South Korea announced land and sea military exercises including its largest-ever live-fire drill near North Korea just as tension on the peninsula was beginning to ease after Pyongyang's attack on a southern island.
North Korea warned of a "holy war" against the South using its nuclear deterrent as South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed a "merciless counterattack" if its territory is attacked again.
Satellite images indicate that buildings are being demolished and soil removed at Parchin, an Iranian military site the UN nuclear watchdog wants to visit, its chief said.
If the world recognises Iran's "nuclear rights," negotiations aimed at easing a standoff with the West later this month could have a positive outcome, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader was quoted as saying.
The UN nuclear watchdog said it had made no progress in talks with Iran on Friday to finalise a deal on resuming a long-stalled investigation into suspected nuclear weapons research by Tehran and it called the outcome "disappointing".
Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis was a preventable disaster resulting from "collusion" among the government, regulators and the plant operator, an expert panel said, wrapping up an inquiry into the worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
Iran's spy chief accused German and French intelligence agencies today of involvement in assassinations of its nuclear scientists, sticking to a hard official line as sanctions imposed over its disputed atomic ambitions bite harder.
Chief negotiators for the EU and Iran agreed to hold more talks about Tehran's nuclear work, but the European Union gave no sign progress was imminent in the decade-long dispute.
The UN nuclear watchdog will try to persuade Iran to address questions about its suspected nuclear weapons research at a meeting on Friday, more than two months after previous talks ended in failure.
UN nuclear inspectors will press again for access to a major military facility in talks with Iran this week as the International Atomic Energy Agency expressed concern about suspected whitewashing efforts.
The UN nuclear watchdog and Iran failed on Friday to strike a deal aimed at allaying concerns about suspected nuclear weapons research by Tehran, a setback in efforts to resolve the stand-off diplomatically before any Israeli or US military action.
Iran has no interest in nuclear weapons but will keep pursuing peaceful nuclear energy, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told heads of state from developing countries in Tehran.
Foreign Secretary William Hague urged the European Union today to impose new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, as Israel continues to threaten military action.
UN nuclear watchdog chief pressed Iran today to grant his inspectors immediate access to the Parchin military site, where they believe Tehran may have conducted explosives tests relevant to the development of nuclear weapons.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator on Tuesday, Ashton's office said, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a political solution was still possible in the stand-off over Tehran's atomic programme.
Iran is under threat of military action from "uncivilized Zionists," a clear reference to Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today, saying that such threats are designed to force nations into submission.
US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a show of unity on preventing a nuclear-armed Iran, seeking to tone down the acrimony between the two leaders that has become an issue in the final stretch of the US presidential race.
Iran will return to talks with the UN nuclear agency next month, both sides said today, the latest push to seek a peaceful end to a dispute that has raised fears of a new Middle East war.
North Korea has made further progress in the construction of a new atomic reactor, the UN nuclear chief reported today, a facility that may extend the country's capacity to produce material for nuclear bombs.
The United States set a March deadline today for Iran to start cooperating in substance with a UN nuclear agency investigation, saying it would otherwise urge reporting the issue to the UN Security Council.
Inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in Tehran today to hold talks over Iran's disputed nuclear program but there was no sign they would gain access to the Parchin military complex as requested.
Iran has agreed to hold talks with six major powers about its atomic program in January but the date and venue has yet to be decided, the country's top nuclear negotiator said today, while the European Union assured no date has been fixed for further talks on Iran's nuclear programme.
Iran and world powers will meet on Jan. 28 and 29 for further negotiations over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported today.
North Korea said today it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "sworn enemy".
North Korea threatened to attack rival South Korea if Seoul joined a new round of tightened UN sanctions.
Iran has announced plans to install and operate advanced uranium enrichment machines, in what would be a technological leap allowing it to significantly speed up activity the West fears could be put to developing a nuclear weapon.
The UN Security Council is united on North Korea's nuclear arms program and will undoubtedly approve tough measures against Pyongyang if it carries out a new atomic test as expected, South Korean UN Ambassador Kim Sook said today.
North Korea stepped up its bellicose rhetoric threatening to go beyond carrying out a promised third nuclear test in response to what it believes are "hostile" sanctions imposed after a December rocket launch.
Iran's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, today rejected an offer of direct talks made by US Vice President Joe Biden this week, saying they would not solve the problems between them, Iranian media reported.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said talks with major powers in Istanbul next month would be a historic opportunity to resolve the nuclear dispute if the West dropped what he called its policy of confrontation.
North Korea could carry out a third nuclear test next year to strengthen the credentials of its young leader-in-waiting, Kim Jong-un, a research report from a South Korean Foreign Ministry institute said on Friday.
Iran has invited envoys from China, the European Union and elsewhere to visit key nuclear sites in a bid to show openness about its disputed atomic work ahead of new talks with major powers later this month.
North Korea said the South did not wish for an improvement of relations and that it no longer felt the need to engage with its neighbour after inter-Korean military talks collapsed, state media reported.
Japan's prime minister said that radioactive levels had become high around an earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant after an explosion there, and there was a risk of radiation leaking into the atmosphere.
People remain worried about sudden exposure to large volumes of airborne radiation. Here are some measures people can take to protect themselves from identified radiation sources, provided by the World Health Organisation and the World Nuclear Association:
Wall Street rebounded after three days of declines but the advance could be temporary as concerns about Japan's nuclear crisis persisted.
Japanese engineers raced to restore a power cable to a quake-ravaged nuclear power plant in the hope of restarting pumps needed to pour cold water on overheating fuel rods and avert a catastrophic release of radiation
Exhausted engineers attached a power cable to the outside of Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in a desperate attempt to get water pumps going that would cool down overheated fuel rods and prevent the deadly spread of radiation.
Japan restored power to a crippled nuclear reactor in its race to avert disaster at a plant wrecked by an earthquake and tsunami that are estimated to have killed more than 15,000 people in one area alone.
Japan estimated the cost of the damage from its devastating earthquake and tsunami could top $300 billion as authorities in Tokyo warned that babies should not be given tap water because of radiation from a crippled nuclear plant.
Japan will have to review its nuclear power policy, its top government spokesman said as radiation from a damaged nuclear complex briefly made Tokyo's tap water unsafe for babies and led to people emptying supermarket shelves of bottled water.
Japanese scientists have found measurable concentrations of radioactive iodine-131 and caesium-137 in seawater samples taken 30 km (18 miles) from land, the UN nuclear watchdog said.
Highly radioactive water has been found at a second reactor at a crippled nuclear power station in Japan, the plant's operator said, as fears of contamination escalated two weeks after a huge earthquake and tsunami battered the complex.
Radioactivity levels are soaring in seawater near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, Japan's nuclear safety agency said, two weeks after the nuclear power plant was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Plutonium found in soil at the crippled Fukushima nuclear complex heightened alarm over Japan's protracted battle to contain the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years.
The UN nuclear watchdog suggested Japan consider widening an evacuation zone around a stricken nuclear plant as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due to arrive on Thursday, the first leader to visit since a devastating earthquake and tsunami sparked the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a reform of global nuclear standards by the end of the year during a first visit by a foreign leader toJapan since the earthquake and tsunami that triggered its atomic disaster.
Two people were injured when a parcel bomb exploded in the offices of the Swiss nuclear lobby, police said.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that the evacuation of residents near the country's stricken nuclear plant will be "long-term," as Japan's nuclear crisis stretched into a third week, with no end in sight.
The head of the UN nuclear agency called for international action to prevent a repetition of Japan's nuclear disaster, saying the operator of the crippled plant failed to take sufficient safety measures.
Japan pumped nitrogen gas into a crippled nuclear reactor, trying to prevent an explosive buildup of hydrogen gas as the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years stirred atomic safety debate and inspections in the United States.
Japan's ruling party fared badly in weekend local elections after Prime Minister Naoto Kan came under fire for his handling of the nuclear crisis, bolstering rivals who want him to quit once the crisis ends.
Japan has ordered nuclear plant operators to put in place new safety measures by April 28 in addition to steps imposed late last month that are soon due for checks by authorities to confirm implementation, the trade ministry said, as another series of aftershocks jolted the eastern region.
Iran is conducting final tests at its first nuclear power plant and it is expected to start generating electricity in the next two months, Iranian media said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition declared it would shut all German's nuclear reactors by 2022, in a policy reversal drawn up in a rush after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
Iran's Russian-built nuclear power plant is likely to become fully operational in early August, Russian news agencies quoted a senior diplomat as saying today.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged India to amend a law that has put off US companies from taking part in the $150 billion nuclear energy market and further open up Asia's third largest economy to foreign investment.
South and North Korea held high-level talks for the first time in two years in Indonesia and said they would work to resume the stalled six-party dialogue for nuclear disarmament on the Korean peninsula.
The United States is in no rush to resume nuclear talks with North Korea even though Washington has invited a senior diplomat to New York this week, US officials said.
A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 jolted central and eastern Japan, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, but it did not issue a tsunami alert.
Russia will look to revive nuclear talks between Iran and the world's biggest economic and military powers this week, hoping its special relationship with Tehran can help jolt back to life negotiations that some analysts consider "dead in the water."
A research center near Tripoli stocks uranium and other material that could be used to make a nuclear "dirty bomb" and Libya's rebels will need to secure it, a former senior UN inspector said today.
Iran would be ready to grant the UN atomic watchdog "full supervision" of its nuclear activities for five years if UN sanctions were lifted, a senior official was quoted as saying today, an offer the West will likely greet with scepticism.
A furnace exploded at the Marcoule nuclear waste treatment site in southern France, killing one person, but there was no leak of radioactive material outside the furnace, France's ASN nuclear safety watchdog said.
The UN atomic agency is seeking information from France about today's explosion at a nuclear waste treatment site in the country's south, its head said.
Japan aims to have the nuclear reactors at its crippled Fukushima plant in "cold shutdown" by the end of this year, slightly ahead of schedule, a top government official told the UN atomic agency.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said the government will spend at least 1 trillion yen ($13 billion) to clean up vast areas contaminated by radiation from the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Iran warned the United States today that it should think twice before it enters a "collision course" with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme.
Iran has started moving nuclear material to an underground facility for the pursuit of sensitive atomic activities, a UN nuclear agency report showed, a development likely to add to Western suspicions Tehran is trying to build a weapon.
Iran remains ready to engage in negotiations with world powers concerned about its nuclear programme, but only if the other parties show it due respect, its Foreign Ministry spokesman said today. Western countries called for new sanctions against Iran, but veto-wielder Russia indicated it would block new measures at the UN Security Council.
European Union governments could approve a new package of sanctions against Iran in the coming weeks, EU diplomats said today, over a UN report that Tehran has worked to design atom bombs.
European Union foreign ministers spoke out in favour of tougher sanctions against Iran on Monday, but decided to wait until their next meeting on Dec 1. before taking further action.
World powers look set to overcome their differences and agree on a UN atomic agency resolution aimed at putting diplomatic pressure on Iran to address mounting fears about its nuclear programme, Western diplomats said.
The six world powers agreed a draft UN atomic agency resolution aimed at putting diplomatic pressure on Iran to address mounting fears about its disputed nuclear programme, diplomats said.
The UN nuclear watchdog board censured Iran over mounting suspicions it is trying to develop nuclear weapons, but Tehran said the move would only strengthen its determination to press on with sensitive work.
The Treasury Department plans to designate Iran as an area of "primary money laundering concern" today, a US official said, a move allowing it to take steps to further isolate the Iranian financial sector.
Greenpeace activists entered several French nuclear sites to highlight what they called a lack of security at the plants six months before a presidential election.
Diplomats from the United States, the European Union and other allies agreed to step up pressure on Iran to force it to resume talks over its nuclear programme, an Italian diplomatic source said
Iran has renewed an invitation to the UN nuclear agency to visit the country "with the aim of resolving" issues, the Islamic state's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency told reporters today.
Russia said it had won the battle with a raging blaze aboard a nuclear submarine by submerging the stricken vessel at a navy shipyard after hours of dousing the flames with water from helicopters and tug boats.
North Korea sounded a bellicose note in its first communication with the outside world since the death of leader Kim Jong-il, saying its confrontational stance against South Korea would not change and labeling its opponents "foolish."
Iran will fire long-range missiles during a naval drill in the Gulf tomorrow, a semi-official news agency reported, a show of force at a time when Iran has threatened to close shipping lanes if the West imposes sanctions on its oil exports.
Iran threatened today to take action if the US Navy moves an aircraft carrier into the Gulf, Tehran's most aggressive statement yet after weeks of sabre-rattling as new US and EU financial sanctions take a toll on its economy.
Iran announced plans today for new military exercises in the world's most important oil shipping lane, the latest in weeks of bellicose gestures towards the West as new sanctions threaten Tehran's oil exports.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog confirmed today that Iran has started enriching uranium at an underground site and said all atomic material there was under its surveillance.
A vast majority of Japanese favor the gradual phasing out of nuclear plants but accept that some reactors need to be restarted to secure enough power in the short term, a newspaper poll showed on Sunday.
President Barack Obama visited South Korea's tense border with the North on Sunday in a show of solidarity with US ally Seoul and a message of resolve to Pyongyang's new young ruler in his country's nuclear standoff with the West.
US President Barack Obama urged China to use its influence to stop North Korea's "bad behavior" in a nuclear standoff with the West and hinted at tougher sanctions if the reclusive state goes ahead with a rocket launch next month.
The United States would not be safe from Iran's retaliation if the Islamic state came under attack from Washington, Iran newspaper quoted a senior Revolutionary Guards commander as saying.
Iran has no interest in reviving a failed nuclear fuel swap deal with Western powers, but might scale back production of higher-grade enriched uranium once it has the material it needs, the head of the country's atomic energy organisation said.
The White House warned North Korea that its planned long-range missile launch would be a flagrant breach of the impoverished country's international obligations and would jeopardize food aid from Washington.
Iran will present new proposals at talks on Saturday aimed at easing concerns about its nuclear activity, state television said, but it was unclear if Tehran was willing to address its disputed uranium enrichment drive as six world powers want.
Impoverished North Korea rejected international protests over its planned long-range rocket launch and said today that it was injecting fuel "as we speak", meaning it could blast off as early as tomorrow.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said North Korea's long-range rocket test today was deplorable, in direct violation of U Security Council Resolution 1874, and threatened regional stability.
World powers and Iran held talks on Tehran's nuclear programme in Istanbul today in a "constructive atmosphere", a European Union spokesman said after the first session.
The UN Security Council strongly condemned North Korea's rocket launch, urged tightening of existing UN sanctions and warned Pyongyang of further consequences if it carries out another missile launch or nuclear test.
Iran will resume talks with the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna on May 13-14, state media quoted the Iranian ambassador to the body.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog confirmed today it will resume talks with Iran in mid-May, more than two months after the last meeting over concerns about the Islamic state's atomic activities ended in failure.
An Iranian envoy voiced hope that talks with the UN nuclear watchdog in mid-May would help resolve "outstanding issues", but he again ruled out any halt to the Islamic state's controversial uranium enrichment program.
China called on the United States and Russia to make further "drastic" cuts in their nuclear arsenals and said all states with atomic arms should undertake not to be the first to use them.
Japanese utility Hokkaido Electric Power Co began shutting the country's last active nuclear reactor on Saturday, leaving the world's third-biggest user of atomic energy with no nuclear-derived electricity for the first time since 1970.
The United States called on Iran today to take "urgent practical steps" to build confidence during nuclear talks with world powers, and the European Union said Tehran must suspend sensitive atomic activities.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warnedthat military action against sovereign states could lead to a regional nuclear war, starkly voicing Moscow's opposition to Western intervention ahead of a G8 summit at which Syria and Iran will be discussed
The UN nuclear watchdog chief said today he expected to sign a deal with Iran soon to ease investigation into suspected work on atom bombs, potentially brightening prospects for big-power talks with Tehran to stop a drift towards conflict.
World powers and Iran held unusually detailed talks today about how it could show its nuclear work is not a disguised quest for atom bombs, in a Baghdad meeting aimed at halting a slide toward a new Middle East war.
Iran and world powers will meet in Moscow on June 18-19 to hold further talks to try solve a long-standing dispute about an Iranian nuclear energy program, European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said today.
Iran and world powers agreed to meet again next month to try to ease the long standoff over its nuclear work despite achieving scant progress at talks in Baghdad towards resolving the main sticking points of their dispute.
Japanese officials said the unprecedented effort to remove spent fuel rods from one of the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors was on track despite lingering concerns about the structure's vulnerability to another earthquake.
International nuclear talks with Iran have achieved nothing, a senior Israeli official said, suggesting that some Western nations were happy to see the negotiations drag on.
European Union governments agreed today to bring forward a meeting of foreign ministers expected to decide on an oil embargo on Iran by one week to January 23.
Iran said one of its nuclear scientists was killed today by a magnet bomb fixed to his car by a motorcyclist and blamed Israel for the attack, intensifying diplomatic tensions the West over Tehran's nuclear program.
The White House said today there is still enough time for diplomacy with Iran to work and prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The UN nuclear watchdog ended its latest mission to Iran after talks on Tehran's suspected secret atomic weapons research failed, a setback likely to increase the risk of confrontation with the West.
The White House today criticized Iran over the failure of the UN nuclear watchdog's latest mission, saying it again showed Tehran's refusal to abide by its international obligations over its nuclear program.
Iran has sharply stepped up its controversial uranium enrichment drive, the UN nuclear agency said in a report that will further inflame Israeli fears the Islamic Republic is pushing ahead with atomic bomb plans.
North Korea has agreed to a moratorium on nuclear tests, long-range missile launches and enrichment of uranium at its Yongbyon nuclear facility, the North's KCNA news agency said today.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today that North Korea's nuclear moratorium is a "modest first step in the right direction" onto the path of peace.
The UN nuclear watchdog stands ready to return to North Korea, its chief said, after the reclusive state agreed to stop nuclear tests and uranium enrichment and let inspectors visit its Yongbyon site to verify the moratorium.
US President Barack Obama said the United States 'will not countenance' Iran developing a nuclear weapon but pledged to take a sober approach to dealing with Tehran's nuclear programme.
Benjamin Netanyahu assured President Barack Obama that Israel has not made any decision on attacking Iran's nuclear sites, sources close to the talks said, but the Israeli prime minister gave no sign of backing away from possible military action.
United States, China, Russia, France, Germany and Britain told Iran today to let international inspectors visit a military site where the UN nuclear watchdog says development work relevant for nuclear weapons may have taken place.
Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman met in Sao Paulo with his Brazilian counterpart, Antonio Patriota, and they both stressed on the need to keep strengthening the bilateral relationship. They also expressed “concern” about the possible presence of nuclear weapons in the South Atlantic area.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez lavished each other with praise, mocked US disapproval and joked about having an atomic bomb at their disposal.
Brazil will continue to invest in nuclear energy despite the explosions at a central Japanese nuclear plant, caused by last week’s earthquake and tsunami.