Nuclear weapons testing

Russia's military conducted a simulated nuclear strike in a drill Wednesday overseen by President Vladimir Putin, hours after the upper house of parliament voted to rescind the country's ratification of a global nuclear test ban.

In the latest research, scientists answered which countries would have the best chances. According to their estimates, it would be the population of Argentina and Australia, the Sunday Times reports.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Tuesday warned of a forceful response if North Korea carries out its first nuclear test explosion in nearly five years as she traveled to Seoul to meet with South Korean and Japanese allies and discuss the escalating standoff.

U.N. experts say North Korea has increased imports and exports of banned and restricted goods such as coal and petroleum products as it continues to enhance its illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programs in violation of sanctions.

Interior Minister Marcel Vela announced on Thursday that a report on the August 10 riot police intervention in a street protest in Bucharest was declassified and sent to the Department for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) to be used in a probe that started as a result of complaints filed by people involved.

Interior Minister Marcel Vela said the case file regarding the intervention of the gendarmes in the public protests of August 10 will be declassified this week. "It will be declassified this week and you will be updated on this action that will take place at MAI [Interior Ministry].

Gendarmes can also be involved in protecting citizens, said Interior Minister Marcel Vela, on Tuesday evening, in the context of the teenager drugged and raped in an abandoned building in southern city of Giurgiu.

North Korea is considering suspending talks with the United States and may rethink a ban on missile and nuclear tests unless Washington makes concessions, news reports from the North's capital on March 15 quoted a senior diplomat as saying.

Japan Times - North Korea announced Saturday that it had suspended nuclear and longer-range missile tests and shut down its main nuclear test site as the sanctions-hit country seeks to shift its focus to shoring up its moribund economy, state media said, less than a week ahead of a key inter-Korean summit.

A series of tremors and landslides near North Korea's nuclear test base likely mean the country's sixth and largest blast has destabilised the region, and the Punggye-ri nuclear site may not be used for much longer to test nuclear weapons, experts say.