NUCLEAR WEAPONS

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton embarked on a four-day visit to Asia on Tuesday amid publication of classified US State Department cables by WikiLeaks that continued to make headlines around the world.

The Obama administration has been left red-faced by disclosures made by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks pertaining to French president Nicholas Sarkozy that describes him as an “emperor without clothes”, Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as ‘Hitler’ and Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin as an “Alpha Dog”.

Wikileaks' latest spill, dubbed the 'Cablegate', shows that the world, especially the MIddle East fears Iran. But there are very strong strategic factors that help the country survive.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that the documents published by whistle-blower website Wikileaks were released intentionally by the U.S. administration. In an interview to the state-run Press TV Ahmadinejad maintained that the documents would not impact the country's relations with other Arab governments.

Twin blasts in Tehran killed a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist while another sustained injuries on Monday. In separate assassination attempts, bombs were placed under their cars. State media held Israeli intelligence agents for their death.

The year 2010 was not good for Google in China and the hacking was, indeed, part of a sabotage attempt carried out with help from the government quarters, reveal the classified U.S. documents released by Wikileaks on Sunday. China to Germany, US diplomacy generally smacks of quid-pro-quo dealings, as ever.

North Korea's fire power and military might foil South's attempts to tame the communist regime, by all odds.

It’s now as plain as the beard on Lincoln’s chin. The Republican Party that Honest Abe helped to found – that is, in its current Limbaughian form -- does not give a hoot about American global security. All it wants to do is remove Barack Obama from the White House, and it does not care if its actions – that is, its inaction – wrecks the painstakingly constructed goodwill between the U.S. and Russia and pushes the entire world back toward the shadow of possible nuclear annihilation.

South Korea is considering redeploying U.S. tactical weapons in the country in response to North's fresh nuclear activity. Defense minister Kim Tae-young suggested that the plan could be proposed to Washington at the Extended Deterrence Policy Committee meeting scheduled for next month.

United States' top envoy on North Korea, on Monday, stated that the evidence of a new North Korean nuclear plant was provocative. But, he also toned down the fears that the region was on the brink of a nuclear crisis.

The U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned two North Korea companies for being controlled and used by a secretive branch of the North Korean government for illicit activities.

President Obama, last Saturday in Japan, reiterated his administration’s commitment to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to get the new START Treaty approved by the lame-duck U.S. Senate before the year is out.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is planning an official visit to Israel in January next year, the Haaretz reported on Wednesday. This will be the first Russian presidential visit to Israel in almost five years. It was in 2005 that Vladimir Putin met Ariel Sharon, which improved the bilateral ties between the countries.

Combat aircraft accounted for one-third share in worldwide transfers of major weapons in the past five years, says a report on Wednesday.

His face wracked by age and his voice rasping after decades of chain-smoking coarse tobacco, the former long-time Russian Minister of nuclear energy and veteran Soviet physicist Viktor Mikhailov knows just how to fix BP's oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Obama administration will defer a decision on whether to name China a currency manipulator until well after President Hu Jintao visits Washington for a nuclear proliferation summit, the New York Times reported on Friday.

The Obama administration will defer a decision on whether to name China a currency manipulator until well after President Hu Jintao visits Washington for a nuclear proliferation summit, the New York Times reported on Friday.

Japan's government on Tuesday vowed to stick to its ban on nuclear arms after a probe showed its predecessors may have turned a blind eye to breaches, but said ties with security ally Washington would not be affected.

President Barack Obama said on Friday a forthcoming review of the U.S. nuclear posture would reduce the number and role of nuclear weapons in Washington's national security strategy.

Iran will not give up uranium enrichment and the West must get used to an Iran that is a master of enrichment, Tehran's envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog was quoted on Wednesday as saying.

China told other world powers on Thursday that discussing sanctions against Iran was counterproductive, striking a blow to a Western push to rein in Tehran's nuclear program.