Just weeks after Mr. Obama took office, North Korea conducted its second nuclear weapons test.
Security Council last week approved a new round of sanctions over Pyongyang's latest nuclear weapons test Feb. 12.
One Russian politician said the event was not a meteor shower but a US weapons test, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.
Elevated levels of radiosensitive cancers in the young shortly after exposure to atmospheric nuclear weapons test fallout have also been documented.
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As expected, international condemnation of the ASAT weapons test was both firm and swift, as India, Russia and Great Britain voiced their immediate disproval.
In response to China's latest ASAT weapons test, the Bush administration announced this month that it had suspended plans to develop space ventures with China.
But its language and threats have been more extreme this year as it also rails against sanctions imposed on it for its Feb. 12 nuclear weapons test.
The North conducted its third nuclear weapons test in February.
Security Council is debating a U.S.-drafted resolution that would require international inspections of all cargo moving in and out of North Korea in response to the nation's apparent nuclear-weapons test.
North Korea launched a satellite into orbit atop a long-range rocket in December, conducted its third nuclear weapons test in February and announced earlier this month that it was abandoning the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.
But even when Pyongyang declared that it would conduct a nuclear-weapons test and announced where and when it would occur, this monitoring system failed to collect necessary radioactive gases and particulates to prove that a test had occurred.
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On Monday, speculation of a new nuclear-weapons test by Pyongyang was given momentum by a front-page story in a major South Korean daily saying activity at North Korea's nuclear test site in the north of the country had intensified.
On Tuesday, speculation of a new nuclear-weapons test by Pyongyang was given momentum by a front-page story in a major South Korean daily saying activity at North Korea's nuclear test site in the north of the country had intensified.
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Security Council tightened sanctions last week, raising the prospect the North could conduct another weapons' test or lash out against rival South Korea.
North Korea, however, reportedly told America in private last April that it already had nuclear weapons and might test one, or sell one, as it chose.
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Now we didn't want to test these weapons, even though we are not precluded by law from doing that because the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was defeated.
These days nations test nuclear weapons mainly to verify that exotic new models will work.
The main opposition Hindu nationalist BJP fears that the deal could compromise India's ability to test nuclear weapons in the future.
He will see a demonstration of a supercomputer involved in imagery testing done in place of actually detonating test nuclear weapons.
On July 3, President Clinton announced that the United States would no longer test nuclear weapons unless some other nation went first.
However, Russia's continued blocking, along with China, of any major economic sanctions against Iran because of Iran's development of a nuclear weapons program fails the test.
The most high-stakes decisions of nations, and the most dangerous desires of the likes of Saddam Hussein, can be controlled by a U.S. decision never again to test nuclear weapons?
He suggests a recommitment by the nuclear powers not to test their weapons--there have been no nuclear tests since 1996--in exchange for a commitment by all nations to stop enriching uranium.
There were concerns a decade ago that the U.S. might be unable to safely and reliably maintain its own nuclear deterrent and the nuclear umbrella that protects our allies such as Japan, Australia and South Korea if it forever surrendered the right to test its weapons.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Why we need to test nuclear weapons
For instance, one reason Washington is often surprised when countries like Pakistan test nuclear weapons is that other governments have a good idea what times of the day they are within range of U.S. photo-reconnaissance satellites, and so they conduct sensitive operations while the satellites are out of range.
Why is it that Russia is allowed to test new nuclear weapons whereas a responsible country like India isn't?
That is why all those, including Britain, who shelter beneath America's nuclear umbrella should support its right to test its nuclear weapons.
Confidence in our nuclear weapons could decline over time if we could not test them, and we might be unable to fix future problems in those weapons without tests to insure their validity.
The United States will not design, produce or test any new nuclear weapons.
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For example, since 1992, we have chosen not to conduct any underground detonations, the only sort of test of our nuclear weapons certain to confirm that they work, and that any defects detected are successfully corrected.
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