NEWS AND VIEWS
Summaries of and links to online news reports and commentaries.
US-Israeli laser defense project $50 million short http://www.jpost.com:80/com/Archive/09.May.1997/News/Article-5.html DOUGLAS DAVIS Jerusalem Post - May 9, 1997 2 Iyyar 5757 LONDON (May 8) - The $89 million joint US-Israeli project to develop a high-energy laser response to short-range rocket and artillery attacks requires a further $50 million if it is to result in a fully deployable system ... The US is currently contributing $59.5 million to the project, while Israel's share is $29.5 million. Yeltsin Approves Doctrine Of Nuclear First Use if Attacked http://washingtonpost.com:80/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-05/10/071L-051097-idx.html David Hoffman, May 10 1997; Page A21 Washington Post MOSCOW, May 9 -- President Boris Yeltsin has approved a new security doctrine for Russia that stipulates the right to use nuclear weapons first if attacked, a senior Kremlin security adviser said today. IAEA HEAD BLIX LAUDS CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/inforesource/pressrelease/prn0797.html Vienna -- Dr. Hans Blix, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a specialized agency within the United Nations system, says the coming into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a further step toward a world that is gradually being freed from weapons of mass destruction.
