CHINA began its mission to become a nuclear power in 1951, when it signed a secret deal with Russia under the guise of developing clean nuclear energy. But half a century later its voracious energy needs mean it is actually focusing on developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes

A LAWYER for a Guantanamo Bay prisoner has urged the US Supreme Court to rein in President George Bush's plan to try his client for war crimes before a military commission In one of the most closely watched cases of the court's term, the justices wrestled once again with the question of how far the US President can go, at a time of war, in setting aside the normal legal protections for prisoners

Ariel Sharon, in a coma in hospital on a hill overlooking Jerusalem, has determined the outcome of the Israeli election, which means turmoil and uncertainty will almost certainly characterise the Middle East for months, perhaps years. The result means there will be no real steps towards a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank, and substantive negotiations with the Palestinian Authority's President, Mahmoud Abbas, are unlikely

Russia’s environmental watchdog, Rostekhnadzor, gave a negative evaluation to the plan to construct $11 billion Pacific oil pipeline from East Siberia to Perevoznaya Bay near Pacific Ocean port of Nakhodka. The information was reported by RIA Novosti on Friday, March 24. As MosNews has reported on several occasions, the plan calls for the pipeline to take East Siberian oil from Taishet, via the town of Skovorodino near Chinese border to the Perevoznaya Bay on the Pacific Ocean

The opposition in Belarus is gearing up for a mass rally to protest against a presidential election they say was rigged, despite a crackdown on protest. The US and EU have condemned the arrest of 500 opposition protesters on Friday morning, ending five-day long protests. They have vowed to slap "targeted sanctions" on Belarus after President Alexander Lukashenko won a landslide victory in the election. Belarus says last Sunday's election was fair, but the West disagrees

Russia provided Saddam Hussein with intelligence on US military moves in the opening days of the US-led invasion in 2003, a Pentagon report has said. Russia passed the details through its Baghdad ambassador, the report said. Russia has not commented on the claim. One piece of intelligence passed on was false, and in fact helped a key US deception effort, the report concluded

Slobodan Milosevic,(1941-2006) was President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia. He served as President of Serbia from 1989 to 1997 and then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000. He also led Serbia's Socialist Party from its foundation in 1992 to 2001. He was one of the key figures in the Yugoslav wars during the 1990s and Kosovo War in 1999 He died Saturday in his prison cell near The Hague

Many students, pupils and employs from Toulouse, a region from France protested on Sunday against the First Employment Contract (CPE), an open-ended contract for under 26-year-old that can be terminated within the first two years without explanation. The protestors had a meeting at 11 o’clock in the place Arnaud Bernard before to start the manifestation. French riot police clash with demonstrators