Think tank: China’s nuclear arsenal rises

Think tank: China’s nuclear arsenal rises

stockholm

China, India and Pakistan have increased their nuclear weapons by about 10 warheads each in the past year, and other nuclear states appear set on maintaining their arsenals, a Swedish think tank said today.

At the start of the year, China had raised its number of nuclear warheads to 250 from 240 in 2012 as part of a process to modernize its defense, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said. However, it also said China is “highly nontransparent” when it comes to its nuclear arsenal.

Bitter rivals Pakistan and India also increased their arsenals by around 10 warheads each.

New prime minister picked by president

ramallah, west bank

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday picked a little-known academic as his new prime minister, according to the official government news agency, after the resignation of his chief rival.

Abbas appointed Rami Hamdallah to replace Salam Fayyad, a respected U.S.-educated economist. Fayyad frequently clashed with Abbas and was seen as being too independent.

Appointing Hamdallah is likely to shore up the president’s power, because he is seen as being more pliant. The new prime minister was tasked with forming a new government of technocrats, not politicians.

Erdogan rejects ‘dictator’ claims

istanbul

Turkey’s prime minister on Sunday rejected claims that he is a “dictator,” dismissing protesters as an extremist fringe, even as thousands returned to the landmark Istanbul square that has become the site of the fiercest anti-government outburst in years.

Over the past three days, protesters around the country have unleashed pent-up resentment against Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who after 10 years in office many Turks see as an uncompromising figure with undue influence in every part of life.

A huge, exuberant protest in Taksim Square subsided overnight, but about 10,000 people again streamed into the area on Sunday, many waving flags, chanting “victory, victory, victory” and calling on Erdogan’s government to resign.

Hezbollah guerrillas, Syrian rebels battle

beirut

Syrian rebels and Hez- bollah guerrillas battled Sunday in their worst clashes yet inside Lebanon, a new sign that the civil war in Syria is increasingly destabilizing its fragile neighbor.

Syria’s foreign minister, meanwhile, rebuffed an appeal by the U.N. and the Red Cross to let humanitarian aid reach thousands of civilians trapped in the rebel- held town of Qusair, under regime attack for the past three weeks. The Red Cross said many of the wounded were not receiving desperately needed medical care.

The latest confrontation between Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia and Syrian rebels, who have been fighting on opposite sides inside Syria, came at a time of increasingly incendiary rhetoric between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the region.

Egypt legislature illegally elected?

cairo

Egypt’s highest court ruled Sunday that the nation’s interim parliament was illegally elected, though it stopped short of dissolving the chamber immediately, in a decision likely to fuel the tensions between the ruling Islamists and the judiciary.

The Supreme Constitutional Court also ruled that a 100-member panel that drafted the new constitution was illegally elected.

Associated Press