Medvedev agreed at a Moscow summit in July to cut the number of nuclear warheads each possesses to between 1,500 and 1,675 within seven years as part of a broad new treaty.

For Obama, signing the treaty in Prague would be a symbolic return to the city where he outlined his nuclear agenda in April and declared his commitment to “a world without nuclear weapons” in a sweeping speech before a crowd of many thousands.(AP)

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev optimistic on arms deal with US

Dmitry Medvedev

MOSCOW Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that nuclear arms control talks with the United States required some give-and-take on both sides and voiced optimism that a deal would be reached soon.The agreement succeeding the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty has required painstaking work and tough negotiations, Medvedev said. He added that Moscow and Washington had failed to strike a deal by Dec. 5 when the START treaty expired because of the talks’ complexity.“The issue is very difficult,” he said in a live interview with the heads of Russian television stations. “It’s a treaty that would determine the parameters of the development and reduction of the strategic offensive potentials of the two largest nuclear powers.”Between them, the two countries control 90 to 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.At a summit in Moscow last July, President Barack Obama and Medvedev agreed to cut the number of nuclear warheads on each side to between 1,500 and 1,675 within seven years, as part of a broad new treaty.The 500-page START agreement contained a sprawling web of control measures seen as crucial for both nations to keep a wary eye on each other’s nuclear stockpiles. Russia now sees them as too intrusive and unnecessary.Medvedev said Thursday that both Moscow and Washington had to make some concessions in the arms control talks.Medvedev said that Obama’s call for a nuclear-free world is a “beautiful and right goal,” but added that movement toward it should be gradual and require other nations also to cut their nuclear arsenals.