North America

The NPT conference continues in New York with expectations high among anti-nuclear organisations that an intention to move towards a Nuclear Weapons Convention – a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons – will be expressed in the final documents. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is closely following what different nations are saying about such a convention.

The official World March documentary film is premiered at the United Nations in New York one year after it was officially presented in the same location. The video, produced by Spanish filmmaker Alvaro Orus is a 45 minute compilation of some of the most emotional, touching and inspiring moments of the 93 day globe trotting adventure in the name of Peace and Nonviolence.

NPT conference kicks off with acrimonious interchanges between Iran and the USA. Ban Ki-Moon reminded delegates that the last conference failed, “This time we can… and must… do better”. Iran condemned US deterrence policies as the source of proliferation and the US replied that, “Iran’s president offered the same tired, false, and sometimes wild accusations against the US.”

The Mayor of Hiroshima headed a list of dignitaries at the front of a Great March to the United Nations in order to meet with UN Disarmament Chief, Sergio Duarte. The Abolition Torch carried around the world on the World March for Peace and Nonviolence was handed over to the UN as a reminder to conference delegates attending the NPT conference of their important task.

2 days before the NPT conference begins in New York, UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon addresses the anti-nuclear movement in a conference, “For a Nuclear Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World”. He talks of his shared view of a world free of Nuclear weapons and says, “The time for change is now”. A delegation of World without Wars travels to New York in support.

Two Hollywood film-makers joined a queen from the Middle East and a computer multimillionaire along with diplomats from the United States in order to demand from world leaders meeting next week in the United States a world without nuclear weapons. The promoters of the film say “our only choice is eradicating every last missile”

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament described today’s United States’ Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) as timid, with the modest advances not living up to the ambitious goals the Obama administration has set itself.
“We had hoped this review would mark a sea-change in US nuclear policy. The result is markedly disappointing”, Kate Hudson, Chair of the CND, said.

The United States President Barack Obama and the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have sealed an agreement on a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty. Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev plan to officially sign the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty on April 8 in Prague, Europe, cutting by about a third, the nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia will deploy.

This weekend, while US Congress voted to pass a historic health care bill, more than 100,000 activists gathered in Washington, D.C. to mark the dawn of a new civil rights movement. These activists included students, parents and children. They are young and old, Asian, African-American, Latino and Caucasian, and they are demanding immigration reform and economic justice now.

In a major victory for President Obama and congressional Democrats, the House has approved a landmark measure that would expand healthcare to over 30 million uninsured Americans while forcing millions to purchase health insurance. The 219-to-212 vote late Sunday night came nearly three months after the Senate’s approval of the bill on Christmas Eve.