US leads fight against proposed UN nuclear weapons ban

UNITED NATIONS: The United States, Britain, France and other major powers protested as the UN began work yesterday on what backers said would be a binding prohibition on nuclear weapons.

Russia and China also sat out the opening UN General Assembly session. Russia had voted against launching the effort last year. China abstained.

The proposed ban, backed by Pope Francis, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and dozens of humanitarian and nonproliferation groups, sets most of the major nuclear powers against more than 100 smaller non-nuclear states which are seeking a treaty this year.

‘‘As a mom, as a daughter, there is nothing I want more for my family than a world that has no nuclear weapons,’’ said Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN. ’’But we have to be realistic. Is there anyone who believes that North Korea would agree’’ to give up its nuclear weapons on the UN’s orders?

Haley and representatives from Britain and France spoke to reporters as the General Assembly began discussion on the issue. More than 30 nations sat out the first session, many at the US’s urging, in support of the argument that a blanket ban now is impractical or dangerous.

‘‘Is it any surprise that Iran is supportive of this?’’ Haley asked.

North Korea developed nuclear weapons through a rogue programme and is attempting to field a long-range missile that could deliver a weapon to US shores, according to US officials. It can already target US forces and allies in Asia, they have said.

Iran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon but has agreed to curtail its nuclear programme under an international deal led by former US president Barack Obama and heavily criticised by President Donald Trump.

Although Obama had set the eventual eradication of nuclear weapons as a goal, his administration also opposed a UN ban.

The Trump administration has not yet said whether it will affirm the long-range goal of eliminating nuclear weapons or pledge to further shrink the US arsenal. The White House is conducting a new nuclear posture review, which is expected to take a year or more.

Haley said the US and other major powers boycotting the UN discussion believed in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The landmark treaty, which took effect in 1970, commits nations with nuclear weapons to move toward disarmament while prohibiting non-nuclear states from obtaining the weapons.

As a presidential candidate, Trump suggested that US allies Japan and South Korea could develop nuclear weapons and defend themselves, instead of relying on the US nuclear umbrella, and suggested that nuclear weapons could be effective against Islamic State militants. He said both that he wanted the US to have an up-to-date and perhaps expanded nuclear arsenal, and that he would like to see a nuclear-free world.

Toshiki Fujimori, who was a baby when he survived the 1945 US nuclear bomb attack on Hiroshima, Japan, addressed the General Assembly.

‘‘I am here at the UN asking for the abolition of nuclear weapons ... This is the mission I am given as a survivor,’’ Fujimori said.

- Washington Post

Nine leaders of Hong Kong’s prodemocracy Umbrella Movement turned themselves in to police yesterday, after the territory selected a conservative, pro-Beijing politician as its next leader. Police had contacted the activists - students, lawmakers, professors and a minister - to inform them that they would be charged with causing a ‘‘public nuisance’’, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. Hong Kong’s new chief executive Carrie Lam said she had no prior knowledge of the decision to make the arrests, which Amnesty International called the ‘‘latest blow to [the] right to peaceful protest’’ in the city. The Demosisto party has called for a ‘‘large civil disobedience protest’’ when Lam is sworn in on July 1, an event timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China from British control.

Two men are under arrest after they allegedly used a Labrador as their drug mule, hiding more than US$1 million (NZ$1.42m) worth of heroin in the dog’s crate on a flight from Puerto Rico to New York. The shipment of 10 kilograms of heroin was seized as one of the defendants tried to wheel the crate out of the American Airlines cargo site at John F Kennedy Airport. Police said they found 10 bricks of heroin, each stamped with a Nike swoosh emblem. The dog is in the custody of the American SPCA.