Beyond Nuclear: https://beyondnuclearinternational.org :In the holiday season it seems timely to run a story on the plight of reindeer, made radioactive by fallout from Chernobyl and earlier atomic bomb tests, a problem that is not going away. Nor is radioactive waste, deadly for at least tens of thousands of years and longer, which is why a plan to store it on a beach near San Diego, California, is insanity.

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CND: https://cnduk.org: Anti-nuclear campaigners have responded to Gavin Williamson’s final instalment of the Modernising Defence Programme, released today. Sara Medi Jones, CND acting general secretary, said: “Gavin Williamson has called for an additional £340 million for the MoD in next year’s comprehensive spending review. The MoD has already been given an extra £1 billion this year, so this announcement confirms again that spending at the MoD is spiralling out of control.

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PNND on the US withdrawal from the INF treaty: The US alleges that Moscow has developed and deployed a prohibited missile, a ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) having a range prohibited under the INF Treaty. The U.S. administration has also expressed concern that China, which is not a party to the INF Treaty, is gaining a military advantage in East Asia by deploying large numbers of treaty-noncompliant missiles. Russia has denied violating the INF, and has responded with allegations that the US is in violation of the INF Treaty by deploying launching systems capable of firing cruise missiles. In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the U.S. plan to withdraw from the treaty could lead to a new arms race and that any nation that hosts U.S. intermediate-range missiles will “put their own territory under the threat of a possible counterstrike.” For further background see Trump to Withdraw U.S. From INF Treaty, Arms Control Association, November 2018).          There are also criticisms from a number of European Parliamentarians.                      The Basle Peace Office has similar concerns and adds the following more upbeat news:  The Australian Labor Party (currently the main opposition party) adopted a motion at its national conference yesterday giving qualified support to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons(TPNW – or Ban Treaty), an international agreement negotiated in 2017 by non-nuclear States, but opposed by the Australian government and all the nuclear armed and allied States.                                                     —————                                                                                                                                     ICAN: 1) the next meeting of ICAN’s UK Partner organizations will be held in GLASGOW, together with the scheduled meeting of the Scottish ICAN Round Table on 8 January 2019 in Glasgow, from 3.00 – 6.00 pm at the office of  Scottish CND, 77 Southpark Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8LE.  The first half of the meeting will be a Scottish meeting.   2) We strongly encourage ALL members to consider passing resolutions to support the Treaty and encourage the UK Government to engage with this Treaty, and the Irish Government to ratify it through the Dail. Full information is in the report, but can also be found on the ICAN webpage – http://www.icanw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ICAN-Cities-Appeal.pdf                                                                                                                    —————-                                                                                                                                    CAAT London:   Please read and share our 2018 highlights page to spread the word about the impacts you have enabled over this year.                                                                                                                    —————                                                                                                             No2NuclearPower: Today’s News at: http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/category/news/